Jacques Plante And The Legend Of The Mask

Jacques Plante wasn't the first goaltender to wear a mask in an NHL game - credit for that goes to Clint Benedict of the Montreal Maroons in 1930 - but Jake the Snake popularized the facial protection for netminders when he wore one on Nov. 1, 1959 against the New York Rangers, having been struck and badly cut in the face by a backhand off the stick of Rangers' Andy Bathgate.


















Montreal Maroons goalie Clint Benedict with a primitive mask idea, made of metal and leather, that he briefly wore in 1930. Benedict found that the nose of the mask obstructed his view of pucks at his feet and discontinued wearing soon after.

The Plante mask was some time in the works, and the goalie wore it regularly in practice before finally telling coach Toe Blake he wouldn't return to the ice that November night unless he could wear it. Blake relented, the Canadiens won, and the face of goaltending was changed forever.
















Al McKinney holds a plaster mold of his face used during the development of Plante's fiberglass mask, which was first used in 1959. In McKinney's left hand is a mask made during the early 1960's by Plante's company. The photo was taken by John Mahoney of the Gazette.
























Montreal Gazette sports columnist Dave Stubbs sat down with Al McKinney of Lachine, Quebec and spoke with him about his considerable role in the production of Plante's first game-worn mask, which looked like it came out of the Phantom of the Opera.

Goalies everywhere owe a debt of gratitude, and at least a few teeth, to the contribution of McKinney whose mug was plastered by inventor Bill Burchmore during the development of a mask for Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante. Here's the article published March 4, 2006.

Molding An NHL Legend, by Dave Stubbs











The real star in any mad scientist movie isn’t the deranged guy with the evil laugh and the hair styled by sticking a nail file in the light socket. In fact it’s his blindly loyal assistant who might volunteer for the crude experiments that will result in either his own dreadful demise, or a discovery of history-altering proportions.

Enter Lachine’s Al McKinney, until now the unknown Igor to whom every hockey goaltender of the past five decades owes a few of their own teeth.



















Almost 50 years ago, face caked in a thick plaster, straws inserted up his nostrils so he wouldn’t suffocate, McKinney surrendered himself to Bill Burchmore, a sales and promotion manager at Montreal-headquartered Fiberglas Canada Ltd.






















Then, on Nov. 1, 1959, Canadiens goaler Jacques Plante skated onto Madison Square Garden ice behind a fiberglass mask. He was the NHL’s startling answer to Lon Chaney in the 1925 horror film Phantom of the Opera - or, of a more recent vintage, Anthony Hopkins’s Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs.









"I designed the mask for protection, not for good looks," Burchmore said in a 1959 Gazette interview. "It has all of Jacques Plante’s facial features. If it was made for Clark Gable, it would look like Clark Gable."

That November night, with his uncommon flair for the dramatic and, fittingly, in the shadows of Broadway, Plante forever changed the face of the goalie.

If the late Burchmore is the father of the modern-era mask, then Al McKinney, 74, remains a vital branch on the family tree.

For it was McKinney’s gentle mug onto which Burchmore first ladelled his plaster in the late 1950s, this facial mold beginning Burchmore’s development of Plante’s first game-worn mask.

The future Hall of Fame goalie popularized the use of the mask, introducing it in New York when he was carved for seven stitches by a backhand off the stick of the Rangers’ Andy Bathgate.

But Plante was not the first to wear a mask. Nor can the honour go to the Maroons’ Benedict, who usually gets credit for the couple of games in 1930 during which he strapped on a crude protector to shield a broken nose and cheekbone.



















Credit for the first mask in organized hockey goes to Elizabeth Graham (middle in photo, without mask), goalie for the Kingston Queen’s University women’s team, who wore a fencing mask in 1927. As the Montreal Daily Star reported at the time, Graham "gave the fans a surprise when she stepped into the nets and then donned a fencing mask."

Plante had been toying with a mask in practice through the ’50s, cutting a broad eye-hole in a plastic shield made by Delbert Louch of St. Mary’s, Ont. Hailed as "the shatterproof face protector for all sports," the Louch shield never caught on, leaving the forehead exposed and fogging up in frosty arenas.
















Bill Burchmore was at the Forum for a playoff game in April 1958 when a barefaced Plante was drilled in the forehead by a puck. In the NHL’s single goalie days, the contest was delayed 45 minutes while he left for repairs.

Burchmore returned to his office the next day and gazed at the fiberglass mannequin on his desk. Before the bulb of inspiration dimmed, he wrote to Plante to tell the goalie he could make him a space-age mask - and this almost before the space age.

Plante’s initial indifference did nothing to dampen Burchmore’s enthusiasm. And it’s here that McKinney, then an eager sales trainee with Fiberglas Canada, enters the picture.

"Bill asked me one day, ‘Can you stay after work and give me a hand with a project? I’m doing something for Jacques Plante,’ " McKinney recalled this week.



















Habs coach Toe Blake shows a sense of humour, finally, about Plante's insistence on wearing the mask.


"It didn’t faze me at all when he told me I was going to be his model for a face mask.

McKinney had his eyes covered and straws inserted in his nostrils, then sat motionless as Burchmore smoothed the plaster over every pore, from his hairline to his jaw. It took a half hour for the compound to harden on the face of a man who suffered from claustrophobia.

"A little scary," McKinney admitted. "At least I could breathe."

