In the fall of 1948, I began playing in the Quebec Junior A Hockey League as a member of my hometown Victoriaville Tigers. We were an expansion outfit and were primarily made up of the other teams’ extra players. Despite all of this we were playing close to .500 hockey through the fall as we got set to face off with the first-place Quebec Citadels on November 25.
I didn’t know it at the time but that night would prove to be auspicious for two reasons: It was my first visit to the Quebec Colisée where in the next few seasons I would enjoy some of my greatest successes, initially with the Citadels and later with the Quebec Aces. And it was also the first time I met and shared the ice with Jacques Plante.
By then, Jacques had already garnered a considerable amount of attention for his wandering ways and his habit of charging out of his net to play loose pucks, frustrating the attacking forwards. I was very fortunate that evening to score two goals on Jacques, including one where I beat him to a loose puck and then tucked it into the open net. Years later I would tease Jacques about my open-net goal that night at the Colisée.
In the fall of 1953, I joined the Montreal Canadiens, playing alongside many of those talented players whose exploits I had closely followed while listening to my family’s radio only a few short years before: Maurice Richard, Elmer Lach, and Butch Bouchard. That first year, I tried to learn as much as I could from my new teammates, about what it took to be a professional hockey player and how one should represent the Montreal Canadiens. I wasn’t the only new player with the team that season. Players like Dickie Moore, Bernie Geoffrion, and Doug Harvey had established themselves, and Jacques Plante was into his first year as the team’s starting goaltender after helping the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup in 1953, and a repeat appearance in the finals the spring before.
Jacques took his position very seriously. He approached his profession with a scientific precision and was always looking to better his game. Jacques was a fast, smooth, and agile skater, and used these skills to revolutionize the game. He was able to do things in the net that other goalies couldn’t match. He would stay back in his goal until the last possible moment before striking out to quickly poke-check the puck away from an onrushing forward. He also possessed a quick glove hand and an aptitude for finding the perfect position to face a shooter.
In my third year with the team, Toe Blake became the Canadiens’ head coach. One of the more critical adjustments that Toe made to our team was implementing an attacking style that became famously known as “firewagon hockey.” We could afford to play such a style because of our talented forwards and quick-thinking defencemen and because we had Jacques Plante in our net.
There were times that we found ourselves caught in the wrong end as the other team rushed towards our goal with the puck. It would be up to Jacques to bail us out, and more often than not he would succeed. On nights that our team got off to a sluggish start, and even when the opposition was out-shooting us, the period would often end in a scoreless tie. Jacques would hold the fort until we got our footing and could come back to win the game. With Jacques Plante in the net we were always in the game.
He was certainly responsible for many of our Stanley Cups. The players on the team that won five consecutive championships all shared a dedication to their responsibilities. Each of us had a specific role to play on that team and Jacques did his as well as anybody. We all shared a passion for winning and a disdain for losing. In hockey, without a really good goalie you’re in trouble. As a team we respected Jacques because we knew we had a great goalie backing us up. On the other hand, when a goalie makes a mistake there is nobody to back him up. Jacques accepted that responsibility and thrived on the pressure.
In addition to his play on the ice, Jacques received a lot of attention for what he did off the ice. Like many goaltenders, Jacques tended to be a solitary sort, and he spent his spare moments in a dressing room or on the train knitting. Some of the practical jokers on the team were tempted to bug Jacques about his pastime, but I always tried to dissuade them. I would remind them that Jacques was doing the job in the nets and helping the team win and urged them just to let him be. Luckily for us, they almost always did.
Back in those days we spent a lot of time travelling from city to city by train. Sometimes I would take the seat beside him and the two of us would talk for hours, and not just about hockey, but about family, life, and the future. These are my fondest memories of Jacques.
There has not been a goalie since Jacques Plante with the same talent and determination. He will always be Mr. Goalie to me.