Joseph Jacques Omer Plante (French pronunciation: [ʒɑk plɑ̃t]; January 17, 1929 – February 27, 1986) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender.

He played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1953 to 1963; during his tenure, the team won the Stanley Cup six times, including five consecutive wins.

[2][3] Plante retired in 1965 but was persuaded to return to the National Hockey League to play for the expansion St. Louis Blues in 1968.

The fracture failed to heal properly and affected his playing style during his early hockey career; he underwent successful corrective surgery as an adult.

Plante continued knitting and embroidering throughout his life and wore his hand-knitted tuques while playing and practicing until entering the National Hockey League (NHL).

He was watching his school's team practice when the coach ordered the goaltender off the ice after a heated argument over his play, and Plante asked to replace him.

The coach permitted him to play since there was no other available goaltender; it was quickly apparent that Plante could hold his own, despite the other players being many years older than he was.

[11] Plante demanded a salary from the factory team's coach after his father told him that the other players were being paid because they were company employees.

Fans found Plante's unconventional playing style to be exciting,[15] but it angered his managers, who believed that a goaltender should stay in the net and let his players recover the puck.

[16] The same season, the Citadelles beat the Montreal Junior Canadiens in the league finals, with Plante being named the most valuable player on his team.

[22] Selke assigned Plante to the Buffalo Bisons of the American Hockey League so fans in the United States would get to know him.

[7] On February 12, 1954, Plante was called up to the Canadiens and established himself as their starting goaltender – he did not return to the minor leagues for many years.

Although Plante had used his mask in practice since 1956 after missing 13 games because of a sinusitis operation,[34] head coach Toe Blake was afraid it would impair his vision and would not permit him to wear it during regulation play.

[35] However, on November 1, 1959, Plante's nose was broken when he was hit by a shot fired by Andy Bathgate three minutes into a game against the New York Rangers, and he was taken to the dressing room for stitches.

[41] Hampered by terrible pain in his left knee[42] during the 1960–61 NHL season, Plante was sent down to the minor league Montreal Royals.

[45] Later, Plante was at the centre of a major controversy when he claimed that net sizes in the NHL were not uniform, thus giving a statistical advantage to goaltenders playing for the Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers.

[47] After the Canadiens were eliminated for the third straight year in the first playoff round during the spring of 1963, there was mounting pressure for change from their fans and media.

[48] On June 4, 1963, Plante was traded to the New York Rangers, with Phil Goyette and Don Marshall in exchange for Gump Worsley, Dave Balon, Leon Rochefort, and Len Ronson.

Honoured to represent his country, Plante agreed, and after receiving permission from both the Rangers (who owned his rights) and Molson, he began practising.

[50][51] At the beginning of the 1967–68 NHL season, Plante received a call from his ex-teammate Bert Olmstead seeking some help coaching the expansion Oakland Seals.

[56] While playing for the Blues in the 1969–70 playoffs against the Boston Bruins, a shot fired by Fred Stanfield and redirected by Phil Esposito hit Plante in the forehead, knocking him out and breaking his fibreglass mask.

[61] Plante accepted a $1 million, 10-year contract to become coach and general manager of the Quebec Nordiques of the World Hockey Association in 1973.

[65] Radio Canada, the French language branch of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, brought Plante aboard as an on-air analyst for its television broadcasts of the 1972 Summit Series between the national team of the Soviet Union and a Canadian team made up of professional players from the NHL.

Plante was one of the few North American analysts who dissented from the widely held belief in the superiority of the Canadian team.

He wrote hockey columns starting early in his career and was published in La Voix de Shawinigan, Le Samedi, and Sport Magazine.

In his book, Plante outlined a program of goaltender development that included off-ice exercises, choice of equipment, styles of play, and game-day preparation.

[71] His reputation as a teacher spread, and he traveled to Sweden in 1972 at the invitation of the Swedish Hockey Federation, teaching the top goaltenders in the country and their coaches and trainers.

[72] During his first and second retirements, Plante also coached goaltenders and consulted for several NHL teams, including the Oakland Seals, Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal Canadiens and St. Louis Blues.

[56] He moved to Switzerland with his second wife, Raymonde Udrisard, but remained active on the North American hockey scene as an analyst, adviser, and goaltender trainer.

[79] The Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy was established in his honour as an award to the top goaltender in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.