Quote:
Originally Posted by habernac
Stolen from Wiki:
In February,1979, Parent's career was cut short by a career ending eye injury in a game against the New York Rangers. An errant stick entered the right eye hole of his mask causing permanent damage to his vision. This incident led many NHL goalies to move away from the fibreglass facemask toward the cage and helmet style widely used today.
Parent was awesome. Lights out when he was on his game, which was most of the time. |
Thanks. 1979 it was.
Funny thing about that paragraph is the "cage and helmet style widely used today" at the end. I wonder when it was written.
I'm not sure when Tony Esposito put that contraption on (I think he later went to just a grid cage over his eyes) but I'm sure it had something to do with Parent's injury.
Strange Factoid: Parent and Esposito shared the Vezina Trophy in 73-74. Near as I can tell, it is the only time two guys on different teams have been awarded that trophy. According to hockeydb, until 1981 it was awarded to the goalie(s) of the team that allowed the fewest goals in a season. Also according to that site, Parent allowed 136 that year while Esposito allowed 141.