The first mask used fulltime was put on by Jacques Plante.
You notice that I said fulltime ? Well he wasn't the first person to wear the mask. That belongs to Clint Benedict, who wore a mask to protect his broken nose in 1936. He actually was quite the innovator wearing a mask and doing this odd thing of actually going down to his knees to make saves which was illegal at the time, but he had an unusal way to get around it.
He said he was praying. 
. Then the rule change was made where you could go to your knees after everyone saw that it was actually a great idea.
He won 4 Stanley Cups, so he was a top tier player of the time. And was elected to the hall of fame in 1965.
Also in the 1936 Winter Olympics, Teiji Honma wore a crude mask, that looked like a baseball catchers mask. The mask was made of leather, and had a wire cage that was a bit bigger, where Honma had large glasses.
Tonight on the NHL network at 7:00 PM ET, they are having a special on the goaltender mask.
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