Clint Benedict Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Clint Benedict (September 25, 1894, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - November 12, 1976, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) was an ice hockey goalie for the original, now disbanded, Ottawa Senators, and for the also disbanded Montreal Maroons; he was the first to wear a facemask for protection during a game.Benedict first played ice hockey when he was six and by the time he was fifteen was good enough to play senior hockey. During the 1909-1910 season, he played in an Ottawa City league for the Ottawa Stewartons. He then played as an amateur for the Ottawa New Edinburghs before joining the Ottawa Senators for five seasons in the National Hockey Association or NHA. In 1915 his team played for and lost the Stanley Cup to the Vancouver Millionaires. In his off-seasons he was a lacrosse player.
In the 1917-1918 season the Senators became one of the founding members of the National Hockey League or NHL. On February 25, 1918, he recorded the second shutout in NHL history when the Senators blanked the Montreal Canadiens 8-0. The losing goaltender that night was Georges Vezina, who had registered the NHL's first shutout a week earlier. For most of the seven years he spent in Ottawa, Benedict led the NHL in wins. He was part of one of the game's early dynasties when he helped his team win three Stanley Cups in four seasons between 1920 and 1923. His most impressive season was arguably 1919-1920, when his 2.66 goals-against mark was 2.13 goals better than the league average, a mark that was never equaled.
In October 1924, he and fellow Senators player, Punch Broadbent's contracts were sold to the Montreal Maroons. In 1925 he was given the Mappin Trophy as top player on the team. Benedict starred with four shutouts and a 1.00 goals-against average when Montreal won the Stanley Cup in 1926. This last triumph gave Benedict the distinction of being the first goalie to lead two different NHL teams to the Stanley Cup. He was virtually impenetrable in the four-game championship set against Victoria Cougars with a 0.75 goals-against mark. Benedict was known to fake falling to his knees, which was not allowed, to stop the puck. He was nicknamed "Praying Benny" because of his supposed praying when on his knees after faking falls.
Things went well for Benedict until the 1929-1930 season, when he was hit in the nose by a shot from Canadiens player Howie Morenz. On the play he was screened by his own defenseman, Jim Ward. Benedict was knocked unconscious and was taken to the hospital. His cheekbone and nose was crushed. Nearly 30 years before Jacques Plante's innovative goalie mask, Benedict returned to action a few weeks later with a protective cover over his nose. Unfortunately it obscured his vision on low shots and he was forced to abandon the NHL's first facemask. Later in the season he was hit in the throat by another Morenz shot which effectively ended his NHL career. 39 year old Benedict was demoted because of his injuries and played the 1930-1931 season with the Maroons' farm club, the Windsor Bulldogs of the International League and led the team to the league championship in what proved to be his career finale.
Benedict retired at the end of the season with 191 NHL wins and 58 shutouts to his credit. Throughout his career he wore his original thin, cricket-style pads even when the larger leather pads were popularized and were quickly becoming the standard in the 1930s. He then coached the Saint John Beavers in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, before moving to England in 1934. In England, he managed and coached the Wembley Lions of the British Ice Hockey League. As World War II approached, Benedict returned to Canada and to a management position with the Sherbrooke team. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1965. He died in an Ottawa hospital on November 12, 1976.
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