Former Montreal Canadiens great Ken DrydenDave Chan
A copy of the essay former Montreal Canadiens great Ken Dryden penned for TSN's Hockey Hall of Fame Induction show, which coincided with Remembrance Day this year:
Soldiers and Players
They have always had a lot in common, hockey players and soldiers
Young men, their look of health and hope
Now young women too
Living full out – nothing held back
Doing what many fantasize about
Doing what most can't even imagine
They see themselves in each other
Before soldiers took up arms many took up sticks
Later, they discovered danger and courage of a different sort
The sacrifice of one brought opportunity to the other
Memorial arenas rose across the country to commemorate the fallen
Allowing a truly national game
Finally, no place, no day too cold, too mild to play
The torch passing
Both inspiring and inspired
They are believers – their team, their country
Their task too big to be done alone
They put themselves in others' hands, these teammates; their buddies
Their fate in yours. Your fate in theirs
Never so weak, never so strong
They will remember this time the rest of their lives
War stories all
They signed up for only a few years
Their feelings, their wounds never leave them
Never so scarred, never so alive
Above all, theirs, a bond
Players, heroes to many, strong, tough, "warriors" to some
Who deepest down don't know if they could ever be strong and tough enough
Soldiers, heroes to them.