Kukla's Korner Hockey
Entries with the tag: ken dryden
Morning Line
by Paul on 01/08/13 at 11:14 AM ET
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What I hope for both sides, what I hope for everyone, is that when Bettman and Fehr walk out of their offices for a final time, that they pass on to their successors a hard drive full of records, but also a file – hard copy – of the events of 2012. For Bettman and Fehr to say to their successors, “Read this.” This is how it was. Going into the next negotiations we as owners and players need to know what we need and we need to know what the other side needs. But as we get into the muck of the deal, as we develop a hate for the other side, we also know there is a final need. It’s our need and it’s theirneed too, because it’s the public’s need. We are truly not the only ones who matter. There needs to be a season.
-Ken Dryden at the Globe and Mail where you can read more from Dryden.
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHLPA, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ken+dryden
Blame Both Sides
by Paul on 10/27/12 at 09:12 AM ET
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from Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun,
Ken Dryden has a harsh message for both sides in the NHL lockout — they’re both to blame if the 2012-13 season is lost.
On a day the NHL cancelled a month’s worth of games in the dispute that’s now reached six weeks, the hall-of-fame goaltender and six-time Stanley Cup champion said the players and owners must look past their own goals for the betterment of all.
“They have to understand this is not make-or-break,” said Dryden, the keynote speaker at the Palliser Hotel Friday for the Magnificent Men! Leadership Speaker Series.
“This is not survival — real or imagined — on either side of it. Both are doing well enough. Both are doing well enough in a context where a lot of people around — meaning their fans — are not doing so well.
“And, after you’ve lost one season in 2004, you can’t lose another without it being a defeat for both sides, a failure for both sides.”
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHLPA, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ken+dryden
Not Many Like Ken Dryden
by Paul on 02/02/12 at 12:37 PM ET
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from Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette,
Ken Dryden is in the city for a reading Thursday night of his memoir, The Game – in my view, the best hockey book ever written.
His appearance brings back memories of a time when the Canadiens ruled, starting with Dryden’s stunning debut in 1970-71. As you know, that’s when the goaltender led the Canadiens to a remarkable first-round victory over the heavily favoured Big Bad Bruins, led by Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito, in seven games – after Dryden had played in only six regular-season games. From there, the Canadiens brought home the Stanley Cup with a victory in six games over the Minnesota North Stars and then a seven-game victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in the final.
Dryden’s visit also recalls the foreward he graciously agreed to write for my 1994 book Hockey, Heroes and Me. It started, also graciously, this way:
“I wonder what Red thinks. It would happen two or three times a year. When things were going badly for the team or me. When after a game, sleepless and alone, staring into the darkness of my office, I could find no answers. I did it with no one else. In a few hours, when The Star or later The Gazette was at our front door, I would know.
“I didn’t always agree with him, and when I didn’t I would get angrier than I did with anyone else. I wanted so much for him to be wrong, and knew he probably wasn’t.”
Nice.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Montreal Canadiens, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ken+dryden
Doing Something About Concussions
by Paul on 01/24/12 at 12:15 PM ET
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On a daily basis, I try to make the right decision on what stories, columns or blogs I should post. Sometimes I see a story, think to myself the KK readers have had enough on this topic and move on.
I saw this piece by Stu Hackel a few days ago and decided to skip it, but my mind kept going back to it, so I am presenting it a few days late.
from Stu Hackel of the Red Light,
When 28 players were concussed in December, we titled our post on the subject ”An Awful Month for NHL Concussions.” The way Hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden sees it, however, it would be a mistake to believe that this epidemic of head injuries is a temporary condition, and that the game will get past it the way one gets over a cold. We’re better off thinking that this painful situation is the way things in the NHL will continue to be.
“Everybody takes bad news and reacts in a certain kind of way,” he said over the phone from Toronto last week. “You ignore it, you deny it, you argue against it, all those sorts of things. But if it’s there and it doesn’t go away, eventually you need to confront it. Well, why not cut through the ignoring, the denying, the arguing back, and get to confronting it a little bit faster? Because it’s just a fact of life. Gary Bettman and (NFL Commissioner) Roger Goodell know what next week’s headlines are going to be. They’re there.”
