When Saskatoon’s James Taman founded the Western Canada Montreal Canadiens Fan Club in 1989, he was inspired by the 1970s dynasty Canadiens and towering goaltender Ken Dryden.
The goaltender would go on to become one of the greatest at his position in NHL history, winning six Stanley Cups and five Vezina trophies for goaltender of the year.
On Saturday morning, Taman awoke to 19 text messages on his phone relaying the sudden news of Dryden’s death on Friday at the age of 78.
“The first one that I looked at was of Mr. Dryden passing away,” Taman said. “Just shock number one, because I was not aware, as many weren’t, that he was even sick. It was kept very quiet, very in-house for his family. The shock hit first and then the hurt that I’ve lost a friend, an ambassador of hockey and just a great people person.”
It’s a loss that has hit the hockey community hard, with few outside Dryden’s inner circle knowing he was fighting cancer.
Longtime NHL broadcaster and analyst John Shannon said the announcement caught most people within the game by surprise, adding that Dryden’s 6-foot-4 physical stature was only dwarfed by what he achieved in his storied life.
“There was a numbness, I think, that went through the hockey world,” Shannon said. “To think that we lost, yes, a great goaltender and a man who won six Stanley Cups in eight seasons with Montreal, but someone who influenced the game.”
Dryden arrived in Montreal in the spring of 1971 after an illustrious NCAA career at Cornell, leading the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup championship over the Chicago Blackhawks and capturing the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
What followed was a dominant eight years as a member of the Canadiens, surrounded by Hockey Hall of Fame talent such as Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Yvan Cournoyer, Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard, Steve Shutt and Bob Gainey.
“(Dryden) was kind of an idol, that entire Montreal Canadiens team was an idol of mine,” St. Louis Blues icon and fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Bernie Federko said. “I always watched the Montreal Canadiens and I was always so excited for them to win the Cup, because I always believed that they were the best.”
Federko, who grew up in Foam Lake, Sask., supported both Dryden and the Canadiens before he began his own journey to the NHL with a three-year stint with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades.
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Federko would cross paths with Dryden over the first three years of his career, matching up against his childhood idol in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1977.
“He was the best in the business,” Federko said. “It was a thrill, obviously, watching him and dreaming someday to get to play against him. When I did finally get that chance, it was a real big thrill for me.”
Dryden’s NHL career would be over by the end of the 1979 playoffs, as he lifted the Stanley Cup for a sixth and final time with a Game 5 victory over the New York Rangers.
He would leave his hockey career behind to pursue life in a law firm, before stints as a sports executive with the Toronto Maple Leafs and nearly seven years as a member of Parliament in the 2000s with the Liberal party.
Dryden would also go on to pen several books over his life, including his seminal work in 1983, The Game, which documented his final season with the Canadiens franchise before retiring from the sport.
In 2017, Dryden published Game Change, which focused on former NHLer Steve Montador and the effect that concussions and brain trauma had on his life before his death in 2015.
“I think the most important thing was that (Dryden) challenged the norm,” Shannon said. “When that happens, you’re forced to rethink your philosophy, you’re forced to rethink what the game means and where we should go. That’s what Ken did, he made people think and made the game better for that.”
The topic of head trauma and its effects on athletes was a major cause for Dryden in his later years, advocating for ways to push the sport of hockey further and advance opportunities for players years down the line.
“I give him an awful lot of credit to stand up for the game or the way the game should be played, the things that he wanted to be better for the game,” Federko said. “I think that’s really important as the future goes on, that we have guys continue to step forward and say what they need to say to make the game a much better game.”
Taman looks back on his encounters with the six-time Stanley Cup champion fondly, days after Dryden’s death, with one meeting sticking out at a banquet at the Bessborough Hotel in Saskatoon years ago. Taman presented Dryden with a number of items of Canadiens memorabilia in the hopes of earning the signature of number 29.
“He was adamant even with me that he would sign the items, only on the condition that they were not going to go somewhere for resale,” Taman said. “I told him they’re for my personal collection and a couple are for the fan club for doing our charities. When he was totally comfortable with that, he said, ‘No problem, Mr. Taman, I’ll sign those for you.’
“By the end of the conversation, he was calling me ‘Jim,’ so it was pretty special.”
A display honouring Dryden has been established at the Western Canada Montreal Canadiens Fan Club’s famous locker room at Harold Latrace Arena in Saskatoon, featuring a life-size cutout of the goaltender and several autographed jerseys and books — memories of a netminder who made a lasting impression on Saskatchewan hockey fans, thousands of kilometres away.
“Any work that he did, he did it with a passion and a purpose for people,” Taman said. “Never for Ken Dryden, that’s the amazing part and I think that’s the legacy. He never did anything for Ken Dryden, he did what he did with passion and purpose in his life for others.”
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