What Burchmore had not done was first apply a release agent, like a petroleum jelly. Both men realized the oversight when the hard plaster held fast.

"Bill pulled and pulled, and he had to take a break every 10 seconds," McKinney recalled. "He was pulling at my forehead, and the mold wasn’t moving. I was wondering what would happen when he reached my eyebrows.



















"As he got lower, he pulled every whisker on my face. It was pretty grim. We laughed about it later. Well, Bill did, anyway."

It took an hour for the removal. McKinney compared it to 60 minutes of pulling adhesive tape off hair on the skin.

"The next day we came to work as usual - my face might have been a little red - and I never saw the ongoing process that created the mask," he said. "I probably saw the finished product for the first time on TV."

To convince Plante of the idea, Burchmore needed both the McKinney mold and his own skills as a salesman.

"Just about everyone thought I had rocks in my head," the inventor said at the time.

Plante’s face was molded before the 1959-60 season at the Montreal General Hospital under medical supervision, a woman’s nylon stocking slipped over his head to avoid a repeat of the McKinney torture.




















Next, Burchmore produced a stronger mold of poured gypsum. From this came the famous "phantom" mask, 3/16ths of an inch thick and weighing 14 ounces, made in his Town of Mount Royal basement by layering polyester resin-soaked fiberglass cloth over the mold of Plante’s face.

And then he tested it, striking the mask with a steel ball swinging on a pendulum to simulate the force of a Bernie Geoffrion slap shot. He couldn’t damage it.

The finished product stunned, even horrified, players and fans when Plante wore it into action.



















Burchmore’s 54-year-old son, Steve, recalls being dinged in the forehead around that time while playing goal in a minor-hockey game in Montreal.

"My dad told me, ‘If I can keep Plante pretty, then I can do the same for you,’ " he said. "So he molded my face and made me a mask. But I finally smartened up. I became a winger."

A confident Plante was brilliant in goal, winning 10 and tying one in his first 11 masked games, yielding just 13 goals.

Burchmore quickly developed the "pretzel" mask, using wound yarn of fiberglass instead of solid sheets. It shaved away nearly four ounces and increased comfort with its ventilated design.

An innovator himself, Plante later began mass-producing his own masks of high-impact fiberglass and epoxy resin at Fibrosport, a company he established in Magog. His 1970s models retailed for $12 to $18, while he sold a pro style, similar to what he wore at the end of his NHL career, for $22.50.



















McKinney never met the goalie whose life he helped change. He skated for the junior Montreal Royals as a teen, suiting up at the Forum against Jean Béliveau, Bernie Geoffrion and Dickie Moore, and once flattened Canadiens Canadiens legend Maurice Richard, off the ice.

Having injured his tailbone in a practice, McKinney was asked by a team doctor to bring a urine sample to the Forum the next day for precautionary analysis. The Rocket nearly expired in laughter when the earnest kid, who’d never before been asked for a specimen, arrived from home with a quart milk bottle that he’d filled to the top.

McKinney is now semi-retired from the insurance business and still plays hockey (not goal) twice a week in Ste. Anne de Bellevue with oldtimers from Hudson.

He has often paused to consider his role in hockey’s evolution. This week’s Gazette story on a Plante memorabilia auction again sent him in search of the mold, its white plaster lacquered a ruddy colour by Burchmore.
























What looks back at him is the face of a man in his 20s, exquisite in detail, the finest creases in his complexion clearly visible. McKinney had long ago screwed a hook in the back, and his mug hung on a wall until finding its way into a bureau drawer.

Such remarkable hockey history, buried out of sight? He laughed as he carefully wrapped the mold back in a white cloth.

"Maybe my wife hid it there," he said. "And she’s probably looking for this rag."













Jacques Plante’s first mask in 1959 was as effective at protecting him as it was scaring fellow players and fans.

Here’s how the writer Arturo F. Gonzales Jr. described it in a feature titled Hockey’s Faceless Wonder, for the November 1960 issue of Modern Man magazine:

"Crouched in the cage with the sun white glare of hockey rink floodlights carving his artificial ‘face’ into deeply shadowed eyesockets and a gaping hole of a ‘mouth,’ Plante looks like something out of a horror film.



















"And when he uncoils and catapults from his cage toward an opposing player, his body exaggerated to twice its normal bulk by the thick padding of his uniform, his image stirs butterflies in the stomach of his target.

"His glittering razor-sharp skates shattering the ice at hellbent speeds combine with the scimitar-like brandishing of his stick to create an effect which unnerves even the leathery veterans of the sport."





















This article, written by the late Pat Curran appeared in the December 12, 1959 issue of the Montreal Gazette.
















Due to the picture of the page being clipped near the bottom, I was unable to print all of the text.

Mount Royal Inventor Comes To Goalies Aid, by Pat Curran

That old mother's lament, "I'll never raise my son to be a goaltender" may soon be a cry of the past.

Thanks to Bill Burchmore, an inventive fibre glass salesman, and Jacques Plante, the colorful Canadiens custodian, the most dangerous and difficult position in hockey is could become the safest, and the easiest.

Burchmore inventended the mask that appears to have ended the search for facial protection sought by goalies for more than three decades. Tested under National Hockey League fire by the brilliant Plante, the moulded mask is now being used by other professional netminders, while orders are being received from amny parts of Canada and...













