Klymkiw stoned NHL legends, remains Dryden fan at 71

In Ken Dryden’s book The Game, the Canadiens’ Hall of Fame goaltender tells a story about how, as kids, he and brother Dave used to fight over which one got to pretend to be Detroit Red Wings backup goaltender and assistant trainer Julian Klymkiw. Klymkiw, who came out of the Western Hockey League’s Winnipeg Warriors, played only one game in the National Hockey League. The Drydens idolized Klymkiw when he was the goaltender on “Shootout in the NHL,” a between-periods feature on CBS TV’s weekly coverage of the league in the late 1950s. Klymkiw stoned all the NHL’s big scorers — Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe, Andy Bathgate, Johnny Bucyk, the whole lot of them. In 1950, the league had a rule that required all home teams to have a substitute goalie available — and he could be used by either team. During the Red Wings’ 1958 home opener, New York goalie Gump Worsley pulled a tendon in the third period. Klymkiw was pressed into service — for the Rangers. The Wings were leading 1-0 at the time and scored twice more on Klymkiw to win it 3- 0. And that was his entire NHL career. When his stay in Detroit ended, Klymkiw returned to Winnipeg and played senior hockey before getting a job with Carling-O’Keefe Breweries. In 1999 at age 65, Klymkiw suffered a debilitating stroke and is still impaired on his right side. However, at 71, he gets to all the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Manitoba Moose games he can attend. And he still remembers Dryden’s kind words. “I am a Ken Dryden fan,” he said. “Mr. Dryden has been very kind to me.”