University of Virginia Library

Ken Dryden: The Canadiens' Defender Speaks Out

By ERNEST DEMPSEY

Montreal's Forum is packed
this Saturday night for a game
between the beloved Canadiens
and Chicago's mighty Black
Hawks. As the players skate
effortlessly around their
respective zones, eager fans
crowd both benches hoping to
secure at least one autograph
from these two star-studded
teams.

Tenacious Ken Dryden Minds Net For Montreal Canadiens

As has been the custom,
each club will go back to its
dressing room for a final word,
Hockey's "Golden Jet", Bobby
Hull, flips the Chicago practice
puck over the Plexiglas into a
throng of souvenir hunters,
while the Canadiens' massive
Peter Mahovlich places his
team's puck into the hands of a
young admirer.

Fifteen minutes later, the
starting lineups are on the ice
rigidly listening to a
half-English, half-French
version of "O Canada!" the
national anthem. It is the only
quiet moment this Forum
audience will allow tonight.

The puck is dropped at
center ice and Chicago's Stan
Mikita, the NHL's best face-off
man, passes to teammate Keith
Magnuson, who reveals a
toothless smile in reaction to
the crowd's merciless booing.

Montreal takes the lead
early in the first period as Jim
Roberts, standing near the
corner of the Hawks's cage,
takes a pass from Jacques
Laperriere and beats Chicago
goalie Gerry Desjardins
(Esposito is on the bench) with
a wrist shot.

Chicago gets right back in
the game as Dennis Hull slaps
the puck past a screened Ken
Dryden, Montreal's "Golden
Goalie," From this point on,
the contests develops into a
goaltender's duel.

Dryden is superb as he
frustrates Black Hawk
sharpshooters Pit Martin, Jim
Pappin, Pat Stapleton, and the
brothers Hull with patented
glove-hand saves and amazing
quickness. As players whisk by
the cage at 30 m.p.h., Dryden
focuses his attention on the
puck, either blocking it with
his stick or his enormous
frame.

Tonight, Dryden will be
named the game's first
all - star—not an unusual
occurrence for Ken Dryden is
not your average NHL
goalie—on or off the ice.

In addition to being the
tallest in the league at six feet,
four inches, Dryden spends his
away— from the arena time
digging into law books and
facts pertaining to the School's
current course in common
law, which would allow him to
practice in all provinces but
Quebec. He is uncertain
whether or not to follow the
course in civil law, which
Quebec requires.

"Right now I'm a bit tired
from playing hockey and
attending school. I haven't
decided yet whether or not to
take civil law."

Last summer, shortly after
the Canadiens won the Stanley
Cup with a big assist from
Dryden, the goalie joined
Ralph Nader's consumer group.

"Actually I worked more in
environmental areas than I did
in consumer," he says, "but
I'm interested in the broad
areas of public interest."

Dryden is reluctant to
discuss his immediate future.

He was recently drafted by
the Los Angeles entry into the
new World Hockey
Association, but refuses to be
pinned down as to what will
happen in that direction. His
contract with the Canadiens is
finished at the end of this
season, but is expected to be
renewed before the schedule
terminates.

Asked about reports he has
been offered a fabulous deal to
move to Los Angeles from
Montreal a deal which
reportedly calls for $500,000
over five years and includes a
partnership in the law firm of
former California governor Pat
Brown—Dryden just laughs.

"I only wish it were true,"
he says.

Both he and Gerry
Patterson, who handles his
business affairs, insist they
have received no firm offers
from anyone in the Los
Angeles organization. They
both admit they have been
approached on the subject of
the change.

"They were just going
through the formal practice of
drafting players. It's still the
same status. I haven't heard
anything meaningful, and until
I do, I can't decide anything."

Meanwhile, Dryden looks
ahead to this year's playoffs,
which begin shortly. Last
season, he won the Conn
Smythe Trophy as the best
performer in the post-season
race to the cup.

—
Ed.)