Touch of Greatness 1981


Introduction  

This story is written as a tribute to Ken Dryden, in recognition of the time he spent with us and the impact he made, both in the moment and in the years that followed.

We’ve worked hard to tell this story as it happened. We’re fortunate to have firsthand accounts from those who were there, along with archival records and newspaper articles.

Although these events happened long ago, they remain vivid in our minds, as if they happened yesterday. 

Glenn Blaylock

 2025


To read the full story: https://www.touchofgreatness1981.com

Foreword

At one of the world’s oldest universities, steeped in tradition and ceremony, a group of students took to the ice without fanfare, without proper preparation, and often without proper gear. They had no rink to train on, no time to revive long‑dormant skills, and no illusions about the seasoned, physical opponents they would face.

They encountered challenges that might now seem insurmountable, but they met them with persistence and ingenuity. Once on the fringe of university life, they found themselves thrust into the forefront - visible, supported, and celebrated.

Remarkably, Ken Dryden, one of the greatest goaltenders in ice hockey history, became part of the story. He shared his time, his wisdom, and his presence, leaving a lasting impact on those who felt privileged to meet him.

Soon after these events, Cambridge ice hockey teams would finally gain access to a rink. They would practise, hone their skills, and build their fitness.

This story is about what came before - when heart, humour, and heritage were enough.

Prof Bill Harris inducted to UK Hall of Fame

Professor Bill Harris has been single-handedly responsible for maintaining, developing, coordinating and delivering the ice hockey programme in Cambridge for over a quarter of a century. In recognition of his services towards Cambridge ice hockey, Bill was named as one of the 4 inductees for 2023 into the UK Hockey Hall of Fame. The Hockey Hall of Fame has been part of UK ice hockey since 1948, celebrating individuals who have rendered outstanding service to British ice hockey. It was an honour to invite Ian Cooper and Stewart Roberts from the UK Ice Hockey Hall of Fame to formally induct Bill at our Varsity Matches on 9th of March 2024.

When Bill came to Cambridge in 1997, he was surprised to discover that, despite the university having an ice hockey club that had been established over a century earlier in 1885, and having a distinguished playing record, it had never had a rink to call its own. He led a 22-year-long fund-raising campaign, turning the initial million pounds, bequeathed by former Blues Captain David Gattiker, into £5.5 million. Impressively, he managed to even get the university to donate £2.5 million. Despite the many obstacles,  thanks to Bill’s hard work and dedication, the dream eventually became a reality. 

The 1,000 person-capacity Cambridge Ice Arena – known locally as the Gattiker Ice Rink – was completed and opened in August 2019. It now hosts seven teams and is proving to be highly popular with the next generation of hockey players in Cambridgeshire. 

Nationally, Bill has provided support and advice in establishing the British Universities Ice Hockey Association in the early 2000s. And At Cambridge University, he is head coach of the Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club. To date, Bill has guided the men’s Light Blues through 28 annual Varsity Matches against their great adversaries, University of Oxford. He was also instrumental in bringing together, under one umbrella, the University’s men’s and women’s teams, and helped to set up the Huskies, the entry point for newcomers to Cambridge University ice hockey. 

While doing all of this, Prof Harris is also a highly accomplished neuro-scientist, who has received international recognition for his academic prowess. He is Professor Emeritus of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge and a Fellow of the Royal Society in London. For his exceptional work in his field, he has been awarded numerous prizes, most notably the Waddington Medal in 2017 by the British Society for Developmental Biology for his work on the development of the visual system.

We, as a team, want to pay tribute to a player, coach and mentor whose skill, passion, and dedication have left an indelible mark on the sport of hockey. Throughout his illustrious career, Bill Harris was more than just a player. He was a leader, a role model, and a source of inspiration for generations of hockey players. To commemorate everything Bill has done for Cambridge Ice Hockey and CUIHC, we will be retiring Bill’s Jersey, number 27, as well as introducing an award in his name, the ‘Bill Harris Award’ - for the CUIHC player who has made the biggest positive difference to the club on or off the ice. 

