50 years to the day, the goalie mask was born!

The night Jacques Plante made goaltending history

At approximately 7:10 p.m. on Nov. 1, 1959, 'just another game' turned into one of the landmark moments in NHL history.

The streaking, first-place Montreal Canadiens (8-2-3) were playing the struggling New York Rangers (2-7-2) at Madison Square Garden when at 3:06 in the first, a series of historic events unfolded.

Stan Fischler, who was covering the contest for The Hockey News and The New York Journal-American, vividly recounted the play:

"A Montreal attack was blunted and the Rangers counter-attacked. Andy Bathgate, the Rangers’ hardest-shooting forward, got the puck in the Canadiens' zone. Andy had been notorious among NHL goalies for his slapshot, but this time Bathgate went to his backhand, using a screen. Like Rocket Richard, who was playing for the Habs, Bathgate had a menacing backhander and this one caught Plante square in the mug. Since the old MSG press box hung from the mezzanine, my seat was practically on top of the ice.

"I watched Plante crumble to the ice in a pool of blood. It was obvious that this was serious stuff and the Canadiens’ trainer skidded out to the crease,” Fischler added. “With a trail of blood behind him, the goalie was escorted to the Montreal dressing room.”

Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette, who has covered the NHL for more than 50 years, describes the scene after Plante was struck.

“He had been struck in the face and it opened up a cut from the corner of his mouth all the way up through his nostril,” the dean of NHL writers said. “Try and imagine that – the pain that he was going through.

“I rushed down to the dressing room and there was Plante, looking in the mirror and separating the cut and looking at it. ‘Pretty ugly,’ he said to me. I said ‘Yeah, well you had a good start Jacques.’

“Then he laid down on the table and was stitched by the doctor.”

After a 21-minute delay, Plante returned to the Canadiens’ bench. Hall of Fame center Jean Beliveau recalled the players’ reaction when Plante spoke to Coach Toe Blake.

"Jacques came back to the bench and told Toe, 'I'm ready to go back in but I have to wear my mask,' " Beliveau said. "[Plante] had worn it in practice but Toe never liked the mask until this incident in New York."

“When [Plante] came out with the mask, you could feel and hear the buzz of the crowd,” Fischer recalled.

That November night saw the Canadiens prevail 3-1 over the Rangers, and a goalie change the face of the game forever.

THE MAKING OF THE MASK

With Jacques Plante suffering from asthma attacks, the Canadiens decided to call up a back-up goaltender: Canucks alumnus Cesare Maniago, who had been playing with Spokane.

“When I arrived in Montreal Jacques told me that he was going to have a mask made and asked if I wanted to get one too,” recalls Maniago. “I said yes and we both went to the Montreal General Hospital where they made molds of our faces.”

The masks arrived and both Plante and Maniago first donned the new equipment during a practice. Following the warm up skate, Maniago pulled his mask over his head in preparation for the first shot he was about to face.

“[ Head Coach] Toe Blake skated up to me and asked what I was wearing,” said Maniago. “After a short conversation he told me ‘If I were you I wouldn’t wear that.”

Trying to break into the League, the young keeper decided to put away his mask, at least for his time being with the Canadiens. But Plante stood his ground and continued to wear his mask.

THE TURNING POINT

After his days with the Montreal organization, Maniago brought his mask out of retirement. After a series of losses with the piece of equipment while playing for the New York Rangers, superstition overrode safety and the mask came off, but only temporarily.

It was while he was playing for the North Stars that Maniago witnessed a terrible event to his teammate, forever changing his opinion of the mask.

Gary Bauman was in net when he took a Bobby Hull slapshot to the throat. Severely injured, Bauman’s airway was blocked and he began to turn blue.

Knowing he would have to take to the ice, Maniago turned to one of the trainers and asked that his mask be brought to him. The trainer rushed down 15 flights of stairs and grabbed the mask for keeper.

“There were times in my career that I knew if I hadn’t been wearing a mask, I probably wouldn’t be here today,” says Maniago of the slapshots he faced.

From that point on, Maniago followed in the footsteps of Plante and wore his mask until the conclusion of his career with the Canucks in 1977.78.

THE REACTION

“It’s not manly,” “I won’t be able to see the puck clearly,” “fans won’t be able to identify who you are” were all excuses muttered in an attempt to prevent goaltenders from wearing the mask.

It seems almost inconceivable today that goaltenders ever played without protecting their faces.

