Born in
Montreal, Quebec, Plasse played in the
National Hockey League (NHL) from
1970 to
1982 after being the first overall draft pick in the
1968 NHL Amateur Draft. During his NHL career, he played for the
St. Louis Blues (1970–71),
Montreal Canadiens (1972–74),
Kansas City Scouts (1974–75),
Pittsburgh Penguins (1975–76),
Colorado Rockies (1976–80), and
Quebec Nordiques (1981–1982). Despite being a first draft pick, Plasse played just sixty minutes in goal for his first club, St. Louis, playing mainly for their affiliate, the
Kansas City Blues of the
Central Hockey League. On February 21, 1971, the
Oklahoma City Blazers were trailing the Blues 2–1 and decided to pull their goaltender. Plasse scored on the open net and became
the first professional goalie in the history of the game to score a goal. Plasse returned to Kansas City as the first pick of the NHL Scouts in the 1974 expansion draft. Plasse attended the draft at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel. "All year long, I said I was going to Kansas City. I used to sing that in the locker room to my teammates, 'Kansas City, here I come,'" Plasse told Jay Greenberg of the
Kansas City Star. (''Icing on the Plains: The Rough Ride of Kansas City's NHL Scouts'', pp. 41-42) In total, Plasse clocked up 16,760 regular season minutes on ice in 299 games, conceding 1,058 goals with an average of 3.79 goals per game. He earned two shutouts, both for Pittsburgh in 1975–76. He played four Stanley Cup playoff games, conceding nine goals in 195 minutes at a rate of 2.77, including one shutout. Plasse won the
Stanley Cup with Montreal in
1973. ==Death==