Vote For Greatest Montreal Canadiens Nickname: Round Of 20

Being it the 100th season in the history of the storied Montreal Canadiens franchise, it seems only fitting to vote on the best nicknames for those players who have made the team what it is today.  From "The Rocket" to "Big Bird", you decide who has the best nickname in Canadiens history, starting with the Top 20 names compiled.

To vote, simply reply to this article with your picks of the winners from each of the eight brackets listed below.  Voting will take place for the next two weeks and culminate on Saturday, November 29th with the results and then the Round of 10.  It will be a little bit odd since there are odd numbers, but we are trying to include as many nicknames as possible.

Now, the Round of 20 "Greatest Montreal Canadiens Nicknames" are as follows...

Bracket 1: "St. Patrick" (Patrick Roy) vs. "Jake The Snake" (Jacques Plante)

A first round clash of two of the all-time greatest netminders to ever play, not only in the Montreal net, but in any NHL net during their storied careers.  Jacques Plante's victory laden career included seven Vezina Trophies, one Hart Memorial Trophy, and six Stanley Cups championships, five of which were in a row with the Canadiens of the late 1950s.  

But it wasn't Plante's play that changed the face of goaltending forever, but his face that changed goaltending.  After being hit by a puck off a slapshot by New York Rangers forward Andy Bathgate, Plante received numerous stitches and told Canadiens head coach Toe Blake he wouldn't go back onto the ice without a face mask.  With the first face mask to be worn since Clint Benedict, Plante's mask would start to stick withgoalies who were, more and more, getting facial injuries.  Today, having a mask is required for all netminders.

Despite current New Jersey Devil's netminder Martin Brodeur only a few wins away from Roy's all-time wins record of 551, Roy's career defined goaltending as it is today.  His unique butterfly-style netminding re-wrote the book on how to be a netminder.  As a 20 year-old phenom, Roy led the upstart 1986 Canadiens to a Stanley Cup along with the Conn Smythe Trophy, the youngest to ever win it.

Roy would bring the Cup back to Montreal once again in the 1993 playoffs with yet another upstart Canadiens squad that won 10 overtime games to clinch its 24th Stanley Cup in team history.  Roy might have left Montreal in a temper tantrum, but his 33 will be raised to the rafters during the Canadiens centennial season.

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