Crosby2010
Registered User
- Mar 4, 2023
- 1,100
- 915
So we all know the story, Andy Bathgate is breaking down the wing and unleashes a shot that cuts Plante. He leaves the game, gets stitched up but won't go back in without his mask on. He was using the mask in practice but coaches in the NHL didn't want their goalies wearing them. I know the idea is that it was thought to be "chicken" but I honestly think the biggest reason was that coaches feared it could impair their vision on the ice with one on. So as the story goes Plante goes back into the game on November 1st, 1959. So Plante never missed a minute. If you look at the old boxscore no one replaced him. They must have stopped the game for a few minutes before he got stitched up because no one else played goal that day for Montreal. Charlie Hodge was Montreal's back up that year.
Anyway, what sort of timeline do you figure we are looking at if Plante never becomes the first one to wear one? I guess the story could be that if it wasn't Plante it would be someone else, but would it? Johnny Bower NEVER wore a mask and retired in 1970. Did Gump Worsley ever wear a mask? He didn't in Minnesota and ironically he was the other goalie in that Plante game in 1959. Glenn Hall wore one by the time he was in St. Louis, but that is almost a decade later. Not sure when Sawchuk donned one but he had one by 1967 with the Leafs for sure.
Does it go well into the 1960s before someone finally does it? Because to me it is a bit like slim pickings otherwise with the other 5 teams. Bower never wore one, Worsley never wore one, Hall wore one a decade later, Sawchuk looks to have had one by 1963 or 1964 at the latest. That leaves Harry Lumley in Boston, who never wore one. And even when Eddie Johnston came in back in 1962 on the Bruins he didn't wear one then either. Not sure when he started. Looks like by the time Cheevers was a regular on Boston he was donning a mask.
So really, it looks like Plante was sort of a lone wolf there for a while. It isn't as if goalies followed suit right after that. I think eventually it gets there but I think Plante easily sped up the process. It would be well into the 1960s before someone would have done it, I think.
Anyway, what sort of timeline do you figure we are looking at if Plante never becomes the first one to wear one? I guess the story could be that if it wasn't Plante it would be someone else, but would it? Johnny Bower NEVER wore a mask and retired in 1970. Did Gump Worsley ever wear a mask? He didn't in Minnesota and ironically he was the other goalie in that Plante game in 1959. Glenn Hall wore one by the time he was in St. Louis, but that is almost a decade later. Not sure when Sawchuk donned one but he had one by 1967 with the Leafs for sure.
Does it go well into the 1960s before someone finally does it? Because to me it is a bit like slim pickings otherwise with the other 5 teams. Bower never wore one, Worsley never wore one, Hall wore one a decade later, Sawchuk looks to have had one by 1963 or 1964 at the latest. That leaves Harry Lumley in Boston, who never wore one. And even when Eddie Johnston came in back in 1962 on the Bruins he didn't wear one then either. Not sure when he started. Looks like by the time Cheevers was a regular on Boston he was donning a mask.
So really, it looks like Plante was sort of a lone wolf there for a while. It isn't as if goalies followed suit right after that. I think eventually it gets there but I think Plante easily sped up the process. It would be well into the 1960s before someone would have done it, I think.