Ken Dryden's jersey retired

Yeah, yeah, I know there's a hockey thread but one of the all time great goalies in the NHL had his jersey retired tonight in Montreal.

Dryden only played 8 seasons but won 6 Stanley Cups, two Vezina Trophies, was named to the First All Star team five times. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy and then the following year, won the Calder as the best rookie.

Included in the introductions were Tretiak, Dryden's opponent in the '72 Summit Series and fittingly, his brother, Dave. The two of them played against each other in one NHL game when Dave was the goalie for the Sabres. After the game the two of them went to centre ice and shook hands.

Ken's a lawyer, author of one of the greatest sports books as voted by SI, "The Game", and now Liberal Member of Parliament.

Congrats, Ken. You were--and are --one of the classiest guys in sports.

On a personal note I've met Ken numberous times, the most memorable when I played Scrabble against him for a literary fund-raising. He kicked my ass.

Here's the Toronto Star piece on the evening:

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/176081

 

A nice honor for one of the all-time greats.

Congratulations, Mr. Dryden.

 

I'm not really a hockey fan, but I have to say I'm stunned it wasn't retired yet.

 

You know what?
When they announced they were going to retire his jersey, I thought the same thing. Why has it taken so long?

What was cool was that Ken doesn't speak French real well but he did a great job of going back and forth between the two languages.

 

Great ceremony. Tretiak was there.
A couple of things delayed Dryden's 29 getting raised.
1. Not French-Canadian. The fans love their Quebecois.
2. The Habs already had 11 numbers put away. Trading for Peter Forsberg and having him elect to wear No. 121 doesn't appeal to them.
3. There's that hard time he served (at least in the minds of Montreal fans) in Toronto.
Dryden was most deserving. They put his record on the screen and he was something like 250-50-60. Incredible.
And read the book. The Game is great.

 

The Canadiens were late to the jersey-retirement game, so they're catching up slowly. But they are really doing it right, as they do most things.

The funniest part of that whole thing was that the CBC, which acts like it's the Toronto Maple Leafs personal network, failed to even cut in for five minutes a few months ago when Boom Boom Geoffrion's jersey was retired. I guess they had to show the Leafs goaltender stretching in front of his net in preparation for their game.

It created a huge stir, not only because Quebecers pay taxes that fund the CBC too, and because it's hard enough as it is to get Canadiens' games in English. Borderline joke, really, because their fans extend across the land.

So they made this big deal about televising this ceremony (not that they'd actually stay on and show a game between two Canadian teams; there was a British import show I've never heard of that needed to air - although to be fair, they probably don't have Monday night hockey rights).

Thank God Dryden is a native of Toronto, was the president of the Maple Leafs at one time and is also a Member of Parliament (which decides how much money the CBC gets) and it served their purpose.

I'd hate to see the dilemma in the ivory-tower CBC boardroom if they were retiring Larry Robinson's jersey tonight

 

I always hated Ken Dryden because he always kicked the Blackhawks' asses in the playoffs, but he was one helluva goalie. The Habs should have retired his number years ago.

 

Hey! I thought this was going to be a story about him beating you at Scrabble!!!!


;D

 

They don't, and they made a point of mentioning that they didn't have the rights to the game on Hockey Night in Canada.

 

The playoffs against the Bruins his rookie season, one of the high points of my young sporting life.
"He's got paws like a damn giraffe!" -- Phil Esposito.
Then, I discover that my wife's TA in high school was the future Mrs. Dryden.
My favorite move? Resting his chin on the butt end of his stick after a big save.

 

Found this site while looking up Dryden's stats.

www.hockeymasks.com

I remember Dennis Hull putting one off the Cornell mask.

EDIT: Not sure if licensing agreements to manufucture these products are in place.

 

Congratulations to Ken Dryden for this honour but, having said that, I really wish the Leafs would smarten the hell up and start retiring some of their jerseys rather than just "honouring" certain players' numbers -- a policy that Dryden perpetuated when he was team president.

Off the top of my head I could think of about 10 numbers that should be retired immediately.