Dryden’s “The Game” remains as significant as ever, over 40 years after its release

Dryden, who won the Stanley Cup six times with the Montreal Canadiens in the 1970s, died of cancer last Friday. He was 78.

The NHL team confirmed his death early Saturday.

Over four decades after its initial release, “The Game” remains a quintessential piece of Canadian sports writing.

Considered by literary and hockey observers to be one of the greatest hockey books ever written, Dryden’s 248-page effort from 1983 also sits in the upper echelon of preeminent sports books.

“The Game” goes behind the curtain of the Habs’ dynasty and into the mind of one of the sport’s all-time greats.

With graceful prose and a simplistic yet mesmerizing style, Dryden detailed a day-by-day account of a week in his last pro season.

It still packs an impactful punch today.

“I would describe it as the story of hockey, almost like an analytical, sociological, intellectual treatise on hockey,” Canadian author and journalist Roy MacGregor said Tuesday from Ottawa. “And yet it has the common touch, which makes it accessible to everyone.

“And you read it and you enjoy it and perhaps you’re not even aware of how deeply it’s touched you if you are a hockey player, a hockey fan, a hockey observer. It’s just magical.”

Bill Simmons, founder and managing director of The Ringer sports and pop culture website, wrote the foreword for the book’s 2013 edition.

“The writing is so good, so detailed, so intense, so thoughtful … you can’t even believe it’s coming from a professional athlete, much less one of the finest at his particular position,” Simmons wrote.

“The Game” was a Governor General’s Literary Award finalist in the non-fiction English category in 1983.

The 30th anniversary release included a new chapter on Dryden’s day with the Cup and his travels, interactions, memories and celebrations.

“I think that’s one of the things about the book (and) why it’s endured is that it’s really about any team,” Wilson said from Hamilton. “By telling the specific, you hear and you get the universal.”

Wilson recalled that Dryden was “not jaded at all” by the book’s milestone status, adding he seemed genuinely excited when the new edition came out.

“The fact that he could write about and tell the story about the hometown where his father was born and playing in the backyard,” he said. “All of that stuff, it felt really important to him.”

After retiring from the NHL while in his prime, Dryden went on to become a lawyer, businessman, politician and teacher.

He also continued to write books and tackled a number of subjects inside and outside the hockey world.

“He was special,” said retired Boston Globe sports columnist Bob Ryan. “I mean, God, some people are just different and better than the rest of us, and he’s one of them. Period.”

Unlike many hockey books that are ghostwritten or offer an observer’s thoughts on a player, team or league, “The Game” was from a participant’s perspective. It had a style and feeling all its own, said hockey historian Kevin Shea.

“You could kind of tell that every word was measured, every sentence was measured,” he said from Toronto.

MacGregor, who worked with Dryden on a few projects over the years, said “The Game” was more thoughtful than any hockey book that had been written before it or since.

“My line always was it’s as if his brain lives outside of his skull and you get to watch it trip and dance and move on to all kinds of different subjects,” he said. “You can actually see him and feel him getting excited as he’s tracing down an idea. It’s really something fascinating to watch.

“I’ve always been intrigued by it. And of course, we’ll all miss it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2025.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Dryden’s “The Game” remains as significant as ever, over 40 years after its release

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