Ken Dryden, the Corridor of Fame goaltender whose lengthy resume out and in of hockey included six Stanley Cup victories and serving to backstop Canada’s generation-defining victory on the 1972 Summit Collection, died Friday on the age of 78 after a battle with most cancers.
A key member of the Montreal Canadiens’ Nineteen Seventies dynasty, Dryden’s profession within the highlight was solely simply getting began when he retired from the sport — and whereas on the high of his personal sport — in his early 30s.
A lawyer, creator, politician and NHL government with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he would go on to depart an indelible mark throughout massive swaths of wider Canadian society.
Born Aug. 8, 1947, in Hamilton, Ont., Dryden grew up in a Toronto suburb together with his mother and father, brother and sister.
Chosen by the Boston Bruins with the 14th choose within the 1964 NHL draft earlier than a commerce to Montreal, Dryden performed U.S. faculty hockey at Cornell College and ultimately made his Canadiens debut in March 1971.
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He snatched the crease from veteran Rogie Vachon that spring and led the Unique Six franchise to the Cup together with securing the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
Dryden then received the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the yr in 1971-72, however Montreal misplaced within the first spherical that post-season.
He break up the crease with Tony Esposito 5 months later within the 1972 Summit Collection — a slugfest between Canada and the Soviet Union that grew to become a metaphor for the West’s battle in opposition to communism on the peak of the Chilly Battle.
Dryden detailed his model of occasions in “The Series: What I Remember, What it Felt Like, What it Feels Like Now” printed in 2022.
“I don’t remember flying to Montreal. I don’t remember the day of the game. I don’t remember the dressing room,” he wrote of Recreation 1. “All I keep in mind is a sense that saved constructing and constructing, rising and rising. It’s what occurs earlier than a Stanley Cup collection, earlier than a Stanley Cup last, however not like this.
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“It built to where it couldn’t build anymore, grew to where it had no place left to grow, then it built and grew some more.”
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After shedding the opener on the Montreal Discussion board and Recreation 4 in Vancouver, Dryden rebounded to choose up a 3-2 choice in a must-win Recreation 6 in Moscow.
Canada went on to defeat the Soviets 4-3 in Recreation 7 with Esposito. Dryden was again in internet for Recreation 8 when Paul Henderson scored within the last minute to clinch a memorable 6-5 victory — and set off wild celebrations an ocean away.
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“I feel the history of that tournament, the legacy of that team just as strongly as all Canadian fans do,” Dryden advised The Canadian Press in a 2022 interview. “It by no means goes away. It’s sort of like a superb wine, I suppose.
“Actually, the legacy of it grows.”
Dryden hoisted the Cup with the Canadiens in 1973 and 4 straight occasions between 1976 and 1979 as a part of Montreal juggernauts that included fellow greats Man Lafleur, Serge Savard and Larry Robinson.
The five-time Vezina Trophy winner because the NHL’s high goaltender described a single week on the finish of the 1978-79 season in his ebook “The Game” printed in 1983.
“When a game gets close to me, or threatens to get close, my conscious mind goes blank,” Dryden wrote. “I really feel nothing, I hear nothing, my eyes watch the puck, my physique strikes — like a goalie strikes, like I transfer; I don’t inform it to maneuver or tips on how to transfer or the place, I don’t understand it’s transferring, I don’t really feel it transfer — but it strikes.
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“And when my eyes watch the puck, I see things I don’t know I’m seeing.”
Recognized for resting his blocker and glove fingers on high of his stick in a relaxed method that grew to become one in all hockey’s most recognizable poses, the six-foot-four goaltender retired at simply 31 in 1979.
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Dryden went on to pursue a profession in legislation — he articled at a Toronto agency whereas sitting out the 1973-74 NHL season — after beforehand incomes a level at Montreal’s McGill College.
Inducted into the Hockey Corridor of Fame in 1983, he amassed a document of 258-57-74 with a .922 save proportion, 2.24 goals-against common and 46 shutouts in simply over seven NHL campaigns, and went an eye-popping 80-32 within the playoffs.
Dryden’s first foray into writing after he hung up his skates and positioned his stick down for a last time was “The Game.”
He would go on to pen quite a few different books, together with a biography of his Canadiens coach, Scotty Bowman.
Dryden served as president of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1997 by 2004 — a stretch accented by journeys to the Jap Convention last in each 1999 and 2002 — earlier than resigning to enter politics.
He ran for the federal Liberals in 2004 and was named minister of social growth in Prime Minister Paul Martin’s cupboard.
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Dryden, who additionally taught at varied universities throughout Canada, held onto his seat in Toronto’s York Centre using in 2006 when the Liberals have been ousted, and once more in 2008, however misplaced in 2011.
He would proceed to jot down, with “The Series” his last work — a ebook that aimed to deliver Canadians contained in the gamers’ world in 1972 as they confronted the Soviets.
“The only way to do it would be as if to put them there, to literally put them there in that moment,” Dryden mentioned some 50 years later. “And the second, in fact, isn’t simply the second, it’s the lead-in moments as much as that.
“And so what would have been inside us as players? What would have been inside us as 22 million Canadians at that particular moment that made us react the way we did? And to generate the kind of vehement and vivid memories that have come from it.”
“Ken Dryden was an exceptional athlete, but he was also an exceptional man. Behind the mask he was larger than life. We mourn today not only the loss of the cornerstone of one of hockey’s greatest dynasties, but also a family man, a thoughtful citizen, and a gentleman who deeply impacted our lives and communities across generations. He was one of the true legends that helped shape this Club into what it is today”, mentioned Geoff Molson, proprietor and president of the Montreal Canadiens.
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“Ken embodied the best of everything the Montreal Canadiens are about, and his legacy within our society transcends our sport. On behalf of the Molson family and our entire organization, I would like to extend my most heartfelt condolences to his family, his friends, and all who had the privilege to cross his path and know him on a personal level.”
Dryden is survived by his spouse Lynda and their two youngsters.
