Jacques Plante (1929–1986) was a Canadian professional ice hockey
goaltender. He won the Stanley Cup six times as a member of the
National Hockey League's (NHL) Montreal Canadiens from 1953 to 1963,
including five times in consecutive seasons. He first retired in 1965,
but returned to play for St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs and
Boston Bruins of the NHL. In 1973, he joined the World Hockey
Association (WHA), first as coach and general manager of the Quebec
Nordiques, then goaltender for the Edmonton Oilers. He finally retired
from professional play in 1975. Plante is one of the most important ice
hockey innovators. His most recognizable contribution is the first
practical goaltender mask, which he debuted during a November 1, 1959
game. While Plante had worn a mask in practice for some time before,
during the game his nose was broken by a shot. Since he was the only
available goaltender, his coach (who was adamantly opposed to
goaltenders wearing masks) caved in to Plante's insistence on wearing
it in an actual game. Plante was the first goaltender to regularly play
the puck outside of his crease. He further aided his fellow players by
shouting directions to them; as the goaltender, he had the best view of
the game. Plante was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Plante>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1611:
The first recorded performance of William Shakespeare's play The
Tempest was held at the Palace of Whitehall in London, exactly seven
years to the day after the first certainly known performance of his
tragedy Othello was held in the same building.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest>
1755:
A 9.0 Mw earthquake and subsequent tsunami destroyed Lisbon, killing
between 10,000 and 100,000 people in Portugal and Morocco.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake>
1800:
John Adams became the first President of the United States to take
residence in the Executive Mansion, later re-named the White House
(pictured today).
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House>
1928:
As part of the reforms implemented under the leadership of Turkish
President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the current 29-letter Turkish alphabet
was established to replace the Ottoman Turkish alphabet as the official
writing system of the Turkish language.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_alphabet>
1963:
The Arecibo Observatory, with the world's largest single-dish radio
telescope, officially opened in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sanctify (v):
1. To make holy; to consecrate; to set aside for sacred or ceremonial
use.
2. To free from sin; to purify.
3. To endorse with religious sanction
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sanctify>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all.
--Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicolas_Boileau-Despr%C3%A9aux>