Conn Smythe Winners

Here is a link on SI.com to some notable Conn Smythe winners. Two Cornellians are on the list of 20 total. I would be curious to know how many other college players made the list, let alone more than one from the same college.

[sportsillustrated.cnn.com]

Gee, I wonder if anyone can guess which two Cornellians made it.

Brian Leetch is the only other college player who has won the Smythe, and he only had one year at BC. Dryden played the 3 year max at Cornell (freshmen were ineligible then) and Joe played for three years also.

jkahn
Brian Leetch is the only other college player who has won the Smythe, and he only had one year at BC. Dryden played the 3 year max at Cornell (freshmen were ineligible then) and Joe played for three years also.

Didn't they play on frosh teams? How'd they do?

Swampy

jkahn
Brian Leetch is the only other college player who has won the Smythe, and he only had one year at BC. Dryden played the 3 year max at Cornell (freshmen were ineligible then) and Joe played for three years also.

Didn't they play on frosh teams? How'd they do?

Ken played on the freshman team. Joe played three varsity years, and left for Calgary after his junior season.

Here's how Dryden's freshman team did: [cdsun.library.cornell.edu]

Al DeFlorio
Here's how Dryden's freshman team did: [cdsun.library.cornell.edu]

It's the system.

Al DeFlorio
Ken played on the freshman team. Joe played three varsity years, and left for Calgary after his junior season.

Here's how Dryden's freshman team did: [cdsun.library.cornell.edu]

I love the fact that statistically Dryden was only the second best goalie on the freshman team that year. George Swan had better goals against (1.2 vs. 2.1) and save percentage (.943 vs. .926). (Though it doesn't say how much each guy played.)

Brian Cornell had 57 points in 14 games. These days I'm happy to see one of our guys get more than one point per game, let alone four.

KeithK
George Swan had better goals against (1.2 vs. 2.1) and save percentage (.943 vs. .926). (Though it doesn't say how much each guy played.)

Or, against whom. And, even I don't remember. (Although I'll bet I watched most of those games.)

Al DeFlorio

KeithK
George Swan had better goals against (1.2 vs. 2.1) and save percentage (.943 vs. .926). (Though it doesn't say how much each guy played.)

Or, against whom. And, even I don't remember. (Although I'll bet I watched most of those games.)

Were freshman games a big deal back then? Or was they something only a few dedicated sports/hockey fans attended?

KeithK

Al DeFlorio

KeithK
George Swan had better goals against (1.2 vs. 2.1) and save percentage (.943 vs. .926). (Though it doesn't say how much each guy played.)

Or, against whom. And, even I don't remember. (Although I'll bet I watched most of those games.)

Were freshman games a big deal back then? Or was they something only a few dedicated sports/hockey fans attended?

Kind of in-between, I suppose. Hockey had become a big sport (65-66 team lost the ECAC championship game to a terrific Clarkson team that had a great goalie) and everyone knew Dryden was going to be special, but freshman games probably drew 1000-2000. Here's an example: [cdsun.library.cornell.edu]

Freshman games were popular when an awesome player was there. Lew Alcindor at UCLA, for instance.

billhoward
Freshman games were popular when an awesome player was there. Lew Alcindor at UCLA, for instance.

Interestingly, the freshman basketball team in 65-66 also drew a lot of attention. Walt Esdaile was, after Alcindor, the most sought after recruit on the east coast as a high school senior, and a lot was expected of Hank South as well.

Back then, basketball games were almost always played as a doubleheader, with the freshman game preceding the varsity. So, many fans would show up early to watch Esdaile and South play prior to the varsity game. Basketball played to big crowds in Barton Hall and that year's varsity had a lot of talent: Gregg Morris, Steve Cram, Bob DeLuca, Blaine Aston, Garry Munson, etc. Ivies competed better with the 'big time' schools at that time. In 65-66 Cornell played Syracuse (with Dave Bing) twice, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Niagara, and Brigham Young among their ten non-Ivy opponents.

So, what ever became of George Swan -- did he get any varsity time (I'm too lazy to look it up)?

TBRW? says George Swan got into four games as a junior. 120 minutes. 35 saves. 2 goals against. No decisions. Save percentage 0.946.

Al DeFlorio
Here's how Dryden's freshman team did: [cdsun.library.cornell.edu]

So maybe that's what sportscasters mean when they talk about Dryden being the goalie on the undefeated team.

[cdsun.library.cornell.edu] I remember that game. The RPI Freshmen team beat the varsity in an exhibition game, and they were highly touted. I think the score was 4-2. They then proceeded to lose to BC and Cornell in their first two games but didn't lose another all season. (They tied BU with their Pinball Line.)

2000 for a Freshman game -- we have trouble getting that for some varsity games now.

ursusminor
http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/content.php?c=y19656&d=12.13.D57.10.2&ispage=&pdflink=doc52.pdf&thumblink=doc52.jpg&searchparams=xml%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fiarchives.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fiarchives.cgi%3Fa%3Dpdfh%26pdfxml%3D1%26qbare%3DWatson%20Scammell%26d%3DD57.10.2%26c%3Dy18801 I remember that game. The RPI Freshmen team beat the varsity in an exhibition game, and they were highly touted. I think the score was 4-2. They then proceeded to lose to BC and Cornell in their first two games but didn't lose another all season. (They tied BU with their Pinball Line.)

2000 for a Freshman game -- we have trouble getting that for some varsity games now.

I enjoy how the two defensemen were "brilliant" whereas Dryden was only "solid".

On a side note, how great is the Library's Daily Sun online archive? Looks like there are only a handful of years left:

[cdsun.library.cornell.edu]

mnagowski

I enjoy how the two defensemen were "brilliant" whereas Dryden was only "solid".

I recall being told that, when Swan was in goal for the frosh, Dryden played defense in front of him.

Does anyone recall if that was true? If true, was that something that happened only occasionally or was it a common occurrence?

redice
I recall being told that, when Swan was in goal for the frosh, Dryden played defense in front of him.

Does anyone recall if that was true? If true, was that something that happened only occasionally or was it a common occurrence?

As best as I can recall, it happened in the frosh/varsity game. Dryden played defense for a bit. The varsity had three goalies that year (Errol McKibben, Dave Quarrie, and Al McNally) and the three alternated playing goal for the frosh and varsity, while Dryden played a few shifts at D for the frosh.

I don't recall Ken playing defense in any freshman intercollegiate games.