Rookie Carey Price won his first playoff start Thursday night against the Boston Bruins. In almost every other circumstance this would be a feat worthy of the highest praise, but for Les Canadiens, it is merely par for the course. During this playoff run, Price will need to equal or surpass the accomplishments of two former rookies who now share a total of eight Veznia and five Conn Smythe trophies, to earn even the softest of pats on the back. "He rushed from law class at McGill to hockey practice with the Montreal Voyageurs, the Canadiens' farm team in the American Hockey League. On road trips, while other players occupied themselves with paperback novels, Dryden read heavy material like the Civil Codes of Quebec. It was, to say the least, no easy schedule to follow, but then Ken Dryden was no average athlete-scholar." - Ken Dryden Following a extraordinary career at Cornell University where he was a three time first team All-American, and where he only endured five losses [one of which he was not in net for] during his Ithaca tenure, he began his professional career in the 1970-71 season. He impressed Canadiens brass, enough that he was called up late in the season from their minor league affiliate the Montreal Voyageurs. He only started six regular season games that year, but he won all six, allowing only nine goals, for a sizzling 1.65 GAA. The stellar stretch earned the nod to be the Habs' number one goalie for the 1971 playoffs. They opened as the underdog against the defending Champion Boston Bruins, and the teams traded blows like prize fighters, win for win, over the first six games. Game seven was in Massachusetts at the Garden, but nevertheless, Montreal prevailed over Bobby Orr and the Bruins. In a 1971 Sports Illustrated article, Mark Mulvoy indicates what the difference was in the series. "Esposito, Public Enemy No. 1 to goaltenders, having scored the criminal total of 76 goals during the season, stared at Dryden, cursed him?'You thieving giraffe!'?and then slammed his curved stick against the glass behind the goal. 'I looked at the faces of the Bruins,' Dryden said later, 'and I could see it all so clearly. They all looked defeated.'" It continued to be a tough ride for Montreal as they beat Minnesota in six and were again stretched to a game seven on the road against the Blackhawks in the Cup Finals. Despite starting his 20th game in just over a month and visiting law libraries between games, the 23 year old with essentially no pro experience, played like an immortal sage as he led the Habs' to the Stanley Cup, and ultimately the Conn Smythe Trophy. As a historical foot note, he is the only player ever to win the Conn Smythe before the Calder. His six regular season 1971 games did not qualify him to be nominated for the Calder that year. He won it in 1972 and went to become a lawyer, politician, and writer. - Patrick Roy "Patrick Roy, about four feet in front of his net, crouches and stares at his goal posts. Every game it's the same - a private word with one, then the other, then he springs toward his net veering away at the last instant into the corner to his left, then circles back, and settles into his crease. He is ready. The gods all satisfied, they are all ready." - from Home Game, by Roy MacGregor & Ken Dryden Mr. Roy did not have the most auspicious of beginnings to his career, especially for a future Hall of Famer. In the 1984-85 regular season playing for the Granby Bisons of the QMJHL, his GAA was, to put it mildly, a pathetic 5.55. Needless to say, his squad missed the invitation to the postseason dance. The Canadiens' management thought enough of their prospect to send him over to the team's AHL affiliate for their playoff run. With the flowers blooming outside, his perfomance improved, and that spring he led the Sherbrooke Canadiens to the Calder Cup, posting a 2.89 GAA in 13 games. That run was good enough for a invitation to training camp, where he carved out a spot on the big league roster. His regular season struggles returned, however, and his rookie season numbers were average at best: a 3.35 GAA and a .875 save percentage. By March, though, he had solidified his spot as the number one goalie over Doug Soetaert and Steve Penny, in time for the playoff run. Again, something clicked for him in the spring; maybe he just needed the pressure and the bigger stage to wake up. The second season kicked off with a five game Division Semifinal series against the Boston Bruins. The Canadiens easily put them out of their misery, sweeping them in three games, with Roy only allowing a total of six goals. The Division Finals proved to be their toughest test as teams traded wins back and forth over the first six, setting up a climactic seventh game in Montreal on April 29th. Three periods were not enough to decide it, and in sudden death overtime, Roy stood tall, refusing to yield. The Habs' ended up winning, and Patrick finished the series with a 1.85 GAA. They breezed past the Rangers in the Conference Finals and squared off against the Calgary Flames for the Cup. A critic might have assumed the typical rookie would finally start to buckle under such enormous pressure, especially after carrying the squad through the first three rounds. Following game one, that critic would have had plenty of ammunition as Roy let in five Calgary goals in a losing effort. Although Roy stumbled, he had not fallen, and the next night stood tall in net, outlasting his Calgary counterpart in sudden death, as the Habs' won 3 to 2 in overtime. They won game three at home easily five to three, and in game four, when Calgary had a chance to tie the series and re-take home ice advantage with three games remaining, Roy had his finest playoff hour, shutting out the Flames in a one to zilch win that gave the team a 3-1 series lead. By the time the Habs' were hitting the golf course, they had won yet another Cup, Roy was officially the youngest player ever to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, and St. Patrick had officially been born. His pre-game ritual was now forever entwined into the fabric and myth of Canadian hockey lore. Carey Price Selected 5th overall in 2005 entry draft, Price was a far higher pick than either Dryden or Roy. Similarly, though, he proved his mettle prior to joining the NHL. And, like the other two, he is a home-grown Canadian playing for his country's proudest franchise. In the 2007 AHL playoffs, he led the Hamilton Bulldogs to the Calder Cup, winning the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as playoff MVP in the process, after posting a 2.06 GAA and a .936 save percentage on the Bulldogs' Cup run. He was the youngest ever to win the Butterfield, one of the few trophies missing in Roy's collection. That summer, representing Canada in the IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, he again led his team to the ultimate victory. The Canadian team won their third straight gold medal, and Price was named Tournament MVP. By that point he had shown enough to the powers that be to join the NHL team heading into the 2007-08 season. It was not an entirely smooth ride; however, and Price was sent back down to the Bulldogs in Janurary. His October through December 2.85 GAA and .911 save percentage certainly warranted the move. Price composed himself in his time away from the Forum, and returned by early February, where he posted a 2.11 GAA and a .924 save percentage in the season's second month. GM Bob Gainey had enough confidence in the 'rook to ship Cristobal Huet to the Capitals in a much criticized deal. Huet had been one of the league's better goalies up to that point, and subsequently led the Caps to the Eastern Conference third seed. Sure, Price is good the fans waned, but are you really going to trust one of hockey's best teams to a rookie? Clearly, those were the younger Habs fans complaining, who had no sense of their franchise's rich history. Price repaid Gainey's faith down the stretch, posting a 2.23 GAA and a very impressive .934 save percentage in March and April. He was named Rookie of the Month for March, and the NHL's first star in the final week of the season. Obviously, however, such trifles are meaningless. The only thing that matters is how Price plays from here on out. He is battling not only against opposing forwards, but against the ghosts of goalies past. He has inherited a role, that has some of the sport's weightiest expectations bestowed upon it. Anything but a Cup would have to be considered a failure, regardless of the kid's age or experience. One thing he has going on his side are a series of coincidences. Obviously there is the rookie angle, then both his squad (Kostitsyn] and Dryden's [Maholvich] had a strong pair of brothers, and if you were really paying attention, you would have noticed all three opened their first playoff run with series against Boston. So, now lining up with the rest of history should be a piece of cake.