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Jacques Plante: The Man Who Changed the Face of Hockey

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I was lucky enough to have seen the game's greatest goalie late in his career, when he was playing with the St. Louis Blues, platooned with his old rival (and fellow Hall of Famer) Glenn Hall. He's been a hero for as long as I can remember. Denault manages to capture the rough-and-tumble world of old-time hockey with crisp, precise prose and a clear love for the history of the game. But even more importantly, he is able to freeze-frame that most mercurial of talents, goaltending, and paint a 3-D portrait of a very complex man. His research is meticulous and he's not unduly respectful of one of the game's legendary figures, rendering a vivid image without either glorifying or disparaging Plante's enduring reputation. This is the best hockey book of 2009, and rivals Randall Maggs' Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems as one of the best books ever written about a goalie. If you are a Canadiens fan, a goalie, or just a fan of the coolest sport on ice, this is a must-read.

The mid to late 1950's spawned an era in hockey that could have been called the Golden Age of Goalies. Terry Sawchuck, Glenn Hall, Johnny Bower and Roger Crozier all patrolled the nets into the mid-1960's and beyond, but none achieved the heights and glory of Jacques Plante.

Later additions of padded greatness included Tony Esposito, Ken Dryden, Grant Fuhr, and Dominek Hasek. All lay claim as the best that ever was, but Plante stays in the argument.

He was meticulous, eccentric, detached, and offbeat, but he was undeniably great. He played until he was 46 years old and took a studied, professorial approach to his craft. He was also a winner, whose ambition fueled him to seven Vezina's, five Stanley Cups and the admiration and respect of a generation of hockey fans, coaches and players.

This a crisply researched and well documented biography. It looks into the psyche of its subject in hard depth, and takes in not only biographical material of other hockey bios, but also interviews many of those who knew Jacques Plante.

Often inscrutable, Plante lived through his achievements both on the ice, and later, as a mentor. His monastic pursuit of hockey excellence is unmatched.

This is an excellent read on a highly interesting subject. It is recommended highly for any serious hockey fan.

Jacques Plante "The Man Who Changed The Face Of Hockey", by Todd Denault, proves to be one of the finest hockey biographies ever written. The cover photo of the book immediately grabs your attention, as a blood stained Plante prepares to change hockey history, by donning the mask for the first time, after he was on the receiving end of an Andy Bathgate slapshot to the face. This book traces his poor beginnings in Shawinigan Falls, and his rise to hockey stardom with the Montreal Canadiens, and his ups and downs with the New York Rangers, ST. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, and his end of career stint with the WHA. More importantly, Jacques Plante is portrayed as the true innovator of modern day goaling in the NHL. He perfected the mask from antiquated beginnings, and improved designs for 15 years, culminating in his classic Fibrosport design[Bernie Parent etc], which at the time provided more protection then ever before. By all accounts, he was the first goalie to communicate with his defensemen with hand signals which goalies use today, to indicate icing. He was the first goalie in history to leave the crease and play the puck, which was unheard of back in the 50's. Goalies like Ed Giacomin, Ron Hextall, and of course Marty Brodeur took it to another level, but the foundation of such daring play was started by the great Jacques Plante, who's influence on the game remains intact even today. He was a complex man, who like many goalies of his day like Terry Sawchuk, was a loner who owned a brilliant hockey mind both on and off the ice. Jacques Plante died young at 57 years of age in 1986, but he leaves behind a Hall Of Fame Career, and innovations that changed the game of ice Hockey forever.

There are a few good sports biographies but fewer great ones. This is one of the greats and from a first time author at that!

Huge points for author Todd Denault using Klein and Reif's Hockey Compendium (possibly the best hockey analysis book ever done) and their massive save percentage database stats to prove just how great Plante was in an era when they only had goals against average as the stat du jour. Denault, though, doesn't fall into the trap of just using stats nor of ignoring GAA in the context of the era. He just strikes the right balance.

To be honest, I knew a lot about Plante, his wandering, knitting, asthma and his introduction of the modern mask to netminding. What I was looking for in this book was to fill me in on the pre- and post-Habs era especially his time with the Leafs and Blues and his Hasek-like ability to play outstanding goal into his 40s.

