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 Sequence, 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, writer, politician and NHL government with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he would go on to go away 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 decide 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 Authentic 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 12 months 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 Sequence — a slugfest between Canada and the Soviet Union that grew to become a metaphor for the West’s battle towards communism on the top of the Chilly Struggle.
Dryden detailed his model of occasions in “The Sequence: What I Keep in mind, What it Felt Like, What it Feels Like Now” revealed in 2022.
“I don’t bear in mind flying to Montreal. I don’t bear in mind the day of the sport. I don’t bear in mind the dressing room,” he wrote of Recreation 1. “All I bear in mind is a sense that stored constructing and constructing, rising and rising. It’s what occurs earlier than a Stanley Cup sequence, earlier than a Stanley Cup remaining, however not like this.
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Ken Dryden displays on 50 years for the reason that ’72 Summit Sequence
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“It constructed to the place it couldn’t construct anymore, grew to the place it had no place left to develop, then it constructed and grew some extra.”
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After dropping the opener on the Montreal Discussion board and Recreation 4 in Vancouver, Dryden rebounded to choose up a 3-2 determination 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 remaining minute to clinch a memorable 6-5 victory — and set off wild celebrations an ocean away.
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“I really feel the historical past of that match, the legacy of that group simply as strongly as all Canadian followers do,” Dryden informed The Canadian Press in a 2022 interview. “It by no means goes away. It’s type of like a superb wine, I assume.
“Really, 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 Recreation” revealed in 1983.
“When a sport will get near me, or threatens to get shut, my acutely aware thoughts goes clean,” 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 find out how to transfer or the place, I don’t comprehend 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 issues I don’t know I’m seeing.”
Identified for resting his blocker and glove fingers on high of his stick in a relaxed method that grew to become certainly one of 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 regulation — 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 report of 258-57-74 with a .922 save share, 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 remaining time was “The Recreation.”
He would go on to pen plenty of different books, together with a biography of his Canadiens coach, Scotty Bowman.
Dryden served as president of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1997 by way of 2004 — a stretch accented by journeys to the Japanese Convention remaining 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 improvement 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 had been ousted, and once more in 2008, however misplaced in 2011.
He would proceed to put in writing, with “The Sequence” his remaining work — a ebook that aimed to carry Canadians contained in the gamers’ world in 1972 as they confronted the Soviets.
“The one solution to do it will be as if to place them there, to actually put them there in that second,” Dryden stated some 50 years later. “And the second, after all, isn’t simply the second, it’s the lead-in moments as much as that.
“And so what would have been inside us as gamers? What would have been inside us as 22 million Canadians at that exact second that made us react the best way we did? And to generate the type of vehement and vivid reminiscences which have come from it.”
“Ken Dryden was an distinctive athlete, however he was additionally an distinctive man. Behind the masks he was bigger than life. We mourn at present not solely the lack of the cornerstone of certainly one of hockey’s biggest dynasties, but additionally a household man, a considerate citizen, and a gentleman who deeply impacted our lives and communities throughout generations. He was one of many true legends that helped form this Membership into what it’s at present”, stated Geoff Molson, proprietor and president of the Montreal Canadiens.
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“Ken embodied the most effective of every part the Montreal Canadiens are about, and his legacy inside our society transcends our sport. On behalf of the Molson household and our complete group, I want to lengthen my most heartfelt condolences to his household, his associates, and all who had the privilege to cross his path and know him on a private stage.”
Dryden is survived by his spouse Lynda and their two youngsters.
