What goalie didn t wear a mask?
Andy Brown's nickname was "Fearless." It was well-earned. Brown turned pro in 1965 and for the next dozen years guarded his crease without wearing a mask. From 1971-72 through 1973-74, he had two stints each with the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins. His barefaced courage overshadowed his statistics.
Andy Brown's nickname was "Fearless." It was well-earned. Brown turned pro in 1965 and for the next dozen years guarded his crease without wearing a mask. From 1971-72 through 1973-74, he had two stints each with the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins. His barefaced courage overshadowed his statistics.
But Montreal coach Toe Blake refused the request, believing his goalie's vision would be limited by the device. That all changed, however, when Plante was hit in the face by a shot off the stick of Andy Bathgate -- a shot that opened Plante up for seven stitches around the mouth and nose.
He also received approximately 400 stitches to his face (including three in his right eyeball) before finally adopting a protective facemask in 1962. In 1966, Life Magazine had a make-up artist apply stitches and scars to Sawchuk's face to demonstrate all of the injuries his face sustained over the years.
Since the invention of the fiberglass ice hockey mask, professional goaltenders no longer play without a mask, considering it is now a mandatory piece of equipment. The last goaltender to play without a mask was Andy Brown, who played his last NHL game in 1974.
Nov 1, 1959: After taking a shot to the face, Jacques Plante returns to the game becoming the first goalie to regularly wear a protective mask.
The teams pay for the paint job, just like they buy the rest of the goalie equipment, and unless the goalie has a strong preference for an artist, they can end up switching artists when they change teams. For example, Jason Livery used to do most of the St. Louis Blues masks.
Ensuring Your Goalie Mask is Properly Certified
The cat-eye cage is illegal at every amateur level of hockey because it lacks certification from the CSA — not, as many people mistakenly think, because the puck can fit through the openings (it can't), but because the butt-end of a stick can.
In 1930, Montreal Maroons' player Clint Benedict played a few games in an all-leather mask to protect his face. A goalie mask that covered the entire face appeared on Japan's Teiji Honma at the 1936 Winter Olympics, but it wasn't until 1959, 42 years into the NHL's existence, that a league netminder wore a mask on-ice.
“The bottom of the mask would kind of screen you a bit,” Humboldt-born hockey legend Glenn Hall, who became a full-time NHLer in 1955 but did not don a mask until 13 years later, said from his farm near Stony Plain, Alta. Force of habit was also a factor.
Who wore the first mask in the NHL?
1959: Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante makes history when he wears a mask during an NHL game for the first time.
While many people credit Otto Graham and his Lucite face shield in 1953 to be the first facial protection in the NFL, the first documented professional football player to wear a facemask was Ernie Pinckert of the 'Skins in 1937.
Decades later, the attention turns to the shrinking number of players without a visor. When Ryan Getzlaf, Joe Thornton, Brian Boyle, and Zdeno Chara did not return to the ice for the 2022-23 season, it made the magic number eight. That's the number of current NHL players still competing without a visor.
Jason Voorhees (/ˈvɔːrhiːz/) is a character from the Friday the 13th series. He first appeared in Friday the 13th (1980) as the young son of camp-cook-turned-killer Mrs. Voorhees, in which he was portrayed by Ari Lehman.
Former Vancouver Canucks goaltender Gary Bromley's 'Bones' goalie mask is easily the most unsettling mask to ever be donned in the NHL. He wore it here during a March 1981 road game for Vancouver (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images).
-- Gerry Cheevers
"There are estimates of what might have happened if I didn't have the mask on," Cheevers said of the number of stitches painted onto his game and practice masks. "John Forristall (did the estimates).
Bobby Hull's shot is the fastest recorded slap shot, reaching speeds of more than 10 MPH while using a wooden stick in the 1960's. A slapshot by Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins during the NHL skills competition currently holds the record for the fastest speed in the competition with a top speed of 104.9 MPH.