Jacques Plante forever changed the dynamics of hockey when he made a simple yet strong statement when he chose to protect himself with a mask. He was able to resist the scrutiny and pressure to adhere to a “macho code” perhaps, in the long run, helping to save the lives of goaltenders that followed. The first of November marks the day that the ‘face of hockey’ changed forever.

- Canucks.com

3 in a row, and the Captain gets a shutout!

The Vancouver Canucks win their third straight game. Roberto Luongo posted his 48th career shutout in the 2-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Luongo's  shutout moved him into a tie with San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov for third place on the active list, one behind Detroit's Chris Osgood, but 54 back of New Jersey's Martin Brodeur.

It was also Luongo's 21st shutout with Vancouver, moving him past Kirk McLean and into first place on the franchise's all-time list despite playing just over three seasons with the Canucks.

Michael Grabner, and Henrik Sedin scored for the Vancouver Canucks. Grabner's second of the season, moving him almost up to a point a game on the season. Henrik's second period goal was his first since his brother Daniel had dropped from the line-up due to injury.

It wasn't a flashy win, but it was a great win for the confidence of a few players. 2 points looks good no matter how it's aquired.

- Jase

ONE OUT, ONE IN

Kyle Wellwood will be out with a broken toe without a definite timeline for his return. He is officially day-to-day.

"It's just a matter of when I can fit it into a skate an put some more pressure on it," he said.

The injury occured after taking a shot off his skate in the third period against the Leafs Saturday night.  Wellwood has an assist in the first 10 games this season.

Sergei Shirokov was recalled Sunday morning and is en route to Vancouver. He will slot into tonight's lineup but Bowness didn't say who he will skate with.

Shirokov immediately made an impact upon his return to Manitoba earlier this month and is currently the team's leading scorer with 10 points (4-6-10) in as many games.

- CDC

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Canucks compound Leafs’ misery

The Vancouver Canucks compounded the misery of the floundering Maple Leafs, defeating Toronto 3-1 at General Motors Place on Saturday.

Power-play goals by Mason Raymond and Ryan Kesler gave the Canucks a 2-0 lead after the first period and Niklas Hagman responded for the Leafs in the second, cutting the lead in half.

Toronto threw everything it had at Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo in the third period, but the Canucks captain held the fort to give his team the victory and Raymond added an empty-netter late to ice the game.

"We did everything we had to do except bury the scoring chances we had," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson.

With a 5-5-0 record, Vancouver is back at the .500 mark, while the Leafs (0-7-1) remain the only winless team in the NHL this season and are off to their worst start in franchise history.

Third-string goalie Joey MacDonald kept Toronto in the game when the Canucks pressed for the third goal, but wound up with his third loss of the season, making 23 stops in the contest.

Luongo showed why he's considered one the best goalies in the league, stopping 35 of 36 shots, with 23 of those coming in the final two frames as the Leafs pressed.

"They were throwing everything on the net and crashing the net but during those spots I thought we did a pretty good job protecting the front of the net," Luongo said.

Toronto carried the play for the first five minutes of the game, but landed into penalty trouble and it cost the squad two goals.

Canucks strike first

Raymond gave Vancouver the opening goal on the Canucks' third straight power play in the first period. He jammed the puck past MacDonald at 14:50 for his second of the season.

Vancouver exploited terrible Toronto penalty killing again on the Canucks' fourth straight power play of the period. Kesler fired a shot through traffic and past MacDonald at 17:32 for his fourth goal of the season.

After Toronto took the only four penalties of the first period, the Canucks were down a man three times to the Leafs' one in the second period.

Hagman gave Toronto some hope on the Leafs' final power play of the period, firing a shot past Luongo at 16:46 of the frame.

Matt Stajan did most of the work on the goal, as he drew the penalty, screened Luongo on the man-advantage, and was rewarded with an assist on the play.

In the third, the Leafs threw everything they had at Luongo, but couldn't find the back of the net a second time.

Their best chance came near the five-minute mark as Luongo was down-and-out during a scramble in front of the net, but Toronto's Rickard Wallin fanned on the shot with the cage gaping wide.

Vancouver got a break on that play too, as Ale Edler cleared the puck out of the Canucks' crease by closing his hand on it, a clear penalty shot play. But with all the chaos in front, the referees missed the call.

The Canucks had the best chances to score when MacDonald was pulled for an extra attacker, hitting the post twice and missing the open net by inches, and Raymond finally put the game away with his second of the game at 19:52.

Vancouver was outshot 23-13 in the final two periods.

