Hockey without a mask

Portrait of 36-year-old Ukrainian-born Canadian ice hockey player Terry Savchuk, nicknamed “Uke”, who played hundreds of games in the National Hockey League before masks became mandatory equipment. The photo was taken by photographer Ralph Morse in 1966 for Life magazine. Morse wanted to emphasize the number of injuries on the hockey players body and asked the makeup artist to draw stitches on Savchuks scars. Until the early 1960s, NHL coaches believed that a mask limited the goalkeepers field of vision, and any concern about their own safety was condemned. Even dodging the puck was seen as a sign of weakness. Dissections made with a sharp skate blade or from a puck were common. They were sewn up hastily during the break, after which the athletes returned to the ice.

Earlier in Old Photos: “Its like my neck got scratched... “, Two and a half minutes before death.