Ever since the Todd Bertuzzi incident earlier this month, Colby Cosh has been on a roll ice hockey-wise, and the last two days have been no exception. Yesterday he posted on Edmonton's late-season drive for the playoffs -- something that's become an annual occurence. But he really hit his stride today, taking aim at Hall Of Famer and Canadian Citizen-At-Large, Ken Dryden, and his recent comments about violence in the game:
For myself, the issue is not that I prefer old-time hockey, but that people like [National Post columnist Mark] Spector don't like the game as it's played now pretend to be unaware (to give them the benefit of the doubt) that "old-time hockey" was a million times more brutal and bloody than the product we see now. Ken Dryden was playing for Team Canada behind Bobby Clarke when he destroyed Valeri Kharlamov, and had a front-row seat for the worst excesses of the Broad Street Bullies. And now he tells us that the game is in danger of becoming "an extreme sport"? And editors and writers take it seriously? Why?
Is it perhaps also appropriate to point out that Dryden is still Vice Chairman of the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team that's become known as the "Maple Thugs" over the past several seasons? If anything, whenever I see Dryden interviewed on Canadian television, it almost seems as if he's morphed into a Northern version of PBS' Bill Moyers -- a figure that's been shown far too much deference for his, and our own good.
FWIW, The Game is a a deadly dull book. I tried to read it, but only Dryden can make the Canadiens dynasty of the 70s seem even less exciting than the transcript from the monthly meeting of a condo owners board meeting.
What I did learn from the book was that Dryden seemed incapable of having a spontaneous moment at any point in his life; every event, from winning a Cup final to brewing a pot of coffee, required a extensive navel gazing and soul searching. Yikes.