....to discard it due to limited visability.

Since then, several unsuccessful attemps have been made to design a protector. Visability was the stumbling block in each case.

Probably the most ingeneous netminder ever to toil in big time hockey, Plante began his hunt four years ago after he suffered a broken cheekbone. He came uo with a bulky plastic contraption which he was able to use in practice but was unsuitable for league play. two years ago, in a pre - game workout, Jacques suffered another face fracture. It was after this injury that W. A. "Bill" Burchmore took an active interest in the invention of his mask....



















The four time Vezina Trophy winner was immediatly interested, but somewhat disturbed when the young inventor explained his ideas.

"Jacques thought that I'd perfected the cage type mask", says Burchmore. "He didn't understand plastics and thought I was crazy when I told him it would have to be molded ifit was going to be any good."

"As a matter of fact", recalls Bill, "Just about everyone thought I had rocks in my head. Afterwards I had developed....



















Back in his basement again, Burchmore experimented with a steel ball and a pendulum until it reached the force of a Beliveau, Geoffrion, Howe, or Bathgate. Satisfied after numerous tests, Burchmore called Plante to tell him the results.

"Jacques must have broken all speed limits getting here", says Burchmore. "He was aroused and about as happy as a little boy who has just been given his first pair of skates. But I was happy too, I had spent $1500.00 on the thing."

















....perspiration than a catcher's cage. The dull colored protector is better than plexiglass in that it causes no shadows and no glare from the rink lights and doesn't fog up.

"The greatest advantage is that it will eliminate 99 per cent of injuries", says Burchmore, proudly.

Why not 100 percent?

"Because", cautions Bill, "nothing is perfect. There is always the longshot chance of a skate getting through the small slots for the eyes and mouth."

While Plante was satisfied with the mask in training camp, club brass were not in favor of him using it in regular play. Coach Toe Blake apparently....



















....namely Gil Meyer of Cleveland and Gordie Bell of Belleville McFarlands have been using the mask while three or four handicapped youngsters have been fitted for it. Muzz Patrick, New York general manager has ordered all junior and juvenile goalies in the Rangers chain to wear them.

"I'm convinced that the masks are here to stay", says Patrick, "Our young players might as well get used to them."

Burchmore has also been contacted for details by the Russian Embassy.

Present cost of the mask for which Bill Burchmore has applied for a patent is $300.

Also read Jacques Plante One On One and Jacques Plante 1952 - 1963

Jacques Plante One On One

"Hockey is an art," explained Hall of Fame netminder Jacques Plante. "It requires speed, precision, and strength like other sports, but it also demands an extraordinary intelligence to develop a logical sequence of movements, a technique which is smooth, graceful and in rhythm with the rest of the game."

Born January 17, 1929 in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Joseph Jacques Omer Plante elevated his trade to a craft, and is remembered not only as one of the National Hockey League's premier goaltenders, but also as an advanced and astute student of the game.















The oldest of eleven children, Jacques' parents encouraged their son's hockey talents, but he was forced to do so using makeshift equipment, including a goalie stick his father carved from the root of a tree.

"I've handled a lot of goalsticks since then, but I'll never forget the thrill of that first one," Plante said, smiling broadly.

Although he played shinny by the hour on the local outdoor rinks, Plante's forays into organized hockey started at the age of twelve.


















"I was attending Ecole St-Maurice school in Shawinigan," began Jacques. "Our hockey team consisted of boys seventeen and eighteen years old and I used to watch them play all the time on the outdoor rink. On this one day, I remember it was very cold and I was looking at the game while standing indoors with my back against a stove. The goalie was having trouble and the coach accused him of not doing his best. The goalie was mad and took his skates off. I rushed toward the coach and volunteered to take his place. There was no other goalie around, so I went in the net and played with them the rest of the season."

Always an opportunist, Jacques was playing several years above his age from the beginning of his goaltending career.

"I was standing outside the door of the rink in the Shawinigan Arena where the Shawinigan team (the Cataracts) in the Quebec Senior (Hockey) League played home games. I noticed that they only had one practice goalie and asked the trainer whether I could help out. Although I was fifteen years old by this time, he told me, 'Go away. You're still wearing a diaper!"
























Undeterred, that same year, Plante was playing once a week for a team in an industrial league.

"We didn't get paid and my father suggested that I ask the coach for some money," Plante recalled. "The coach agreed to give me fifty cents a game if I didn't tell any of the other players about it. We couldn't afford a radio or luxuries of any kind (in the thirteen-member Plante family). Fifty cents meant a lot to me in those days."

With word of his prodigious talent spreading quickly, Plante was offered an opportunity to play hockey in England for $80 a week. He was also offered a try-out with the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League.


















"Each time, my parents turned me down," sighed Jacques. "They wanted me to finish school."

Jacques completed school at the age of eighteen and went to work as a factory clerk, although he continued playing goal virtually every evening. In 1947, he was invited to the training camp of the Montreal Junior Canadiens.

"I got two weeks off from my work to go to Montreal," Plante remembered in a 1969 interview.

"After one week, the Canadiens wanted to sign me but I took one look at the contract and decided to go back home. I was making more money as a clerk!"

Plante spent two seasons with the Quebec Citadelles in the Quebec Junior Hockey League.

"It was during that first year (1947-48) that I heard the Toronto Maple Leafs had put me on their negotiation list, but I really wanted to go with the New York Rangers," admitted Plante.

