Today it seems like common sense, but more than 50 years ago it was very controversial and a game-changing moment for the NHL.

As of Thursday, it's been 53 years since Jacques Plante first wore a goalie mask in a game, becoming the first goalie to do so on a regular basis.

(It's worth pointing out that Clint Benedict, a goalie for the old Montreal Maroons tried a leather mask in the 1920s but never wore it on a regular basis. So while Plante wasn't the first goalie to do so, he was the first one to do it regularly).

It first happened for Plante on Nov. 1, 1959, when he was playing for the Montreal Canadiens and was hit in the face by an Andy Bathgate slap shot at Madison Square Garden. The shot ripped a pretty sizable gash in his face and broke his nose. Plante left the ice and eventually returned to the game -- which had been halted because the Canadiens had no other goalie that night -- with a mask he had been wearing in practice, much to the chagrin of his coach at the time, Hockey Hall of Famer Toe Blake.

Blake was not going to let Plante wear the mask in future games, but he refused to play if he wasn't able to continue wearing it.

The Canadiens won the Nov. 1 game against the Rangers, 3-1, and Plante helped to forever change the position.

It's something to think about when a discussion pops up regarding something like the potential use of mandatory visors at the NHL level. There are players and hockey people in the game who are 100 percent opposed to the idea of it, much like Blake and others at the time were against the use of the goalie mask. But there could come a time in the future where that piece of equipment is as common -- and viewed as such a common sense piece of equipment -- as the goalie mask now is today.

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