reckoning
Registered User
- Jan 4, 2005
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Players wearing helmets in the 50s or 60s?
- Thread starter reckoning
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pappyline
Registered User
Charlie Burns who played late 50's and the 60's always wore one. He had to as his skull was fractured as a junior and he had a metal plate in his head. He is the only one I remember wearing a helmut on a regular basis during that era.
Stan Mikita wore one during the late 60's, but I'm not sure what year he started doing it. I saw him on a taped game from 1969 and he had one on then.
Other players wore them while recovering from injuries (Bobby Hull, for instance, when John Ferguson tried to re-break Hull's jaw with a cheap shot), but I'm not really sure who was the first to wear one all the time, unless it was Tremblay.
Other players wore them while recovering from injuries (Bobby Hull, for instance, when John Ferguson tried to re-break Hull's jaw with a cheap shot), but I'm not really sure who was the first to wear one all the time, unless it was Tremblay.
Crosbyfan
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- Nov 27, 2003
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He developed his own helmet which many other players adopted. IIRC he modified a cup to protect each ear as well.
I had forgotten about that. He did, in fact. At the Ace Baily tribute, he was wearing it.
Mikita ended up wearing a Northland bubble helmet in the 70's (I know, I had one!) that looked like Lanny McDonald's old Lange, but when he was wearing one in the '69 game I have, he was wearing a Cooper one, kind of like Butch Goring's homemade one. John Marks (a Blackhawk at the time) was also wearing one, so...
Das Rancor
Registered User
Dude, you totally cracked me up with this one... The image of Helmut Kohl (or any other fat Helmut) sitting on a hockey players shoulders
red kelly wore one, as did red berenson .. i'm sure more will come to mind as time goes on.............
Did Bererson wear his helmet when he was with the Habs? Might make a good trivia question who was the first Hab to wear a helmet full time?
Big Phil
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- Nov 2, 2003
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Well we can even go as far back as 1972 and we'll see that barely any of the Team Canada players wore helmets. Mikita, Henderson, Berenson and I believe Goldsworthy were the only ones. So that's 4 on a team of 35 guys. Pretty small number even then.
Also when the Soviets won Olympc gold in 1956 they ALL wore helmets. None of the Canadians did but the Soviets did. But in the NHL I'm not so sure even one player had a helmet back in 1956.
Also despite the Masterton theory that a lot of players donned a helmet back in '68 that truth is that not barely any did. Look even as recent as say 1979, it was probably 50/50 even at that time. Once the '79-80 season started it was grandfathered in but most veterans in 1979 didnt wear them.
Also when the Soviets won Olympc gold in 1956 they ALL wore helmets. None of the Canadians did but the Soviets did. But in the NHL I'm not so sure even one player had a helmet back in 1956.
Also despite the Masterton theory that a lot of players donned a helmet back in '68 that truth is that not barely any did. Look even as recent as say 1979, it was probably 50/50 even at that time. Once the '79-80 season started it was grandfathered in but most veterans in 1979 didnt wear them.
No helmets made players like Orr, Hull and Lafleur look even greater. Flying down the ice with hair flowing from side to side..
Crosbyfan
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Chili
Where's the Walrus?
- Jun 10, 2004
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Lafleur actually played his first three NHL seasons wearing a helmet.
Coincidence or not his career took flight after he took the helmet off.
Most of the helmet wearers seemed to be from expansion teams, and players who I recall included Fran Huck, Jude Drouin,Juha Widing, and even Jim Dorey of the Leafs was wearing one by the late 60's.I'm not sure when Gary Bergman began wearing his, but he was one of the earlier "name" players.
Yea he wore a 40's football style leather helmet with the earmuff pad things....it was either eddie shack or shore. I have a picture of him in one of my old hockey books.
the thing i dont understand is why goalies didnt wear helmets till the mid 60's and even into the early 70's. you would figure it would only take 1 shot in the face to figure out its time to wear a helmet/mask, Gerry Cheevers mask is a great example of that.
Chili
Where's the Walrus?
- Jun 10, 2004
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The curved stick and the slap shot. They changed the game. (around the late 50's)
I've heard Johnny Bower say though that he wasn't afraid of being hit with the puck...but more with errant sticks froms scrums in front of the net. Goalers like the Gumper tried the mask but couldn't get used to it. He only began wearing it at the tail end of his career.
pappyline
Registered User
It looks as if Earl Seibert was the first to wear a wear a helmet on a regular basis. See following quote from Legends:
"Earl Seibert played his junior hockey in his hometown, Kitchener, and turned pro in 1929 with the Springfield Indians of the Can-Am league. During his two-year term in Springfield, he suffered a serious concussion and for the rest of his career wore a helmet, making him the first player to wear headgear on a regular basis."
"Earl Seibert played his junior hockey in his hometown, Kitchener, and turned pro in 1929 with the Springfield Indians of the Can-Am league. During his two-year term in Springfield, he suffered a serious concussion and for the rest of his career wore a helmet, making him the first player to wear headgear on a regular basis."
I know about that but at the same time they would get hit in the face with deflected pucks and the random lifted shot. Even into the early 70's goalies some goalies didnt wear masks.
As a hawks fan i know bobby hull and stan mikita crafted the curved stick and like many revolutionary inventions it was on accident.