-CBC

Canucks rally over Blackhawks

The Vancouver Canucks scored twice in the third period, including Mikael Samuelsson's winning goal with 4:42 remaining, to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 at the United Center on Wednesday night.

It marked Vancouver's first road win this season, and avenged last spring's 7-5 loss at Chicago that eliminated the Canucks from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Samuelsson stripped Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane of the puck at the side boards, sashayed closer to the net and unleashed a shot that beat netminder Antti Niemi to the trapper side for the decisive goal, his team-high fifth of the season.

Three minutes earlier, Blackhawks forward Dustin Byfulien was penalized for high-sticking Kevin Bieksa behind the net and Canucks rookie Michael Grabner tied it 2-2 on the ensuing power play, ripping a shot between Niemi's blocker and right pad from the circle for his first NHL goal.

Steve Berner also tallied a power-play goal, potting a rebound 46 seconds into the second peroid, and Roberto Luongo posted 18 saves for the Canucks (4-5-0).

Duncan Keith led the Blackhawks (5-3-1) with a goal and an assist, opening the scoring on a shot from the point 13:26 into the contest.

Troy Brouwer later tipped another point shot from Keith for Chicago's second goal.

Niemi faced 31 shots in defeat.

Of concern for Chicago is the status of captain Jonathan Toews, who wobbled to the bench and later the dressing room after being steamrolled at centre ice by rugged rearguard Willie Mitchell in the third period.

Mitchell stepped out of the penalty box in time to level Toews with a clean yet forceful open-ice hit, just as the Blackhawks captain had corralled the puck.

- CBC Sports

KHABIBULIN MAKES 39 SAVES AS OILERS DEFEAT CANUCKS

EDMONTON - After a shaky start to the season, the Bulin Wall is standing tall in Edmonton.

Nikolai Khabibulin made 39 saves as the Edmonton Oilers held on for a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.

Sam Gagner scored the third period winner for the Oilers (5-2-1), who have won four of their last five games. Patrick O'Sullivan scored Edmonton's other goal and assisted on Gagner's winner.

"I don't think we started too well in the game," Khabibulin said. "But from the second period on I thought we took it to them and played pretty well.

"We know we aren't going to score five or six goals every game so we need to win games like this too. In the playoffs the games are lower scoring so we might as well learn how to win those now."

Some strong goaltending by Khabibulin early in the third kept Edmonton in it at 1-1 and they took advantage midway through the period as Gagner chipped a rebound over a sprawled Roberto Luongo during a scramble in front of the Vancouver net.

There was some drama at the end as Ales Hemsky was hauled down going for an empty-netter and six Vancouver attackers crossed into the Edmonton zone against just three defenders.

Kyle Wellwood seemed to score with the extra attacker in the final second, but a video review determined that time had expired before the puck crossed the goal-line.

"I heard the horn but it happened so quick I wasn't sure," said Khabulin, who had allowed last minute goals in the Oilers' two losses to Calgary earlier in the season. "The way things have gone for us of late I was holding my breath until referee made the final ruling. That was nice."

Oilers head coach Pat Quinn said his team was lucky the Canucks didn't tie the game on their final rush.

"It was a six-on-three attack and our defence looked up and saw the bodies coming and just decided to back in and pray, it looked like," Quinn said. "But for seconds it is in the net."

Steve Bernier had the lone goal for the Canucks (3-5-0) who have yet to capture a win on the road in four attempts this season.

"It was definitely not a good end result for us," said Canucks defenceman Christian Erhoff. "It may have been our best road performance but unfortunately we couldn't the puck in the net.

"It's not good to lose divisional games like this and let teams get an early start on us."

Vancouver opened the scoring after several giveaways in their own zone finally came back to haunt the Oilers. Denis Grebeshkov failed to clear the zone as he coughed up the puck to Wellwood and Bernier was on the doorstep to put in a rebound past Khabibulin.

The Canucks had an opportunity to go up by two with five minutes left as Mikael Samuelsson snuck out form behind the net, but Khabibulin noticed him just in time to come across and make a quick skate save.

Edmonton tied the game 1-1 just 26 seconds into the second period as O'Sullivan corralled a hard pass from Grebeshkov at the side of the net and hammered the puck past Luongo.

Vancouver had the best chance in the remainder of the second period, but Khabibulin made a save on a hard power-play slapshot by Wellwood to keep the game tied after 40 minutes.

The Canucks conclude a short two-game trip in Chicago on Wednesday. Edmonton wraps up a three-game homestand against Columbus on Thursday.

