{"id":127993,"date":"2025-09-08T04:17:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T04:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/127993\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T04:17:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T04:17:06","slug":"ken-dryden-legendary-canadiens-goaltender-remembered-for-greatness-on-and-off-the-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/127993\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Dryden, legendary Canadiens goaltender, remembered for greatness on and off the ice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Henderson, the Maple Leafs Hockey Hall of Famer, initially knew Ken Dryden only as the opposing goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I played against him, I hated that sucker,\u201d Mr. Henderson said Sunday, two days after Mr. Dryden\u2019s death<\/a> at the age of 78. <\/p>\n

They became friends in 1972 when both were members of Team Canada during the historic Summit Series against Russia.<\/p>\n

It was the first competition ever between National Hockey League players and the Soviet national team, which had long dominated the world championships.<\/p>\n

Mr. Henderson recalled Sunday the conversation he had with Mr. Dryden, the winning goalie, during the eighth and final game. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were losing 5-3 after the second period,\u201d he recalled on Sunday. \u201cI went to Ken and told him that he couldn\u2019t give up another goal \u2013 that if he did we would never win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe third period was the best he played in the entire series.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Dryden waves to the crowd at Toronto’s Nathan Philips Square during a 2012 event to recognize the players of Team Canada 1972 before their group induction into Canada’s Walk of Fame.Peter Power\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Mr. Dryden had a long and fruitful posthockey career as a lawyer, sports executive, member of Parliament, cabinet minister and author. After his death Friday of cancer, an illness few outside his inner circle knew he had, many in the hockey world said they remember him for his greatness on the ice as well as off it.<\/p>\n

In the final game of the Summit Series, it was Mr. Henderson who broke a 5-5 tie when he scored, with just 34 seconds remaining, the goal heard and seen around the world that made Canada the champions. <\/p>\n

In Moscow, Mr. Dryden raced out of the net to the opposite end of the ice to celebrate. Then he realized he had to collect himself and returned to his net and closed out the victory.<\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Ken Dryden was a national hero. Now that he\u2019s gone, he has no replacement<\/a><\/p>\n

The last time Mr. Dryden and Mr. Henderson saw each other was in February in Montreal at the Four Nations Face-Off. They bumped into one another in a hotel lobby and grabbed some chairs and chatted for more than a half-hour, Mr. Henderson recalled. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when he told me that when I scored that goal, it was the first time he ever skated to the other end during a game,\u201d Mr. Henderson remembered. \u201cWe talked about a lot of things. Hockey and life.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, tributes to Mr. Dryden poured in from hockey and other quarters.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney posted this on social media: \u201cFew Canadians have given more, or stood taller, for our country. Ken Dryden was Big Canada. And he was Best Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ken Dryden: It does matter, in the end, if you win or lose. The only question left: does it still matter how you play the game?<\/a><\/p>\n

In a statement, Geoff Molson, president of the Canadiens, said, \u201cWe mourn today not only the loss of the cornerstone of one of hockey\u2019s greatest dynasties, but also a family man, a thoughtful citizen, and a gentleman who deeply impacted our lives and communities across generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cKen embodied the best of everything the Montreal Canadiens are about, and his legacy within our society transcends our sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Dryden played nine seasons for Montreal during the 1970s, during which the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup on six occasions. He was revered as the game\u2019s greatest goaltender.<\/p>\n

Unlike most NHL netminders of the day, who were acrobatic and smallish, Mr. Dryden was a towering presence at 6 foot 4. When he would skate out of the goal crease a bit to challenge a shooter, Mr. Henderson said, there was little chance the puck could get past him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty much, \u2018Good luck with that,\u2019\u201d Mr. Henderson said.<\/p>\n

Fans of the Montreal Canadiens reflected on the career of Hall of Fame goaltender Ken Dryden after he died Friday at the age of 78 following a battle with cancer.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Mr. Dryden was selected the NHL\u2019s top goalie five times. He won his first Stanley Cup as a rookie in 1971 and was named the most valuable player during the playoffs that same year. In the more than half-century since, only 11 goalies have been awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dryden retired at 31 after winning the Stanley Cup for the sixth time in 1979. And then he did much more to distinguish himself.<\/p>\n

Allan Walsh grew up in Montreal during the 1970s, when the Canadiens enjoyed some of their greatest success. He says he was more than a fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it was an obsession,\u201d Mr. Walsh said Sunday from Los Angeles, where he runs an agency that represents professional hockey players.<\/p>\n

As for Mr. Dryden, \u201che was my childhood hero,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Walsh met the goalie as a seven-year-old. He\u2019d had an appendectomy, but his appendix burst during surgery. When he woke up, his dad was leaning over the bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe asked what the one thing was that I wanted in all of the world,\u201d Mr. Walsh recalled. \u201cI told him the only thing I wanted was to meet Ken Dryden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Somehow or other, his father made it work. He reached out to the Canadiens, told them about his son and they in turn got in touch with Mr. Dryden.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe invited me to a Canadiens practice,\u201d Mr. Walsh said. \u201cThen he brought me into the dressing room and he introduced me one by one to all of the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

After that, he took the young Mr. Walsh into Scotty Bowman\u2019s office so the seven-year-old could chat up Montreal\u2019s head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat day was one of the greatest memories of my life,\u201d Mr. Walsh remembered. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a goalie there was nobody like him. As a fan you felt a certain confidence. There was almost a majesty about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Walsh had not seen Mr. Dryden in a while, but they connected via e-mail in July. He also sent Mr. Dryden a birthday wish last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of friends that I haven\u2019t heard from that reached out to me as soon as they learned Ken died,\u201d Mr. Walsh said. \u201cThey told me I was the first person they thought of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin Lowe, a six-time Stanley Cup winner and Hall of Fame defenceman, recalls seeing Mr. Dryden in the second NHL game he ever attended.<\/p>\n

Mr. Lowe, who is from Quebec, is a former general manager for the Edmonton Oilers and knew Mr. Dryden through hockey circles.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing that stands out for me is that he was booed in Game 1 in Montreal of the 1979 Stanley Cup final,\u201d Mr. Lowe said. \u201cI was shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stood on his head in Game 2 and they won four straight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lanny McDonald, who retired as chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame on July 1 after 10 years, played against Mr. Dryden and knew him for most of his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stood tall on the ice and off it,\u201d Mr. McDonald said on Sunday by telephone from Alberta. \u201cHe was much more than a hockey player. I am so sad for his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI respected him so much as a player but more so as a man.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Henderson, the Maple Leafs Hockey Hall of Famer, initially knew Ken Dryden only as the opposing goaltender…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82,8023],"class_list":["post-127993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-topstory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}