This year marks the 50th anniversary of the modern goalie mask. Montreal goalie Jacques Plante was the first netminder to wear a mask regularly during the 1959-60 season.

While it seems ludicrous not to wear protective headgear now, it was the hockey culture back in the day to go bare-topped; to do otherwise was considered wussy play.

In those 50 years, there have been numerous masks that have combined fashion with function. Here is one scribe’s take on the top 10 masks ever, in alphabetical order by the goalies’ last names.

• Eddie Belfour: His Eddie the Eagle mask was the first mask I remember being taken aback by as a child. The fierce-looking eagle stood out against the red background to create a menacing yet magnificent image. It was still kinda cool when Belfour joined Dallas later in his career, but the green background wasn’t quite the same. Simple, sharp and breathtaking.

• Gary Bromley: Nicknamed Bones, the former Vancouver netminder has his mask painted as a human skull. Talk about intimidation.

• Gerry Cheevers: The one-time Boston netminder wore one of those old-school Jason-type masks. He wrote with a marker on each spot where he took a puck to the face. He combined modern protection with old-school ruggedness. Still a brilliant concept.

• Yann Davis: Martin Brodeur’s Devils is more famous, but his current backup’s mask would scare the bejeezus out of Brodeur’s mask and send it running away. Dragons that look like they’ve just escaped from a thousand-year prison sentence appear to lunge out at all oncomers.

• Brian Elliot: The Senators netminder had Casey Jones on his mask. Yes, the guy who helped out the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Enough said.

• Grant Fuhr: We’re going off-script here, as I’m going to lump all of Fuhr’s masks into one here. His Oilers mask was fairly standard, but his masks with the Maple Leafs (a pouncing black panther), Kings (a king from a playing card, only ready to kill), Blues (keyboards and strobe lights putting the highlight on his face) and Flames (burning horses) all brought some big-time game.

• Gilles Gratton: If not for his Wolfman mask, no one would likely remember this former Ranger. The mask was painted to look as if the goalie was actually a werewolf (think a slightly meaner-looking Teen Wolf). The wolf had an open mouth and was sticking its tongue out. Darn creative.

• Andy Moog: Now commonplace (Brian Hayward with the San Jose Sharks, Curtis Joseph with the St. Louis Blues, Ron Hextall with the Quebec Nordiques), the concept of an animal “devouring” the wearer’s head was new and cool when Moog began wearing his “The Bruin’s Got Me” mask while in Boston (the concept, if not still new, is nonetheless cool today).

• Antero Nittymaki: This Flyers goalie (who has the nickname “Frank”) has a picture of mobster Frank Nitti shooting a tommy gun. Bullets can be seen falling, and there are bullet holes down near the chin.

• Ken Wregget: Marc-Andre Fleury’s current mask is cool (a penguin busting through an igloo wall), but Wregget by far takes the crown as best mask for a Penguins goalie. He had Danny Devito’s version of The Penguin from the “Batman” film series painted on his mask, putting a fun twist on the team nickname. The character is even smoking.