--- description: In 1966, LIFE magazine published an article featuring a photo of NHL goalie Terry Sawchuk looking like a modern Frankenstein's monster. title: Terry Sawchuk, Goalie: A Face Only a Hockey Puck Could Love image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b1d559a6c39af15/69884af22dce012c5c9e32ad/131211-life-hockey-goalie-sawchuk-1966.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Terry Sawchuk: A Face Only a Hockey Puck Could Love by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 10, 2013 9:11 PM CUT  Goalie Terry Sawchuk sports fake scars and wounds applied by a make-up artist to simulate injuries accumulated in 16 years of professional hockey, 1966. Goalie Terry Sawchuk sports fake scars and wounds applied by a make-up artist to simulate injuries accumulated in 16 years of professional hockey, 1966.Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 10, 2013 9:11 PM CUT Once upon a time, NHL goalies played without masks. Unsurprisingly, their faces frequently took beatings. In 1966, LIFE magazine published an article, “The Goalie Is the Goat,” that not only tried to put a human countenance on “hockey’s reviled and bludgeoned fall-guys,” but led off with the striking photo above: Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk, looking for all the world like a modern Frankenstein’s monster. --- > “” --- --- > “” --- “How would you like it,” LIFE quoted another Hall of Fame goalie, Jacques Plante, the first in the NHL to regularly wear a mask, “if you were out on your job or in your office and you made a little mistake. And suddenly a bright red light flashed on behind you and then 18,000 people started screaming, ‘Pig!Stupid! You couldn’t even stop a basketball! Get the bum out of there!'” Sawchuk, meanwhile, had one of the strangest careers of any great NHL player. He was a four-time Stanley Cup winner, an 11-time All Star, won four Vezina trophies and a boatload of other laurels. He also bounced around from team to team — he played for five between 1949 and 1970 — and was depressive, alcoholic and reportedly abusive toward his wife (who eventually divorced him) and kids for years. In 1970, he was badly injured during a fight with his Rangers teammate Ron Stewart, and eventually died of internal injuries, including a bleeding liver. Sawchuk never blamed Stewart for the fight, and repeatedly said the whole thing was a stupid accident. He was 40 years old. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1971\. Below is a photo of him at 22 years old, when he was, according to LIFE, “the greatest hockey goalie ever.”  Goalie Terry Sawchuk sports fake scars and wounds applied by a make-up artist to simulate injuries accumulated in 16 years of professional hockey, 1966. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante, with facial stitches, 1959. George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Jacques Plante, goalie for the Montreal Canadiens, wearing mask of his own design, 1959. George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3878486/terry-sawchuk-a-face-only-a-hockey-puck-could-love/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3878486/terry-sawchuk-a-face-only-a-hockey-puck-could-love/"},"headline":"Terry Sawchuk: A Face Only a Hockey Puck Could Love","datePublished":"2013-12-10T21:11:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:48.629Z","description":"In 1966, LIFE magazine published an article that led off with a striking photo of Hall of Fame goalie Terry Sawchuk, looking for all the world like a modern Frankenstein's monster.","url":"https://time.com/3878486/terry-sawchuk-a-face-only-a-hockey-puck-could-love/","keywords":["Sports topic","hockey","photography","Culture","1966","Ralph Morse"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b1d559a6c39af15/69884af22dce012c5c9e32ad/131211-life-hockey-goalie-sawchuk-1966.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b1d559a6c39af15/69884af22dce012c5c9e32ad/131211-life-hockey-goalie-sawchuk-1966.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Terry Sawchuk, NHL Goalie, 1966","caption":"Goalie Terry Sawchuk sports fake scars and wounds applied by a make-up artist to simulate injuries accumulated in 16 years of professional hockey, 1966.","creditText":"Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3878486/terry-sawchuk-a-face-only-a-hockey-puck-could-love/","name":"Terry Sawchuk: A Face Only a Hockey Puck Could Love"}}]}] ```