Varsity Matches 2024

We are thrilled to invite you to witness another episode of the oldest rivalry on the ice! The Varsity Matches between our Light Blues from CUIHC and the Dark Blues from OUIHC will take place on Saturday, March 9. Tickets for the WB and MB matches have been sold out. Huskies tickets still available. Program with player profiles can be downloaded at the link below:

Program

Here’s a teaser of what you can expect. GDBO.

Alumni Match

09:00

Come support the legends of CUIHC as they face the OUIHC archrivals. Life is too short to miss out on another chance to beat Oxf*rd.

Entry to the alumni match is free.

Huskies Varsity

12:00

6th annual match against Oxford Vikings B. With many fresh faces and a brand-new, thriving meme page, the Huskies look to recreate their dominant victory over the Bikes last year.

Opening Ceremony

15:00

We will honour the lifelong contribution of Professor Bill Harris and celebrate his induction into the English Ice Hockey Hall of Fame

Women’s Blues Varsity

16:00

The Women’s Blues are looking forward to our 42nd Varsity match against Oxford Women’s Blues. We have been training hard and are ready to showcase our hard work and dedication and take back the victory from Oxford this year!

Men’s Blues Varsity

19:00

106th Varsity Match against Oxford Men’s Blues. Our squad has been preparing with utmost focus and dedication. The Light Blues have a lot of breadth and depth on the team and every player is ready to do what it takes to be on the winning side.

Summary schedule

  • 09:00 - Alumni Match

  • 12:00 - Cambridge Huskies vs Oxford Vikings B

  • 15:00 - Opening ceremony honouring Prof Bill Harris

  • 16:00 - Cambridge Women’s Blues vs Oxford Women’s Blues

  • 19:00 - Cambridge Men’s Blues vs Oxford Men’s Blues

-> Get your tickets <-
 

Men's Blues in Zuoz 2024

Footage from the qualifying game against Oxford

Between January 7 and January 14, the Men's Blues participated in the annual training camp in Zuoz, Switzerland. The first part of the week was packed with 3-4 training sessions per day which were made up of on-ice practices immersed in the beautiful Alpine environment and off-ice sessions in the gym or sports hall.

Special events throughout the week included a friendly game against our hosts, Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz, exploring the Engadin valley on the ice skating path between Zuoz and Madulain, and visiting the familiar venues in St Moritz. The Lyceum further organised a careers session for the school's IB students where our players engaged in many stimulating conversations.

The week culminated in a tournament between Cambridge, Oxford, Lyceum students, Lyceum staff, Rubigen and Zug. Our Light Blues eliminated the Dark Blues in the qualifying game and proceeded to the finals. After an intense game against the Lyceum staff which resulted in a 1-1 tie, the staff won the shootout and our Men's Blues took the final second place.

We are deeply grateful to the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz for hosting us for this annual training camp. Our squad solidified into a close-knit team and is ready for a term full of hockey which will reach its climax in the 106th Varsity Match on March 9.

road to the VMs

The Cambridge Ice Hockey Club is gearing up for two highly anticipated varsity matches against Oxford on March 4th. The teams have been working hard in preparation for the big game, and they are eager to show off the progress they have made in recent years.

The club has seen a significant increase in interest and participation, with more and more players joining the team each season. This growth has allowed the club to improve their skills and strategy, making them a formidable opponent on the ice. With strong teams, dedicated coaching staff, and a supportive community, the Cambridge Ice Hockey Club is ready to take on Oxford and come out on top. It's going to be an exciting day and we encourage all alumni to come out and support the team or tune into the live stream (link below) and cheer on from home!

