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