Hall of Fame netminder's famous 'stitches' shield came to life by accident. BostonBruins.com - Gerry Cheevers admits that he wasn't much into practicing back in his playing days. During his 30-minute drives to the rink, the Hall of Fame netminder would often try to drum up ways to get out of skating that day.
The reason for the substantial increase in cost to equip an NHL netminder is because goalies at the NHL level can go through multiple sets of pads each year. In fact, some goalies will switch their pads up to 6 times (or more), throughout the duration of a season.
The original mask debuted by Plante was fiberglass and molded to fit the outline of your face. There were three holes – two to give a sightline and one for the mouth to breathe through. It certainly wasn't perfect, but it did the job. “The early masks, if you got hit, you still got cut,” said Johnston.
Why don t NHL players wear full face masks?
The full facemask usually isn't permitted in the pros unless medically necessary, as in Kuraly's case. There's some restriction to seeing the play, but for the most part, when it's needed there's an extra level of confidence to go in the corners and make plays without fear of reopening an injury.
A goalie can choose whether they wear a neck guard, a dangler, or both‚—or none at all. If you're just starting out, we definitely recommend using both a neck guard and dangler as you're learning how to stop the puck effectively.
Cat eye masks, which gained popularity through their use by professional goaltenders, are illegal for youth and high school players. The masks lack certification by HECC (Hockey Equipment Certification Council) as required by USA Hockey because the larger eye openings expose young goaltenders' eyes to stick contact.
He can also be handed a stick from a fellow player; however, this must be considered a legal hand-off. The player handing off the stick cannot slide or throw the goalie a new stick, it must be physically handed to the goalie. This rule also applies to situations when a goalie has lost his stick during game play.
Though Billy Smith of the New York Islanders is the first NHL goalie to be credited with scoring a goal when the Colorado Rockies backpass the puck into their own net during a delayed penalty on Nov. 28, 1979, Hextall is the first to score by shooting the puck into the net.
1970s. Gerry Cheevers had his trainer paint stitches on his fiberglass mask whenever a puck or stick struck him in the face. It is still perhaps the most recognizable goalie mask in hockey history. He is considered the pioneer of goalie mask art and design.
Today, Canada remains the country most closely-associated with hockey. The development of the modern version of organized ice hockey played as a team sport is often credited to James Creighton.
Sam St. Laurent was the last hockey player to wear a face mask during the 1989-90 season, the last time the NHL wore one. The face mask was first used on hockey sticks in the 1970s, but it wasn't until the 1990s that it became more visible. The mask, according to Gerry Cheevers, saved his life.
-- Gerry Cheevers
Cheevers has no idea how many stitches his mask absorbed during his career, which started in 1961-62 as a maskless goaltender with the Toronto Maple Leafs in a win against the Chicago Blackhawks. But his career really took off in 1967-68 with the Bruins.
It is rumoured that Hall threw up before each game, then drank a glass of orange juice. During his time in Chicago he was voted the First Team All-Star goaltender five times and the Second Team All-Star goaltender three times.
What happens when a goalie loses his mask?
Per the NHL rule book: “When a goalkeeper has lost his helmet and/or face mask and his team has possession of the puck, the play shall be stopped immediately to allow the goalkeeper the opportunity to regain his helmet and/or face mask.
But last week at the Eternals premiere, Angelina Jolie proved that no Hollywood starlet's red carpet look is complete without the most important accessory of the season: a face mask.
The next evening, Jason stole a Detroit Red Wings hockey mask from Shelly Finkelstein, which had a red arrowhead triangle between the eyes and two red triangles on either side of the nose (the triangles were technically called "chevrons"), that both pointed in upward diagonally towards the eye holes.
In Friday the 13th Part III: 3D, Jason finally got his signature mask! It's a classic hockey mask with three red triangles and black straps connected at the top and the sides. Jason didn't purchase the mask brand new, though — he stole it from Shelly.
The party line, repeated in many sources, is that the first facemask was worn by Otto Graham of the Cleveland Browns, who got elbowed in the mouth during the first half of a 1953 game and then played the second half wearing a piece of plastic that coach Paul Brown taped to his helmet.
