via upload.wikimedia.org

Bruce McCurdy has a great piece on Jacques Plante and the grudging acceptance of the goalie mask in the NHL over the Copper and Blue.  It always seems crazy to think that helmets - for hockey, football and baseball - were once seen as unnecessary, let alone a sign that the wearer was anything less than 'manly'.  That's why I have all my teeth and my dad has three.  That, and fluoridated water and modern dentistry, but hockey was the main culprit...