Notes: Oiler forward Gilbert Brule, who had two goals in Edmonton's previous game against Minnesota, was a late scratch, suffering from the flu. He was replaced by Ales Hemsky who played despite still suffering from the flu himself and sitting out the previous game. The Oilers cancelled their practice on Tuesday to try and combat the bug going through the rooma Also out for Edmonton were defencemen Sheldon Souray and Steve Staios, both with concussions. Marc-Antoine Pouliot is out 8-10 weeks following hernia surgery and Fernando Pisani is still out with a back injury, but has resumed skating. a Edmonton forward Ryan Stone left the game with a leg injury and did not returna Still missing from the Vancouver lineup due to injuries were Daniel Sedin, Sami Salo, Mathieu Schneider and Pavol Demitra. a The Canucks sat forward Darcy Hordichuk in favour of Tanner Glass. a Luongo made his eighth consecutive start. a Wellwood's first period assist was his first point in eight games this season.

- The Canadian Press

Daniel Sedin will be sidelined 4-6 weeks

Daniel Sedin will be sidelined 4-6 weeks with a fractured foot. After blocking a shot off his right foot against Montreal Wednesday night, he was in to see Team Doctors to check out his heel. It turns out they thought it was a deep bone bruise, but further testing revealed a fracture. This means we're going to see Henrik take the stage without the support of his red headed twin Daniel.

Brother Henrik offered up this tidbit "It's a little sore today ... He got treatment this morning and left after that. It shouldn't be too big of a thing. He's walking all right but getting the foot in the skate wasn't very comfortable.  He should be all right."

Other reports said Daniel was on crutches and a cast already.

The Canucks recalled Guillaume Desbiens Saturday morning and is likely to play Sunday as the Dallas Stars visit GM Place.

- Jase

Sergei Shirokov sent to the Moose!

Sergei Shirokov has been sent to the Manitoba Moose. The Canucks do not play for a few days; he can pick up a few games during this break, and possibly bring him back next week sometime. This young NHL rookie needs as much North American ice as possible to build his level of knowledge and skill on the smaller ice surface.

Lions win vs Riders

Sean Whyte kicked a 33-yard field goal with five seconds left on the clock Friday night as the BC Lions beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 19-16 to boost their hopes of hosting to a CFL playoff game.

The winning points came after receiver Geroy Simon made a shoestring catch at the BC 51-yard line to keep the game-winning drive alive.

Whyte's fourth field goal of the game made up for two misses in a first half dominated by the Lions.

BC improved to 6-7 and caught Edmonton for third place in the congested West Division after the Eskimos lost to Winnipeg earlier Friday.

Halfback Ryan Phillips recorded his fourth interception of the season on Friday nightSaskatchewan -- which lost for the second time in three starts -- slipped to 7-6. They remain tied for first with Calgary but the Stampeders can move ahead by winning Saturday in Hamilton.

BC backup quarterback Travis Lulay threw his first professional touchdown pass, a 38-yard completion to Paris Jackson for the Lions' only major score.

Lulay, in for starting quarterback Buck Pierce on a second-down short-yardage play, gave the Lions a 13-3 lead early in the second half.

Pierce threw for more than 300 yards with Jackson and Simon his favourite targets. Both had more than 100 receiving yards.

Andy Fantuz caught a 24-yard pass from Saskatchewan quarterback Darian Durant to draw the Riders to within two points at 16-14 late in the game.

Durant's scrambling kept Saskatchewan's two-point conversion attempt alive and he eventually found Gerran Walker in the end zone for a 16-16 tie.

Luca Congi kicked field goals of 49 and 47 yards and Whyte conceded a safety for Saskatchewan's other points.

The Lions piled up 272 yards of offence in the first half but could not finish drives and held only a 6-3 lead at the intermission.

Pierce completed 16-of-22 passes, including his first nine throws, but two marches stalled at the Saskatchewan one-yard line.

Martell Mallett racked up 81 rushing yards on 20 carries during Friday's tilt with SaskatchewanTailback Martell Mallett was denied twice from the one and Lulay was also rejected by the Roughrider defence.

While Whyte connected for two field goals, he hit the right upright from 31 yards and was wide left from 45.

Saskatchewan's offence sputtered, converting only one of 10 second-down situations and sacks of Durant, who was intercepted three times ended three drives.

NOTES: Wally Buono was saluted before kickoff for his CFL-record 232nd coaching victory achieved Sept. 19 against Toronto . . . NFL journeyman Damane Duckett started at right tackle for the Lions, replacing Jason Jimenez, who's out with an ankle injury .

- BClions.com