Jacques Plante

by Raymond Plante

Jacque Plante, the first National Hockey League goalie to regularly wear protective facemask, was known for roving out of his net. "The Masked Marvel" won the Vezina trophy seven times and became a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0968816622
• ISBN13: 9780968816622
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Dundurn Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Hockey Hagiography At Its Finest

Jacques Plante is generally known as the first mask-wearing goalie. And while this isn't strictly true (there were others before who had donned various face protectors), he was definitely the one who made wearing such protection acceptable and necessary. For that, he deserves the thanks of every goalie who has played since. (It's because of him that they can keep their pretty faces.) But it would be a shame if Plante was only remembered for the mask. As Raymond Plante (no relation) colourfully tells us in this hockey hagiography, Plante was much more than a technological innovator. He was a fantastic goaltender whose tactics revolutionized the game. His reputation in early years was built on his unique habit of leaving the net to play the puck, sometimes several feet away from his crease. This isn't done much these days, and it was done even less before Plante joined the NHL. While Plante's wandering terrified his coaches, the fans loved it. Here was a goalie unafraid of taking a risk, unbound by "what we've always done," who played the way he did because he loved to win. And win his Canadiens did, collecting five Stanley Cup victories in five straight years (1955 through 1960)--not to mention his seven Vezina Trophy wins (one of which was with the St. Louis Blues during the 1968-69 season). Like many other hockey heroes, the end of Plante's career didn't match his glory years: he was unceremoniously traded, retired to work for the Molson Beer company, returned to play four years later for the St. Louis Blues, and finished his career out with stops in Toronto, Boston, and Edmonton. And his one and only attempt at coaching--with the WHA's Quebec Nordiques--was anything but a success. However, nostalgia is something of a saviour. Where yesteryear's journalists and fans felt that they were compelled to be incensed by subpar play, we who look back now can appreciate and hail Plante's play as praiseworthy, whatever the faults of the man. Which is why this book is so much fun, even if the real Jacques Plante didn't quite match up to Raymond Plante's portrait.