Jacques Plante

Joseph Jacques Omer "Jake the Snake" Plante (Born January 17, 1929 in Shawinigan Falls, Québec; Died February 27, 1986) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender.

Playing career

Jacques Plante began playing in the NHL in 1952 for the Montreal Canadiens, where he became well known and played the majority of his career. He was a flamboyant, popular player, known for raising his arms high over his head in a "V" victory salute when his team won a key game.

One of the greatest goalies of all time, Plante's contributions to how the position of goalie is understood are beyond that of any other individual. Plante was the first goalie to skate behind the net to stop the puck (a now common practice). He also was the first to raise his arm on an icing call to let his defensemen know what was happening. He perfected a stand-up style that emphasized positional play, cutting down the angles and staying square to the shooter.

His most enduring contribution to the game, however, occurred as a result of an incident on November 1, 1959. He was hit in the face by a shot from New York Rangers player Andy Bathgate, needing to go to the dressing room for stitches. When he returned, he was wearing a crude goalie mask. His coach, Toe Blake, was livid, but he had no other goalie to call upon and Plante refused to return to the goal unless he kept the mask. Blake agreed on the condition that Plante discard the mask when the cut healed. Only Camille Henry beat him in that game which the Canadiens won 3-1. In the ensuing days Plante refused to discard the mask, and as the Canadiens continued to win, Blake became less obstinate. The winning streak stretched to 18 games. Plante didn't wear the mask, at Blake's request, against Detroit on March 8, 1960. The Canadiens lost 3-0, and the mask returned for good the next night. Plante subsequently designed his own mask and masks for other goalies. Hall of Famer Bernie Parent was among those who wore Plante's masks. Although Plante was not the first NHL goalie known to wear a face mask (Montreal Maroons goaltender Clint Benedict had done so thirty years before), Plante introduced the mask as everyday equipment, which continues to this day. Due to this and his tendency to play the puck, Plante was often nicknamed "The Innovator."

He was traded in the 1963 offseason to the New York Rangers with Phil Goyette and Don Marshall for Dave Balon, Leon Rochefort, Len Ronson and Gump Worsley, seemingly nearing the end of his career at age 34. He played another two (lackluster) seasons for the Rangers before retiring in 1965.

In September of 1967, at the age of 36, he was lured back to the NHL by former Canadiens teammate Bert Olmstead, who had been named coach and general manager of the expansion California Seals. Plante signed a training camp try-out contract with the Seals, but his contract rights still belonged to the Rangers. He left the Seals' training camp and returned to his retirement.

But another chance to play was offered to him by the St. Louis Blues, who had claimed him off the Rangers roster in the Intra-League Draft on June 8th, 1968. His return to the NHL was successful, as he and teammate Glenn Hall split goaltending duties to lead the Blues to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1969. They shared the Vezina Trophy as best goaltenders in the league that season.

He played another splendid season in St. Louis, but with up-and-coming goalie Ernie Wakely on the team, the aged Plante was sold to the Toronto Maple Leafs in May, 1970. In his first season with the Leafs he proved he was not past it by leading the league with the third lowest goals against average (1.88) of the entire expansion era (up to the last few seasons) and was named a league Second Team All-Star.

His third season was not as successful, and he was traded again near the end of the 1973 season to the Boston Bruins for goaltender Ed Johnston. He recorded a long-remembered shutout in his Bruins debut against Chicago and remained very effective in eight regular-season games, but was ineffective in two playoff games, and at age 44, Plante's long NHL career was finally over.

He joined the rival World Hockey Association in 1973 as general manager of the Quebec Nordiques, but lasted only one season there before being lured out of retirement yet again to play for the WHA team which held his playing rights: the Edmonton Oilers. He played one season for the Oilers before retiring for the third and last time at age 46.

Jacques Plante died of stomach cancer in Sierre, Valais, Switzerland, where he had been living for a number of years. He was 57 years old. The main arena in Shawinigan was renamed Arena Jacques Plante in his honour after he died.

His jersey number (#1) was retired by the Montreal Canadiens on October 7, 1995.

The Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy, named in his honor is awarded to the top goaltender in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Awards

Vezina Memorial Trophy, as top goaltender of the Quebec Senior Hockey League (1953)
Vezina Trophy (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1969; shared with Glenn Hall)
First Team All-Star Goalie (1956, 1959, 1962)
Second Team All-Star Goalie (1957, 1958, 1960, 1971)
Hart Memorial Trophy (1962)
played in eight All-Star games (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1969, 1970)
inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978

Records

Career statistics

Regular season


Season	Team	League	GP	W	L	T	MIN	GA	SO	GAA
1947-48	Montreal	QJHL	2	0	0	2	120	5	0	2.50
1947-48	Quebec	QJHL	31	18	11	1	1840	87	2	2.84	64	42	12	10	3840	119	7	1.86
1956-57	Montreal	NHL	61	31	18	12	3660	123	9	2.02
1957-58	Montreal	NHL	57	34	14	8	3386	119	9	2.11
1958-59	Montreal	NHL	67	38	16	13	4000	144	9	2.16
1959-60	Montreal	NHL	69	40	17	12	4140	175	3	2.54
1960-61	Montreal	EPHL	8	3	4	1	480	24	0	3.00
1960-61	Montreal	NHL	40	22	11	7	2400	112	2	2.80
1961-62	Montreal	NHL	70	42	14	14	4200	166	4	2.37
1962-63	Montreal	NHL	56	22	14	19	3320	138	5	2.49
1963-64	New York	NHL	65	22	36	7	3900	220	3	3.38
1964-65	New York	NHL	33	10	17	5	1938	109	2	3.37
1964-65	Baltimore	AHL	17	6	9	1	1018	51	1	3.01
1968-69	St. Louis	NHL	37	18	12	6	2139	70	5	1.96
1969-70	St. Louis	NHL	32	18	9	5	1839	67	5	2.19
1970-71	Toronto	NHL	40	24	11	4	2329	73	4	1.88
1971-72	Toronto	NHL	34	16	13	5	1965	86	2	2.63
1972-73	Toronto	NHL	32	8	14	6	1717	87	1	3.04
1972-73	Boston	NHL	8	7	1	0	480	16	2	2.00
1974-75	Edmonton	WHA	31	15	14	1	1592	88	1	3.32
NHL CAREER TOTALS			837	434	247	146	49533	1965	82	2.38
WHA CAREER TOTALS			31	15	14	1	1592	88	1	3.32

Post season


Season	Team	League	GP	W	L	T	MIN	GA	SO	GAA
1947-48	Quebec	QJHL	9	4	5	0	545	28	2	3.08
1948-49	Quebec	QJHL	13	7	6	0	790	43	0	3.27
1949-50	Montreal	QSHL	6	??	??	??	360	20	0	3.33
1950-51	Montreal	QSHL	7	2	5	0	420	26	1	3.71
1951-52	Montreal	QSHL	7	3	4	0	420	21	1	3.00
1952-53	Montreal	NHL	4	3	1	0	240	7	1	1.75
1953-54	Montreal	NHL	8	5	3	0	480	15	2	1.88
1954-55	Montreal	NHL	12	6	4	0	640	30	0	2.81
1955-56	Montreal	NHL	10	8	2	0	600	18	2	1.80
1956-57	Montreal	NHL	10	8	2	0	616	18	1	1.75
1957-58	Montreal	NHL	10	8	2	0	618	20	1	1.94
1958-59	Montreal	NHL	11	8	3	0	670	28	0	2.51
1959-60	Montreal	NHL	8	8	0	0	489	11	3	1.35
1960-61	Montreal	NHL	6	2	4	0	412	16	0	2.33
1961-62	Montreal	NHL	6	2	4	0	360	19	0	3.17
1962-63	Montreal	NHL	5	1	4	0	300	14	0	2.80
1964-65	Baltimore	AHL	5	2	3	0	315	14	1	2.67
1968-69	St. Louis	NHL	10	8	2	0	589	14	3	1.43
1969-70	St. Louis	NHL	6	4	1	0	324	8	1	1.48
1970-71	Toronto	NHL	3	0	2	0	134	7	0	3.13
1971-72	Toronto	NHL	1	0	1	0	60	5	0	5.00
1972-73	Boston	NHL	2	0	2	0	120	10	0	5.00
NHL CAREER TOTALS			112	71	37	0	6652	240	14	2.16

Quotes

"Suppose you were working at your job one day, and you made a little mistake. Then all of a sudden a red light went on over your desk, and fifteen thousand people stood up and yelled at you that you sucked?" -Jacques Plante

"There are a lot of very good goalies, there are even a fair number of great goalies. But there aren't many important goalies. And Jacques Plante was an important goalie" Ken Dryden from ESPN Classic's SportsCentury series.

Jacques Plante | Jacques Plante