 By: Simrat Sodhi and Martin Limbäck-Stokin, CUIHC Presidents

Varsity Match Livestream

Men’s Blues Scouting Report

The 105th Varsity Match promises to be a hard-fought, fast-paced battle between two giants. The Cambridge Men’s Blues won four most recent Varsity Matches and they will be trying to increase the streak. The team has a strong core of returning players who know how much determination and sacrifice it takes to become victorious. The rookies of the team have shown great potential and tremendous zeal. Most of all, the boys are a family and play with heart. We believe that this combination will produce a team that is more than the sum of its parts and that we will see the Light Blues come out on top on March 4.

Photographer: Nordin Catic

Women’s Blues Scouting Report

This year's Women’s Varsity match in Oxford promises to be an exciting game and a tough fight. Though we had a couple of defeats by Oxford last term, we have already shown huge improvement between the two games, and our team has since come a long way. We have been training hard, have had a few key players return after injury and illnesses, and our rookies have made incredible strides! With all this, and our strong core of experienced players leading the team, the Cambridge Women’s Blues will be a force to be reckoned with and we are confident we can defend our winning streak on March 4th!

Photographer: Dik Ng

Men’s Blues Training Week in Zuoz

Team training resumed in January with a training camp in Switzerland where the Men’s Blues were hosted by international boarding school Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz.

 

Daily training was a combination of on-ice sessions on the outdoor ice rink, strength training in the gym, and games in the sports hall under the coaching tandem of Greg Babbitt and Franz Sturm. In addition to making significant progress, our players also spent a lot of time together and bonded into a close-knit unit. The week culminated in a tournament on the outdoor rink in which the Men’s Blues finished second, dropping the finals to the Oxford Blues 0-4.

Captain's reports

Men’s Blues

The Men’s Blues started pre-season preparations in September with a three-week strength and conditioning programme and by onboarding new coach Greg Babbitt, an experienced defenseman from Vermont, US. Following a week of try-outs at the beginning of October, our team emerged with an exceptionally strong and deep squad (3 goalies, 6 defensemen and 10 forwards). ‘Power-week’ with Franz culminated in a training match in which the Men’s Blues defeated the Cambridge Narwhals 5-4. The team was ready for the first league game of the season against Oxford on the 29th of October. The game was intense from puck drop. After being down 0-2 and then 1-3, the Light Blues developed momentum and managed to tie the game at 3-3. The second game of the season was against UCL, in which the Men’s Blues recorded a decisive victory 23-4. In the coming Lent term, the Men’s Blues will play 4 home games and 2 away games, with a much-anticipated climactic 105th Varsity Match in Oxford on March 4th.

 By: Ivan Grega and Matthew Neville, Men’s Blues Captains

Photographer: Dik Ng

Women’s Blues

The Women’s Blues had a challenging but exciting first term of the season! We have a strong core of returning and experienced players, and after open tryouts at the beginning of October, some very promising new rookies. The season started with the hugely beneficial “Power-week” which helped us start the season on the right foot! We are also lucky to have two excellent coaches leading us this season, Joe Allison and Dan McConnell. This term saw us have some tough losses against the Cambridge Huskies and Oxford Women’s team who are both looking very strong this year, and a couple of players lost to injury. However, the team is now back to full strength, and we are improving quickly and closing the gap with every game! We had a positive end to the season with our first win of the season (5-0) before Christmas against the UCL Dragon’s B team. This term, we are looking forward to some friendly matches against other women’s teams to continue to prepare us for our varsity match against Oxford.

 By: Saashi Bedford, Women’s Blues Captain

Photographer: Dik Ng

Huskies

The beginning of the 2022/23 season marked the return to the University League following a break due to the pandemic. During this time, the Huskies became a stronger team and were allowed to move up a division to non-checking tier 2. Furthermore, the recruitment this year carried on being very productive and significantly bolstered our defence. As a result of this, as well as the kind help and coaching from a Narhwals’ player, Michal, we have had a successful start to the year. The Huskies have won their first two league games (29-4 and 22-0), and are currently sitting at the top of their table. We are looking to carry this form forwards and win our division this year, as well as our Varsity challenge game against the Oxford Vikings B!

 By: Petr Dostal, Huskies Captain

Photographer: Dik Ng