This article, from The Hockey News Archive, described the serious injury to a 19-year-old QMJHL player 1975.
Playing for the Shawinigan Dynamos, Benoit Plouffe with Jean-Marc Bonamie and Robert Constantin formed one of the best lines in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) in 1975. On October 19, 1975, Plouffe was the victim of a devastating event.
As told in The Hockey News article dated November 7, 1975: "At 3:59 of the opening period Dynamos’ leading scorer and third best in the league, Benoit Plouffe, was crosschecked into the boards by Sherbrooke’s Peter Marsh."
Marsh was assessed a five-minute penalty for crosschecking. Plouffe found himself in "Sherbrooke’s University Medical Center paralyzed from the waist down."
During the 1975-76 season, Plouffe played just nine games, but scored seven goals and added 14 assists for 21 points.
Plouffe's number 14 sweater has been retired by the Shawinigan Cataractes.
You can read the full story in the THN Archive.
The Hockey News, Vol. 29, Issue 4
THN Archive is an exclusive vault of 2,640 issues and more than 156,000 for subscribers, chronicling the complete history of The Hockey News from 1947 until today. Visit THN.com/archive and subscribe today at subscribe.thehockeynews.com
