The Game by Ken Dryden Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Game
Book Review: outstanding
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the finest autobiographies I've ever read, as well as one of the best books ever about sports. I'm not interested in hockey at all, and I thought this was fantastic.Book Review: thoughtful words spoken by a childhood hero
Summary: 5 Stars
Ken Dryden: lawyer, father, Cornell and McGill graduate, former President of the Toronto Maples Leafs, Canadian MP and Minister of Social Development, former member of the Montreal Canadiens, winner of six Stanley Cups, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, and author. I had the pleasure of watching his last run through the playoffs, winning the Cup one last time, as my introduction to hockey...he became my childhood idol, and was the reason I went into goaltending myself.
I just finished reading his book, The Game, which was a gift from my fiancee.
I don't think I've read many books as good as this. The writing style is conversational, and it relates a snapshot view of Dryden's latter half of his last season, once he had decided to retire from hockey. There are many excellent portraits of team-mates, friends, coaches, family, and even opponents, and even himself; no punches are pulled, but nothing is mean-spirited, and you can tell he had a fondness for his team-mates, even though he felt somewhat separated from them due to his position as goalie. About himself, he relates his introduction to hockey, his self-doubts, his game-time superstitions, and his happy memories.
Interspersed with this are thoughts on the business of hockey: the grind of going from city to city to play night after night, how trades affect the team's spirit, injuries and illness and retirement, how a player's ego and the skill level of his team-mates affect his play, the NHLPA, and the effects of TV and expansion and the WHA on the NHL and the game. He also talks about the historical development of the game, how rules developed (including the development of the red line, and the forward pass) and how the game play and rules have produced a not-inevitable environment for fighting, the Soviets and how they showed us that there's more than one style of game that works, and how Gretzky changed the style of game play.
It's a very discerning, and piercing look at the game. Yet, it's told with love, and in a style that took me right back into the 1970s, a time in my own life which I barely remember.
I have a memory of Ken Dryden coming out to drop an opening puck at one of the Canada Cup games, in Hamilton Ontario...he received a 10 minute standing ovation from the fans in the arena. He is well-loved throughout Canada, in memory of his skill, and for his intelligent love of the sport of hockey. This book betrays that love, and have to heartily recommend it to fans of the sport.
Now, I just have to convince my fiancee to take the time to read it, or at least try...
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