1. Gerry Cheevers
Gerry Cheevers still holds the NHL record he set for goaltenders in 1971-72 when he went unbeaten for 32 straight games, but there is something else that he is more known for leaguewide.
His mask.
He started out with a plain white mask, just as everyone else in the 12-team league had at the time, but things changed for the Boston Bruins netminder one day in practice when he was hit in the mask with a rocket shot that sent him to the ice.
He was escorted into the dressing room, where he began to get undressed, when coach Harry Sinden came in telling him to get back out on the ice.
He agreed, but before he could put the mask back on that saved him from getting real stitches, one of the trainers took a black marker and marked on the plain white mask a drawing of 10 stitches where he had taken the shot.
It started as a joke, but soon Cheevers began using the magic marker to draw on fake stitches every time he was hit in the face, whether during practice or games.
Soon the entire canvas was covered in black stitch drawings, and launched both him and the face shield into legendary status. Kids grew up wanting a Cheevers mask. Other goalies around the league began designing their masks in creative ways to match what he had done.
But none was as popular, or as recognizable as Cheevers' magic marker mask.
It may not be the most colourful or taken the longest to design, but the fact that it was all drawn on by him or his trainers gives it a real sense of, well, realness.
It was a symbol of who he was, and lives on as the most popular mask in NHL history to this day, simply because of how real it was.
As a goalie he got hit in the face with pucks. Instead of having real stitches in his face, the mask protected him, so he drew fake stitches on that.
So simple, and yet oh so good.
It is so popular in fact, that when Steve Shields was traded to the Bruins, he had his helmet designed in honour of the famous Cheevers mask, as we saw earlier.
There will never be another mask like Cheevers', who made it so authentic and memorable by simply adding to it every time it did its job.
There is no doubting it is the best, most popular mask ever worn in NHL history.
Slide Show at thread link ... for those interested in seeing all the masks.
AND
Don't forget to tune in to VS tonight to watch Game 3 between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay. The semi-final series is tied at 1 game a piece.