"Roland Mercier, he was a scout with the Rangers, told me that would be the best move. He said that with the Canadiens, I would be third in line behind Bill Durnan and Gerry McNeil and with the Rangers, I would only have to beat out Chuck Rayner."

It wasn't to be. The Montreal Canadiens signed Plante and assigned him to the Montreal Royals in the Quebec Senior Hockey League, where he played three seasons waiting for his shot at the NHL. At the end of the 1949-50 season, longtime all-star Bill Durnan retired, leaving only Gerry McNeil above Plante in the pecking order of goaltenders for the Canadiens.










In 1952-53, the Canadiens sent Jacques to Buffalo of the AHL.

"That was quite an experience," Plante recalled. "We were in last place, eleven points behind the team in front of us when I got there. We had very few good players. One of the best was Pierre Pilote. We reeled off five victories in a row and attendance in Buffalo jumped from 2,000 a game to 9,000." The Bisons finished that season in last place, but thrust the young goalie into the limelight for the first time. "They started calling me 'Jake the Snake.' I loved all this publicity."

Plante had demonstrated such skill in spite of the Buffalo Bisons' woeful record that the Montreal Canadiens summoned him to the NHL as a standby for Gerry McNeil during the Stanley Cup playoffs. Coach Dick Irvin inserted Plante into the line-up for the sixth game of the semi-finals.

















"My knees started to shake," he admitted. "In the dressing room that night, I was so nervous I couldn't tie my skates. Maurice Richard walked over and held out his hands. 'Look at them,' he said. 'They shake before a big game. You'll feel better when you get out on the ice."

The Canadiens won 3-0 and Plante was back in goal for Game Seven. With the win in that contest, the Canadiens eliminated Chicago to earn a berth in the Stanley Cup final. Plante started Games One and Two, but Gerry McNeil took over in Game Three of the final and the Canadiens proceeded to win the Stanley Cup. Although he played just three regular season games and four post-season contests, the Stanley Cup championship was a sweet victory for Plante; the first of six he would enjoy through his seventeen season NHL career.

The next fall, Plante was returned to Buffalo but with just a month left in the 1953-54 season, Montreal's Gerry McNeil was injured and Plante was summoned to replace him in goal. The Canadiens went to the Stanley Cup final again that spring, with Plante and McNeil both taking their turns. A repeat championship was not in the fates - the Detroit Red Wings took the Stanley Cup that season.

















Plante replaced Gerry McNeil as the regular netminder for the Montreal Canadiens in 1954-55. Montreal finished second to the Red Wings that season, just two points behind the leaders. Foreshadowing the success that was to come, Bernie Geoffrion, Maurice Richard and Jean Beliveau finished 1-2-3 in scoring during the regular season. Jacques Plante contributed substantially, introducing a number of plays from the crease that would later label him one of the game's greatest innovators. Much to the dismay of the Canadiens' coaching staff, Plante regularly ventured out of his crease to thwart opponents. He also would leave the crease to harness pucks shot behind the net, assisting his defensemen.

"I was with the Citadelles," he began, explaining when the practice began. "We had four defensemen. One couldn't skate backwards. Another couldn't turn to his left. The others were slow. It was a case of me having to go and get the puck when it was shot into our end because our defense couldn't get there fast enough. The more I did it, the farther I went. It seemed to be the best thing to do, so I did it and it worked." Plante continued, "Possession of the puck is number one. That's all I'm doing, getting control until one of my teammates comes along."



















But Plante's pioneering contributions to hockey are most often remembered for being the first goaltender to wear a mask on a regular basis. Jacques had begun wearing a mask during practices in the mid-fifties. After being tripped by Plante during a contest at Madison Square Garden on November 1, 1959, Andy Bathgate of the New York Rangers fired his next shot towards Plante's face to make a statement to the goalie.

"The shot by Bathgate nearly ripped my nose off," Plante fumed.

Badly cut, Plante was escorted to the dressing room for repairs. Montreal's coach Toe Blake was certain that his netminder would be unable to continue playing and asked the Rangers about a replacement goaltender.

At that time, NHL teams didn't carry backup goalies, the home team supplied an emergency replacement as needed. The Rangers employed a thirty five year old handyman at Madison Square Garden named Joe Schaefer as their emergency goaltender. Toe Blake briefly considered using Schaefer in goal, but was not at all confident that the replacement, who had yet to play in an NHL game, was up to the task.

"I told Toe I would only return if I could wear the mask, so there was no choice," explained Plante. Coach Toe Blake was in a bind, and reluctantly agreed. "He never wanted me to wear the mask because he thought it would make me too complacent."
























Montreal won the game and proceeded to string together an eighteen game unbeaten streak.

That season, Jacques Plante was awarded the Vezina Trophy for possessing the best goals against average. It was the fifth consecutive season Jacques won the award. It is no coincidence that it was also the fifth straight spring that the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup.

Yet, even though the extraordinary Canadiens team had evolved into the greatest dynasty the NHL has yet to witness, Jacques Plante never socialized with his teammates. His life was purposely solitary. On the bus, he always sat in the front seat behind the driver away from his colleagues. He stayed by himself in his hotel room, knitting his own undershirts and toques as well as answering fan mail. If a young, aspiring goaltender wrote Plante a letter, Jacques responded with a sheet of fifteen tips to help their game.


















