BATHGATE CONFESSES
Turns out the shot that revolutionized goaltending, sending a broken-nosed Jacques Plante into the nets on Nov. 1, 1959, at Madison Square Garden with the first mask, was not an accident.
“Jacques gave me a poke check when I went behind the net, and I could have broken my neck,” recalls Andy Bathgate, whose Rangers No. 9 will be retired along with Harry Howell’s No. 3 in ceremonies before tomorrow night’s game against Toronto. “I went in and got stitched up and said, ‘I got to get him back.’
“I used to try and score by going around the net and hooking it in, so I surprised him [by shooting] and gave him a little bow tie right on the cheek [and a broken nose]. It wasn’t a slap shot, but I meant it. How else are you going to get back on the goaltender? ‘Course, I didn’t say that then.”
Bathgate, who played for the Rangers from 1952-64, said he had revealed his intentions toward Plante in the past, but Bob Wolff, the legendary broadcaster who co-authored a book with Bathgate, said he never had heard this confession.
