Goalie Masks and Helmets
Goalie Masks
Elizabeth Graham was the first person to wear a goalie mask in a hockey
game. Back in 1927 she put on a fencing mask to protect her face.
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The first
hockey mask was made of leather designed by goalie Clint Benedict. But he
only wore it for a game or two in 1929-30 season. Benidict had been
hit in the nose by a puck. He wore this football face guard
leather mask for a couple games but the large nose piece impeded his
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The idea of wearing a mask did not really catch on until 1959 when
Canadiens' goalie Jacques Plante started wearing one. That was after having
his skull, cheekbones, nose and jaw broken! A puck to the cheekbone was
apparently the last straw. His coach did not want him to wear the mask so he
gave it up for a while. But he put it back on again and soon other goalies
were wearing them too.
In the 1960s the first goalie masks were really masks, a sheet of
fiber-glass with holes cut for eyes and mouth, bent on the sides to
prevent reflection. To get a custom made mask the goalie pulled a
woman’s nylon stocking over his head, put straws in his nose for
breathing and covered his face with vaseline before having the
fiberglass mixture applied.
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By 1973
masks were worn by all but one goalie. Some of you who have
been hockey fans for a number of years may remember those early
masks. What I remember is a white mask with black lines crosshatched
to show the hits by pucks and sticks, and the stitches that would have been required had
the goalie not been wearing a mask. It was gruesome.
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As the years passed more goalies and their artist friends started
decorating the masks. An eye injury in 1978 started the move
toward the “bird cage” mask which had been used by Russian goalie
Vladislav Tretiak some five years earlier.
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A Breed Apart, The History of Goaltending.
Helmets
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Goalies helmets and face masks have evolved into what appears to be
single units. Many goalies have their helmets decorated to fit their
team and/or their own personalities. The helmet of Zane Kalemba, a
Storm goalie during the 2004-05 season, was black on one side and
purple on the other with a lightening bolt over the ear on each
side. |
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Another Storm goalie during that season, Nick Hopper, had streaks of
lightening on each side of his purple helmet and a small palm tree
behind the lightening. Why not. After all, he is from California.
www.collectionscanada.ca/hockey/kids/h39-2000-e.html
Davidson, John, Hockey for Dummies, 2000
Duplacey, James, The Official Rules of Hockey, 2001
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