"No, I never make friends," Jacques stated unapologetically. "Not in hockey, not elsewhere. Not since I was a teenager. What for? If you are close to someone, you must be scheduling yourself to please them."

Coach Blake and the Montreal management had had enough, and on June 4, 1963, the Canadiens sent their All-Star goaltender to the New York Rangers along with Phil Goyette and Don Marshall, receiving Dave Balon, Leon Rochefort, Len Ronson and Gump Worsley in return.




















Plante fumed, disliking New York and his new surroundings. Jacques and the Rangers missed the playoffs both years Plante played in New York, for the first times in his NHL life.

During his second season as a Ranger, Jacques was sent to the minors, reporting for duty with New York's American Hockey League affiliate, the Baltimore Clippers. At the end of that season, Jacques Plante retired from hockey.
























But that is not the end of the Jacques Plante story, far from it. After three years of retirement, Jacques was enticed into playing for the St. Louis Blues. The forty year old Plante was teamed up with thirty eight year old Glenn Hall, and the duo performed so well, they shared the Vezina Trophy in 1969.
























"I felt I was wanted there and if I feel I'm wanted by a team, I feel good," admitted Plante.

Two years in St. Louis was followed by an unusual three way trade which resulted in Jacques going to the Toronto Maple Leafs. On May 18, 1970, the New York Rangers secured Tim Horton from Toronto. Rangers' GM Emile Francis promised to deliver Plante, who was owned by the Blues, and two minor leaguers to the Maple Leafs.

So, after the playoffs, in a pre-arranged swap, St. Louis sent Plante to New York and the Rangers sent Jacques, along with Denis Dupere and Guy Trottier, to the Maple Leafs. Ironically, Toronto was going through a youth movement at that time, yet the forty-two year old netminder led the NHL with a sparkling 1.96 goals against average in 1970-71 and was selected for the Second All Star Team.


















Plante was disappointed to be traded to the Boston Bruins late in the 1972-73 season.

"I've played the best goal of my life the last two years," he stated. "I don't believe it, but it's true."



















With Plante playing the final eight games of the season, winning seven for the Bruins, including two shutouts, Boston was able to climb over the Rangers and secure a second-place finish in the East Division.

The fact that the wily goaltender was able to play at all was remarkable. But what was more extraordinary was that Plante was among the best goaltenders in the NHL - all at the age of forty-four.

















"At my age, I have to work hard to guard against injuries," mentioned Jacques. His regimen included playing tennis regularly during the summer.

During the season, Plante was fastidious about his exercise routine.

"About an hour each day, I sit on the floor at home in sweat clothes and hook my foot to a chest and drag the chest to me," he explained. "Following this, I usually put my foot on a stool and lift a sixteen-pound weight attached to it. Then, I touch my head to my knee without bending my other knee. I'm always on the look-out for new exercises for my hamstring and groin muscles for it is this muscular area which allows the human body to move from a squatting position to standing with speed and smoothness. I share an interest in the exercise of these muscles with all the body disciplines, but especially ballet where flexibility is as important as it is in hockey."



















In February 1972, Jacques had been selected by the Miami Screaming Eagles of the fledgling World Hockey Association in their inaugural General Player Draft. Although he chose to remain with the Maple Leafs at that time, during the summer of 1973, Plante defected to the World Hockey Association, signing a ten year contract to hold the portfolio of coach and general manager of the Quebec Nordiques. Jacques resigned during the season when he heard rumbles that he was going to be asked to replace himself behind the bench.

By the beginning of the 1974-75 season, a second retirement was erased and Plante returned to the crease, this time as a member of the WHA's Edmonton Oilers. At forty-six, he was by far the oldest player in the Oilers' dressing room.

"It reminds me of when I started with the Canadiens," he said. "I could sit and listen all day to older players like Toe Blake and Elmer Lach. Now it's the reverse, I have the floor."

It was an excruciating year for the veteran in which he suffered through serious injuries, including a broken hand and a thumb, and was later felled by an ear injury that caused a loss of equilibrium. One of Jacques' sons was killed in an automobile accident that year, too. The Oilers finished last in their division, although Plante performed well, earning 15 wins against 14 losses and a tie. By October 1975, Jacques Plante realized that time had caught up to him and he retired for good.

"After a long and serious study of my personal position as a player, I decided that I wanted to retire while I was still on top," he stated at that time.

















Jacques Plante concluded his career with an incredible career goals against average of 2.38. In 837 regular season NHL games, he won 435, lost just 247 and tied 145. His 82 regular season shutouts puts him fourth on the all time NHL list, behind Terry Sawchuk, George Hainsworth and Glenn Hall. Plante was selected to the NHL's First All-Star Team in 1956, 1959 and 1962, and was a Second Team selection in 1957, 1958, 1960 and 1971. He won the Vezina Trophy a record seven times and was recipient of the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player in 1962.

Plante was also part of six Stanley Cup championships.

In 1978, Jacques Plante was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Following his retirement, Jacques and his family moved to Switzerland, his wife's homeland, but he returned to the NHL as a goaltending coach first with the Philadelphia Flyers, followed by stints with the St. Louis Blues and the Montreal Canadiens. "I don't want a full time job," he mentioned.

"I'm doing what I like best now, talking goaltending. This has been my life. My reward is seeing a big smile on their (young netminders) faces when they see me around. I don't want any more."

