Jacques Plante is synonymous with hockey and his actions helped revolutionize the game. A Riverview man has a piece of equipment believed to be associated with the legendary goaltender. Kyle Lewis says three years ago, a client came across a goalie mask at a work site.
“He bought it off of the guy for next to nothing and gave it to me as a gift,” said Lewis
It turns out this gift may be more like a treasure. It’s believed this mask may have belonged to, or at least been endorsed by hall-of-famer Plante.
“If you look on the inside of it, you can see the name Jacques Plante is quite easy to make out and involves the year ’71, which of course I would think would mean 1971,” added Lewis.
The mask also bears the imprint of the company Fibresport, which Lewis says Plante was associated with.
The discovery is important enough to draw the attention of the Hockey Hall of Fame, which has requested it be donated to its collections.
Plante revolutionized the use of the goalie mask after his bare face was struck by a puck during a game in 1959. Lewis isn’t ignorant to its significance.
“If you look nowadays, every goalie has a very personalized mask,” he said. “They get kids on their their favourite band, always a unique design.
“If it weren’t for Jacques Plante, we wouldn’t have any of those designs, right”?
Lewis says there has been no shortage of suggestions of what he should do, but it’s pretty clear where the mask is headed.
“You should hang on to it, you should try and sell it, you should donate it,” he said. “Everyone has an opinion on what I should do with it. You could put it in a place where everybody has an opportunity to enjoy it alongside countless other memorabilia.
“So realistically that’s where I think it will end up someday anyway. So you know why not now?”
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