Who knew?
You all are aware that I'm a rabid hockey fan, and am especially interested in goalies (because of the Devils' fabulous goaltender Martin Brodeur who's on the verge of setting a couple of major records, but more about that another time). I just found an interesting piece of trivia about another famous goaltender, Jacques Plante.
"Jake the Snake" Plante was part of six Stanley Cup championship teams (the Montreal Canadiens), won a record seven Vezina Trophies (given to the best goalie in the NHL), was the first goalie to regularly wear a protective mask, and developed the modern style of stand-up goal-tending. He's in the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Canadiens have retired his number. Pretty impressive stuff!
Guess what? He was a knitter! Yup, his mom made money doing knitting piecework. She taught him to knit so he could make his own tuques (warm wool hats) to keep him cozy when he was out playing pond hockey in the frigid Quebec winters. Here he is in one of his handknit tuques:
You can see him in his goalie pads with his tuque in the photo of his junior team below.
Once he moved up to the NHL, his coaches wouldn't allow him to wear his lucky hat. However, he continued to knit as a way of relaxing from the pressures of being a professional goalie.
So real men knit too.
"Jake the Snake" Plante was part of six Stanley Cup championship teams (the Montreal Canadiens), won a record seven Vezina Trophies (given to the best goalie in the NHL), was the first goalie to regularly wear a protective mask, and developed the modern style of stand-up goal-tending. He's in the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Canadiens have retired his number. Pretty impressive stuff!
Guess what? He was a knitter! Yup, his mom made money doing knitting piecework. She taught him to knit so he could make his own tuques (warm wool hats) to keep him cozy when he was out playing pond hockey in the frigid Quebec winters. Here he is in one of his handknit tuques:
You can see him in his goalie pads with his tuque in the photo of his junior team below.
Once he moved up to the NHL, his coaches wouldn't allow him to wear his lucky hat. However, he continued to knit as a way of relaxing from the pressures of being a professional goalie.
So real men knit too.
Labels: goalie, ice hockey, knitting
posted by Nancy Herkness at 11:06 PM
6 Comments:
very cool! How is it whenever i say "toque" no one knows what i'm talking about! lol, guess it's the canadian in me!
The term 'toque' was new to me, but I'm a long ways down the map from Canada. ;-Þ
That was a very cool bit of trivia. :-)
Turtle and Renna, I confess I had to look it up although I know the word "toque" so I figured "tuque" must be similar. According to the dictionary, "tuque" is distinctly French Canadian with "toque" being more widely recognized.
As a hockey fan, I am learning to speak "Canadian" and ADORE the accent, esp. "aboot" instead of "about" and the "eh" at the end of sentences. It's such a lovely, musical way of speaking.
I too am a hockey nut. I am sure you are aware of the GREAT season our Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Steve Mason is having! At 20 years old, CBJ fans are looking forward to a great run. Jill S
My fellow hockey nut Jill! Funny you should mention Steve Mason. He and I have something in common. If you're curious, it's on my blog http://fromthegarret.wordpress.com/
Goalies fascinate me so I've been watching your young up-and-comer. Pretty impressive!
Sorry about your Avs! It's no fun when there's no hope, is it? There's always next season though.
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