Dryden isn’t interested in fixing blame as much as starting to fix the problem. “It’s not a matter of pointing fingers; we know how difficult it is to deal with,” he says. ”We can accept the fact that not much, and much less than should have been done, has been done.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ken+dryden
Afternoon Line
by Paul on 12/16/11 at 03:58 PM ET
Comments (5)
Bettman and the NHL cannot wait for science. They can’t hide behind science, using it as their shield. They must move, and move quickly, out of Stage 2 to Stage 3. No amount of well-modulated, reasonable- and responsible-sounding words change the fact that a hit to the head, whether by elbow, shoulder, or fist, is an attempt to injure that needs to result in expulsion or suspension. No amount of hopefulness and crossed fingers will change the fact that the NHL, like the NFL, must begin to imagine and introduce more “head-smart” ways to play. Bettman needs to be Bettman. We look back on those people 50 years ago who defended tobacco and asbestos and think, How could they be so stupid? Bettman and the NHL cannot wait for this generation of players to get old just so they can know for sure.
-Ken Dryden. I suggest your read the complete article from Dryden at Grantland.
Filed in: NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: gary+bettman,
ken+dryden
The NHL versus Russia
by Phil Davies on 10/11/10 at 11:35 AM ET
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The NHL’s arrival in Europe last week coincided with two exhibition games between the leagues teams and their Russian rivals; the KHL. First up was an aggressive affair between the Carolina Hurricanes and SKA St. Petersburg. In a role reversal between leagues, SKA came out playing aggressively, so much so, in fact, that Hurricanes coach, Paul Maurice pulled his star players; Eric Staal and goaltender Cam Ward from the game as it deteriorated into a slugfest which resulted in a 5-3 victory for SKA. The other interleague game featured the Phoenix Coyotes gaining a measure of revenge for the NHL, by defeating Dynamo Riga 3-1. The interleague games were part of a longstanding tradition of play between the NHL and Russia. With that in mind, I thought I would take a look at some of the most famous and infamous matchups between the two rivals.
1. The Montreal Canadiens versus Central Red Army
December 31st, 1975
This matchup featured the most successful franchises from the NHL and the former Soviet league as the Canadiens played host to the Red Army team. Montreal featured Guy Lafleur, Ken Dryden, Larry Robinson and Bob Gainey among others against Valeri Kharlamov, Vladislav Tretiak, Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov. The level of play was as high as the 72’ Summit Series as the star players from each team were entering their prime. Despite outshooting Red Army 38-13, the Canadiens were forced to settle with a 3-3 tie, due to the outstanding play of Tretiak. This game would cement Tretiak’s longstanding relationship withe the city of Montreal, as the team would go on to draft the goaltender 138th overall in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, despite Soviet players not being allowed to compete in the NHL.
Filed in: Non-NHL Hockey, International Hockey, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: alexei+kasatonov,
bob+gainey,
bobby+clarke,
boris+mikhailov,
guy+lafleur,
igor+larionov,
jari+kurri,
ken+dryden,
larry+robinson,
mario+lemieux,
mark+messier,
mike+bossy,
montreal+canadiens,
sergei+makarov,
valeri+kharlamov,
viacheslav+fetisov,
vladimir+krutov,
vladimir+petrov,
vladislav+tretiak,
wayne+gretzky
Preparing To Play Goal
by Paul on 08/19/08 at 03:59 PM ET
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from David Littman at the Hockey News,
Most people who don’t know hockey very well assume the worst part of playing goalie is the physical aspect. Not so. I would rather have a small rubber disc shot at my head than have a 250-pound defenseman crushing me into the boards. The toughest part of the job is, in fact, the mental aspect. A forward can have a bad game and his teammates can bail him out, but if a goalie has a bad game, there is almost no doubt your team will lose. You have to concentrate every second of the game. If you let up for a moment the puck is sure to find its way to the back of the net.
Before each game, most goalies have a routine they follow to keep focused (OK, most goalies are superstitious, too). As Ken Dryden says in his book The Game, you can always tell which goalie is starting. The starter won’t talk to anyone and the backup won’t shut up. In fact, my entire game day routine was mostly the same for 10 years in the pros.
If you are interested in The Game, the great hockey book by Ken Dryden, you can purchase it at Amazon.
Filed in: NHL Talk, Non-NHL Hockey, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ken+dryden
