Jacques Plante

My hero is jacques Plante because he invented the goalie mask. he was born in Mont Carmel, Quebec, on January 17, 1929. He was the first person to wear a goalie mask in the National Hockey League.

The first game he tried it, was on November 1, 1959. Plante got hit in the head with a slapshot shot from Andy Bathgate that was nearly fatal. He came back on the ice with a home-made metal mask on his face for protection. This game was played at Madison Square Garden between the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers.

Later when goalie masks became more common, other players decided to start wearing helmets. one of the New york rangers, Eddie Shack got a concussion when a puck hit him in the head. He got a very bad cut and needed ten stiches. Another goalie Gerry Cheevers, painted different stitches on his mask for every time he got hit in the face with a puck. It was a good thing Jacques Plante invented the Goalie mask.

The goalie mask has made the good old hockey game a lot faster and has saved a lot of goalies from injury. Jacques Plante died in February 26,1986 at the age of 57 from stomach cancer while he was in Switzerland. He won 6 Stanley cups in his NHL career. All 6 Staley cups he wore a goalie mask.