Timeline of Goalie Masks in Hockey
Goalie masks have undergone tremendous evolution through the ages. The earliest of masks were adopted from other sports including fencing and football. It wasn’t until Jacques Plante popularized the fiberglass contoured face mask when masks started to become standard in the sport. Fast forward four decades to see the birth of the modern combo mask; a combination of a fiberglass shell and metal cage that has kept goalies more protected than ever.
Early 1900s
In the early ages of hockey, goalies were very restricted in the gear they wore. Not only were masks not required, but coaches were generally dismissive of masks being used in games and often prohibited their team’s goalies from wearing them. Elizabeth Graham is credited with being the first goalie to wear a mask in a game, where she wore a wire fencing mask in a game for the Queens University hockey team. In the NHL, Clint Benedict began wearing a leather face guard to protect a broken nose in the 1930s, but eventually stopped wearing it as it obstructed his vision.
Birth of the First Mask
In 1959, Jacques Plante became the first NHL goalie to don a full mask in an NHL game after being struck by a shot in the first period. This mask, made of fiberglass, was snugly fitted to Jacques’ face and was effective in protecting against shots in this age. Within 10 years, most NHL goalies adopted a similar style mask and few goalies were without a mask by 1970. In 1974, Andy Brown of the Pittsburgh Penguins was the last to play in the NHL without a mask.
Over the years, the fiberglass mask evolved to be more protective and more comfortable. Padding was added internally and companies experimented with new styles to suit goalie’s preferences of the age. A top manufacturer of early masks, FibroSport, found that adding ridges into the forehead of the mask help increase structural rigidity of the mask and improve protection for the goalie, a design feature that is still in use today. This style of mask evolved and eventually led to the modern combo style mask.
Evolution to the Modern Age
In the 1970’s manufacturers began experimenting with a wire cage in front of the fiberglass shell. This marked the beginning of the modern combo style cage; a combination of a fiberglass shell and a wire cage. This provided substantially better impact dispersion, where the wire cage absorbed the full impact of the puck and dispersed it to the outer edges of the mask and away from the goalie’s head. Designs became more evolved, with contoured lines to disperse the puck’s forces and more comfortable padding.
Many goalies found comfort in a combo style mask using a player’s helmet and a customized wire cage. Goalies such as Dominic Hasek, Dan Cloutier, and Tim Thomas were a select few of the goalies who continued to wear this style of mask even as more protective and advanced designs were developed. Most frequently, a Cooper SK2000 player’s helmet was fitted with a cage, providing better vision and air flow compared to a more traditional fiberglass mask. A lack of neck protection and inadequate protection against impacts eventually made these masks obsolete at higher levels of hockey.
By the 1990s, manufacturers had dialed in the combo style mask, leaving goalies more protected than ever. Companies began to experiment with exotic materials such as carbon fiber and aramid fiber (Kevlar) layers sandwiched between the fiberglass for added rigidity, durability, and impact resistance.
Arguably the most influential goal mask of the modern age is the Profile mask designed by Jerry Wright in the early 1990s. This mask with aggressive, chiseled lines and a sleek look was soon adopted by Itech, leading to the introduction of the Itech Profile 960 and 961. Over 20 years later, nearly this exact mask design continues to be produced by Bauer as the 960 (or 961 with a cateye cage), 950, 940, and 930, and has remained a mainstay in NHL locker rooms with a majority of goalies using a version of this mask still today.