Plante died of stomach cancer in a Swiss hospital on February 27, 1986 at the age of fifty-seven.

Eccentric, exceptional and an extraordinary ambassador to the game, Jacques Plante will forever be remembered for his remarkable contributions to the game he loved.

Also read Jacques Plante And The Legend Of The Mask and Jacques Plante 1952 - 1963

Robinson's Final Days In Montreal Remembered

There has always been much speculation as to how and why Larry Robinson left the Montreal Canadiens for the Los Angeles Kings after the 1989 season. Tied to that speculation were stories of a feud between himself and then Habs GM Serge Savard.

Robinson published an autobiography titled "Robinson For The Defense" ( co - authored by the same Chrys Goyens of the excellent "Lions In Winter") upon leaving Montreal at that time. The final dozen pages of the last chapter detail negotiations ( or lack thereof) between Robinson's agent Don Cape and Savard that led to Robinson moving on. In it, are references to a reason perhaps, why it took until now for Robinson's sweater to be retired.

Savard is unlikely to ever publish his own autobiography - like many former Canadiens GM's - so Robinson's side of the story has mostly gone uncontested. Like Guy Lafleur's final days during the same regime, this tale reads like one that should not have ended in such a twisted manner.

What is transcribed below, is but one section of a very interesting book. I urge all readers to seek it out wherever possible.


















Pages 332-337

"Larry, you have to consider this your last NHL contract as a player" Don began.

"You have to approach this one differently. Now you have to think about how many years you want to play, and are capable of playing. And you also have to think about what happens after your career."

We talked for hours, and Jeanette was included in all the discussions. In many ways it was like our conversations 18 years before, just prior to Claude Ruel's visit to Winchester, Ontario, to negotiate my very first contract.

The consensus was I wanted to stay in Montreal because I was extremely happy with surroundings, the people, and the career I had built over 18 years. In short, I was happy, and so was Jeanette.

Donny Cape arranged an appointment with Serge Savard. They were going to meet at 4 p.m. on January 11, a day after the New Jersey Devils were visiting, to discuss my contract, and after the game Donny and I would get together and see what we had. Shortly thereafter, we would sign the contract. We wanted a year with an option. We didn't even want to make an issue of more money because we were comfortable with what we had. If Serge wanted to offer a raise, he wouldn't get an argument....but increased salary was not an issue.

On the morning of January 11, Don called Serge's office to reconfirm the afternoon appointment.
Donna Stewart, Serge's secretary, told him: "Serge wants to talk to you."

Savard came on the line.

"How are you, Serge?"

"Fine, Donny. What's this meeting about anyway?"

That question threw Donny a bit. "You know, Larry's contract. He's ready to sign for another year."

"Oh. No, I'm not interested in signing anything."

"What do you mean you're not interested." Donny was genuinely surprised.

"No, you didn't want to sign when Perron was the coach before. Why should you want to sign now? Wait to the end of the year."

"Larry wants to sign now because he is extremely happy with Pat Burns and he think he'll enjoy playing for him for a couple more years."

"I want to see what's going to be with Larry at the end of the year." Savard wasn't budging.

"Serge, you're going to end up in this double eagle business of forcing yourself to give Larry a 15% raise in salary once his option is over. You're costing yourself money because he'll sign for you right now for the same salary."

"I'll worry about that when the time comes," Savard replied. "I don't want to speak to you regarding Larry's contract until the end of the season. I don't like to disturb a player during the season. I don't want to bother Larry, he's going very well right now."

"Okay," Donny agreed. Salary never came up again until after the year was over.


























NHL compensation rules stipulate that the team of a player who has played out his option has first crack at him after that season. To maintain this exclusivity, they must offer him a contract before June 30. On July 1, any other team in the league may offer him a deal and his former team still has 30 days to match the offer. If they choose not to, or he decides the other offer is better, he is then free to move to the other team. The new team might still have to compensate his former team, under a formula approved by the league and the players association.

This is what the NHL considers free agency. Only an idiot would actually think players are free to move to the highest bidders. This system discourages player movement. The league reasoning is: "How are you going to keep them in Winnipeg if they're all free to go to New York City?"

Anyway, the season and playoffs came and went, and then it was time for Serge Savard to resume serious bargaining. I was predisposed to staying with the Canadiens and I didn't want more money. I wanted a year and an option year. No more, no less.

On July 1, Don received a fax from Savard's office that said the Canadiens would exercise their right of refusal to match any offer over the next 30 days. They were offering me what they considered a 15% increase on the NHL part of my contract. (My previous agreement had been a two part deal: I was paid so much by the Montreal Canadiens and another amount by Molson's, the team owners, for publicity work and the like. The 15% was only being offered on the Canadiens part of the contract. It could be said the Canadiens were offering me a 15 % raise, but they weren't. The Molson money was a deferred payment plan.)

























This wasn't an offer. Montreal was saying that if anybody saw fit to offer me something, then they might show interest. That "compliment" left me very much out in the cold.

Donny and I got together right away.

"We can't leave it at this," he said. "There's no offer from Montreal and other teams are going to want to know what the ball park is before they play. They're also going to want to know what Serge intends to do about compensation." Donny already had had preliminary talks with Detroit, Boston, and Los Angeles. Jimmy Devellano was interested, but less than before because he had just signed Borje Salming. Harry Sinden expressed serious interest, but his main worry was the compensation factor. Los Angeles had said they were interested but little else.