We get that in spades here. I was surprised to learn so many things such as the fact as juniors many of the stars of the '60s did get a chance to play the Soviets which makes the early shock at the Soviets' play in the 1972 Summit Series sort of bizarre given all this prior contact on the ice at the amateur level.

Without giving any more away on the surprises you'll find about the "good ole days" of the Original Six, just be assured you'll garner great sympathy for the man Jacques Plante over and above his skills on the ice.

Todd Denault examines ground-breaking hockey goalie Jacques Plante in this biography, a book that truly gets beneath the public image to reveal a complex man of conflicting characteristics, but one that has influenced generations of goalies. In an era that has been called a Golden Age of hockey goalies, Plante stood apart and his reputation endures.

Rated one of the top sports books - see [...]

I am a cursory hockey fan at best. somewhere i read that this was a very good book -- so i figured I would expand my horizons.
not only is this a keen insight into plante's life and how he changed hockey, but it's also a great look into the history and growth of the NHL.
written very well. i thoroughly enjoyed it.

As a hockey fan and an even bigger fan of the history of the game and it's great players it was great to read about all the old time hockey players opinion of the game in that era and about one of the greatest innovators in the sport of hockey. Mr. Plante revolutionized the position of goaltender, and the game has never been the same.

This is an excellent book about one of hockey's greatest netminders Jacques Plante. He reinvented how a goalkeeper played the game with his unique style and the advent of the mask. The book shares a portrait of the man behind the mask and it reflects his devotion to the game through his continuous study on how other goalkeepers played the game, and it also brought forth his character as a man. Too often athletes are not viewed for their human qualities. This book provides a perspective on how Jacques Plante faced all that life threw at him on and off the ice. His analytical qualities as per the game are well-noted and as a fan who grew up watching him play as a kid, I still remain in awe of him as a hockey player and a person.

Jacques Plante was, unquestionably, one of the most important athletes in the history of sport. He was ahead of his time in many ways as detailed by author Todd Denault. He was the first goalie to take a stand for the mask ( he did not invent the mask; the scholarship is still out on that but he deserves most of the credit nonetheless ), was the first to make roaming from the net acceptable, approached off-ice training differently, lobbied for deferred-payment contracts, advocated positional coaching, etc. Also, indisputably, he was great. Great. His record and longevity speak for themselves. Having a modern era bio of Plante on the bookshelves was a crying need in the world of hockey literature, and Dennault's effort is game here, but does fall short in key areas.

While the book has several factual mistakes ( Eddie Johnston did not start his career with expansion; he was an established NHL starter in the early 60's...Tony Esposito did not wear a Fibrosport mask...Plante is extremely over-credited for the successes of goalies he coached )including one that, along with some noteworthy omissions, betrays the author's agenda. ( Please undertsand that I find it wholly acceptable to hold a point of view and advocate for it in your wrtiting, but you do need to present and face the facts head on. )

One revealing mistake is in the description of Plante's remarkable comeback with St. Louis after a 3 year retirement. His first game back was not a shutout. His first game back was a 4-3 loss to Chicago in Chicago. The author says Plante partner and long-time rival Glenn Hall was in goal for that game. Wrong. The author also elects not to document what Plante said in his first press conference when St.L drafted him. He stated that Hall would be the best back-up goalie he ever had. Stl management quickly made him apologize for that statement.

The author skirts around the difference between what the Vezina stood for when Plante was winning it consecutively for the Canadiens, and what it means today. Today, it goes to the best goalie in the league. It is an individual award. Then, it went to the team with the least amount of goals against, a virtual team award. When Plante was winning Vezinas, he was NOT the league's First Team All Star goalie...most of the time Hall ( who played on the defensively challenged Blackhawks ) was. The author does not acknowledge the signficance of the fact that when Plante was dealt from the Habs to the downtrodden Rangers, his successor in net, Charlie Hodge, won the Vezina continuing the Canadien tradition of defensive excellence. Simply stated, the author gives Plante too much of a pass on his weaknesses as a player and as a person far too often.

The book is also written as if the author gets a percentage for using the word "unfortunately" when any of Plante's teams lost. That's a little "homer-ish" for my tastes. The foreward by Jean Beliveau is basically a reprint from Le Gros Bill's autobiography, and the photos chosen for the book are the most-often seen of any. Nothing new or rare here.

Plante did not need the author to whitewash his deficiencies. His place in history is secure. This book is good, but it is not as special as its subject was.