25 most bizarre goalie masks in NHL history
By C.L. Kohuss
No. 5: Clint Benedict and his leather face
We can’t with that thing. Pictured at the 1:41 mark in the above video is poor Clint Benedict, a goaltender in the very early days who clearly wasn’t given much chance to protect his face. Neither by himself or his trainers.
At this point in the NHL’s history, they still weren’t wearing masks. It was then that Benedict got knocked in the cheekbone and broke it, so he wanted to go into the next game with something to save it from being completely slogged off his face.
Absolutely this is how the conversation went from the trainer to Benedict: “I’m not too sure how I can help you. I mean, it’s just a broken cheekbone. What are you, scared of a 90 mph puck all of a sudden? Big baby. Look, I tell ya’ what. I’ve got some old and pretty thick leather boots in my closet. What say I cut one up for you and we see how that goes, yeah?”
Jacques Plante is credited most widely with having innovated the mask and been the first to wear one, but it’s really not the case. This scary bit of cowhide came a few decades before, in fact, and about four decades before Texas Chainsaw Massacre stole our hearts. To top it off, Benedict was a darn good NHL netminder.
He won three Stanley Cups and was absurd in the playoffs. In 1928 he posted a goals against average of .86 in nine games, with four shutouts. It goes to prove that as long as you have guts and incredible talent, you really don’t need cheekbones or a face anyway.