Donny called Serge Savard.

"Serge, there's something wrong here."

"Not at all, Donny," Savard replied. "That's just to cover my compensation."

"Are you going to do better than that?" We had to know what the ground rules were.

"Wait a week or two. I'm on vacation and we'll get together around the 20th of the month."
"Look, we can't wait. Larry wants to know what he's going to be doing this winter. Let's get this done."

"Okay, we'll get together within a week or so, when I get back."

True to his agenda, Donny called Serge back around the 10th of July. In the interim, Los Angeles had expressed some serious interest.

We had two demands. A 15 % increase on the full salary, which includes the deferred Molson payments, and a year and an option year on the contract duration.

The answers were "No", and "No."

Donny then remembered a promise Serge had made to me in January 1983, when the Canadiens dream team had been announced. That night, taking note that all the members of the team voted by the fans had had their sweaters retired (Doug Harvey was just about to have his famous No. 2 ceremoniously put away) Serge had turned to me and said, "Your sweater will be retired when you go."

I still wanted to stay in Montreal and Donny knew that this special reward or recognition was important to me.

"Are you still going to retire the sweater?"

Serge indicated that was unlikely.

Each active player gets two seasons tickets for his use. Would Savard consider transferring these to our company name and, once I had retired, allow me to purchase them?

"No."

Donny got exasperated at this point: "Serge, you don't seem to be very flexible."

Serge said that he didn't feel anybody was going to be interested in Larry Robinson, because if he stayed he was going to give him one year's salary for playing, and one year's salary for compensation, for the 18 years of service to the Canadiens. This latter item was a Canadiens policy. Players who had played 10 or more years for Montreal would receive a full year's pay upon their retirement.

Now that "automatic" compensation seemed to become a bargaining chip.

"I don't think anyone is going to match that," Savard said.

"Maybe not, but the point is you're not going to let Larry play the extra year, " Donny declared.

"That's right."

"Nor will you let him play anywhere else." Donny wasn't happy. "I think that after 17 years with the team, he should be entitled to determine his own future. He always gave the Canadiens 110 %."

Serge went on to intimate that if I went to another team, compensation would be unlikely. In Serge's mind, that bonus of a year's salary had strings attached to it.

Donny gave it one last shot. "Serge, are any of these area's negotiable?"

The reply was in the negative.

Shortly thereafter, Serge let his media friends know that I had demanded to have my sweater retired and demanded season tickets and his attitude was that I was being totally unreasonable. That upset me, especially when Jean Beliveau indignantly remarked that "nobody negotiates getting his sweater retired. It's not something that you can demand."

We didn't, but it suited Serge's purposes to spread that message about. Needless to say, I was steaming.
















Whether or not Serge realized it, in my mind i had ceased being a Montreal Canadien that day. Some sort of invisible line had been crossed, or invisible door had been slammed. Never in all my years of playing for this organization had I ever thought it might end this way. Nobody is indispensible. After all, Wayne Gretzky was traded and I had always known that could happen to me.

But to leave the Canadiens through lack of interest, almost by default, was very hard to take. I thought the club and I owed each other more than that.

Page 341-342

A couple of weeks have passed since I signed the new agreement and left the Montreal Canadiens, I've read a few letters to the editor in Montreal that complained about greedy hockey players and how we have loyalty only to the Big Buck and not to the team that has nurtured us and enabled us to grow over our careers. My answer to these criticisms is simple: I wanted to remain with the Canadiens, but others chose another path for me.

The Canadiens will be very different next year, what with Rick Green retiring and Bob Gainey playing and coaching in France. I'll miss my teammates and Pat Burns but I wish them all the best, especially Pat Burns, who will be a terrific coach for a long time, if they let him.

As for the longevity in one uniform, the 1988-89 season proved most clearly that you can come back with another team, especially when the Rangers came to town and Guy Lafleur and Chris Nilan were in Broadway Blue. I can remember all sorts of all stars and Montreal fixtures going to other teams - Butch Bouchard with Washington, Brian Engblom and Rod Langway with Washington, Serge Savard with Winnipeg and Guy Lapointe with St. Louis and Boston, to name a few.

The all time Canadiens team I was voted to now has only two players on it who wore the bleu - blanc - rouge for their entire NHL careers - Maurice Richard and Jean Beliveau.

One day, several years down the road, I'll come back to the Forum and the veteran's room, with the other "anciens", and we'll have a meal, drink some Molson's, and tell a few lies. The Flower, Shutty, big Yvon Lambert, the Roadrunner, Coco, Pointu, Ken Dryden, Bo, the Dougies, Murray, Bleuet, Charty, Bunny and the rest.

Bob gainey will probably be General Manager of some NHL team by then, and Doug Risebrough will be vice president of the Calgary Flames, if the Flames are as smart as I think they are. Serge will probably be President of the Canadiens by then, too.

But on that occasion, we'll all be Montreal Canadiens, the team that swept four Stanley Cups in a row between '76 and '79. Some time, after two or three beers, we'll convince ourselves that it "shoulda been eight in a row."

