It is as though the cross on Mount Royal has tumbled, the St. Lawrence River has dwindled to a ditch between two distant shores, as though the mighty Canadiens are now also-rans in beer-league hockey.

Ken Dryden is no more.

He was the towering, unbeatable number 29, the unflappable obstacle who stood like a cliff face between the net and some of the most fearsome snipers the game has ever seen. He seemed indestructible, yet he died of cancer on Friday, less than a month after his 78 th birthday.

Great athletes are uncommon. Great athletes who are also great people are rare as that rarest of birds, the Stresemann’s Bristlefront of Brazil. The Canadiens and the fans of Montreal are fortunate to have had two such men, Dryden and Jean Béliveau. We have been blessed.

The memories unfold,

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