All about Jacques Plante, one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history

Joseph Jacques Omer Plante was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who was considered to be one of the most important innovators in ice hockey. Plante played for the Montreal Canadiens who won the Stanley Cup six times, including five consecutive wins. In the year 2017 Plante was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.

Plante was born on a farm near Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel, in Mauricie, Quebec. When he was five years old, Plante fell off a ladder and broke his hand which affected his playing style and later he underwent surgery as an adult.

"When I first put on the mask, the boys all told me I would scare the women," Plante once joked. "If I went on the way I was going, pretty soon my face would look worse than the mask."

Plante played for Montreal's affiliate Royal Montreal Hockey Club, earning $4,500 for the season, and an extra $500 for practising with the Canadiens in the year 1949. Plante introduced a free-roaming style, often skating behind the net to help his defense control the puck. Plante was one of the first goaltenders to skate behind the net to stop the puck. He also was one of the first to raise his arm on an icing call to let his defencemen know what was happening

Plante finally retired from hockey in 1975, after the death of his youngest son. He died in a Geneva hospital in February 1986 and was buried in Sierre, Switzerland.

Google today dedicated a doodle to Jacques Plante.