Robert L Note: On Friday, I wrote about my Robinson memories, and Habster at All Habs compliments this post nicely with video additions to the highlights mentioned in my piece. An excellent read on Larry, entitled "Marvel From Marvelville Finally Gets His Day In Montreal" was in last Thursday's Ottawa Citizen. Joe Pelletier begins his Robinson tribute this way: "If you had to build your team's blue line around your choice of one defenseman in NHL history, you certainly couldn't go wrong selecting Larry Robinson." You can't go wrong reading any of Joe's 500 plus bio's either. The Hockey Hall Of Fame website offers four interesting Robinson profiles - there is a 1 on 1 interview, his biography page, a pinnacle moment feature, and a treasure chest piece with some interesting Robinson memorabilia. Check them all out.

Habs Dismantle Dumb Bruins

Was this an exciting game?

Does Jiri Tlusty enjoy photography?

Talk about your gunpowder induced barnburners, this game had everything but a jersey retirement - that comes Monday!

As the third period turned into a blowout, a question came to me. The Bruins or the Flyers - which team deserves the distinction of being called the "Dumbest Hockey Team of All Time?"
Each team has a history of stupid, as lengthy as it is embarassing, and both tend to turn to thuggery on occasion, especially in instances of losing against Montreal. It's never worked and never will.

I'm curious to know who Habs fans would choose as dumbest team ever, so look for a poll attached to the sidebar to decide the answer.

Tonight, Boston made a bag of hammers look intelligent, starting with that big zero, Zdeno Chara.

This lug is over rated, over paid, and over used. He's brought nothing to the Bruins since they signed him to a huge deal. He's the team captain, and was brought in to steady the defense, but tonight he lost his marbles twice and did more to help his team lose the game than win it.

Dumb is taking obvious liberties against the team with the best power play in the league and expecting to win.

Dumb is also waking up a Canadiens team that was asleep, for all intents and purposes, for two games. After a brutal showing in Buffalo, Montreal needing a rallying cry type of game and they were handed it by the Bruins.

I arrived home too late last night from an Ottawa tournament to write about the debacle in Buffalo. I watched a fast forward version of the game on tape, sat down to start typing and found I was rewritting the same rant from the Toronto game the previous Tuesday. Watching the post game highlights and interviews, I did see Guy Carbonneau, gritting his teeth slightly, and noticed a nerve near his temple pulsate to purple, as he admitted that the team had shown a lack of intensity and focus in practice over the last few days.

If such is true, tonight's victory must have been spirit building for the Canadiens - and not a game too late!


















Nevermind the offensive keg they unloaded on Boston, seeing the likes of Kostitsyn and Kostopoulos drop the gloves and players such as Begin, Gorges, and Latendress sticking up for team mates must make a coach happy.

Four of the Canadiens who impressed me most were Michael Ryder, Kyle Chipchura, and the Kost's - tops and tits.

Ryder was one of the players last night against Buffalo who played as if something were at stake. Tonight against Boston, he applied himself to making a difference as much with his body as he has in the past with his stick. I noticed how his physical play opened spots for linemates as well as himself. This is the work ethic that makes slump vanish, and I sense that Ryder may have turned a corner with his commitment of late.

Chipchura is revealing himself to be even more than I had expected him to be. Not only is he sound defensively as billed, but he is also strong and sly. He has a built in sense of anticipation in countering plays and has a variety of moves with the puck that are never obvious to read. Once this boy's skating upgrades and his faceoff savvy improves, he's going to be a pivotal player in all area's of the Habs game.

Kostopoulos is unreal. He drops the gloves knowing he's unlikely to win a bout, but puts team needs first everytime. Some players take games off, some merely periods or a few shifts. This guy doesn't take a stride off, and is always in consistant pursuit of either the puck, a hit, or both. He's the on-ice analogy to the parable of the devil snapping at your heels.

Kostitsyn is a jewel just beginning to shine. I find that he has finally seized what he needs to do to reach the next level. I've mentioned before that he is potentially the player with the most complete package on the team and this game displayed all of those notions. His shot, size, and vision were each used in exempliary fashion against Boston. Should he continue to dig this deep to display his tools ( Insert bad Tlusty joke here ) on a consistant basis, he will become a point per game player before the season is out.

I was also pleased with Latendresse's play in this game. He is rounding out well after a slow start and seems to be getting the message as well. There is more intensity and focus coming from him, but it has yet to find a constant groove. When I find myself gnawing my teeth at his shortcomings and youthful errors, I remind myself of his age and judge him not on the somewhat confused player he seems to be of late, but rather on the complete player I feel he one day could be. Right now, he reminds me of a young John Leclair, who showed only intermitant flashes of a bigger game in Montreal before busting loose when teamed with the right players in Philadelphia.

Some other things to like about this game were:

52 shots on goal - hot damn! Are the Habs that capable or are the Bruins this porous on defense?

Two more goals from defenseman and three more from the powerplay unit. Combined with a four point game from the fourth line, and contributions from the top two lines, it is hard to quash a team which has all wheels rolling at once.

On a night where the defensive mindedness was secondary, the offense was unleashed. The game itself got a standing "O" when it was done.

Alex Kovalev played like an auger last season - this season he plays like a train!

Carey Price wins the game, without having to be the difference.

35 penalties called, including four fights. Old time hockey for all time rivals.

Whether it is a bag of Chips Ahoy, 2 points in the standings, or sealing a playoff win, the Bruins still can't beat the Habs when anything is at stake!

Why?

Cause they're as smart as their coach is hairy.