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Video: Dryden on why hockey should ‘give up the fighting, but keep the fight’

DrydenCostas

In an interview set to air following tonight’s Montreal-Boston Rivalry Night game on NBCSN, Bob Costas and Hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden discuss a myriad topics, including the hot-button issue of fighting in hockey.

Here’s a snippet:

The Costas Tonight interview, set to air on Thursday, Mar. 13 at 12:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN and live online (click here), also touches on a number of other issues related to both current-day NHL news and Dryden’s storied career with the Canadiens, during which he won six Stanley Cups.

Topics include...

Dryden on ability to attend law school in the midst of his NHL career: “Imagine that you come out of Cornell, and the Montreal Canadiens are the team that has drafted you…you say to them, ‘I’m not sure, I really want to go to law school, I guess this isn’t going to work out,’ so the first year it didn’t. Then we spoke again…here was the general manager of the Montreal Canadiens saying, ‘OK, let’s work it out.’ And it was Sam Pollock that allowed that approach…because if I had to make a choice at that time, it would have been law school, and I never would have played (in the NHL)…this gave uniqueness a chance.”

Dryden on selecting the best hockey player of all time, and importance of history in sports: “The greatest player is the best player when you were 10 years old. When Bobby Orr was 10 years old [watching hockey], Gordie Howe was ‘10 feet tall.’ Gordie Howe could shoot the puck ‘1,000 miles-per-hour.’ Gordie Howe could skate ‘100 miles-an-hour.’ Bobby Orr grows up to skate faster than Gordie Howe, but in his head, Gordie’s moving 100 miles an hour. The greatest players have a sense of history…the worst is when you have a superstar in any sport who doesn’t have a sense of history, who thinks the game began with them and will end with them…it’s awful, because there is a disrespect that comes through.”

Dryden on Canada’s gold-medal game victory over Team USA in 2010 Winter Olympics: “In Vancouver, one team wanted deeply, deeply to win. The other team needed to win.”

Dryden on success of 1972 Summit Series for Canada and Soviet Union: “What did the Soviets want? They wanted to win the series. What did they need? They needed to show that hockey could be played at the highest level in a different way. What did Canadians want? We wanted to win eight straight, 10-0 every game. What did we need? To win the series. We both ended up getting what we absolutely needed out of that series.”

Related: Orr tells Costas there ‘should be a policeman’ to protect skill players