ken morrow

By Stan Fischler

For a player overloaded with career highlights, it's a wonder that Ken Morrow still manages to be as cool, calm and collected as he was four decades ago while winning Stanley Cups.

"That was Ken's hallmark -- playing the game the right way and at his pace," said Jim Devellano, who helped lure the U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer to Long Island.

Both Devellano and Bill Torrey, who each scouted the continent for talent, really liked the tall drink of water as far back as Morrow's collegiate days at Bowling Green.

"I was impressed with Ken's quiet dominance in the defensive zone," said Torrey. "He made simple plays and rarely was out of position."

The Isles couldn't wait to sign Morrow to a contract, but there was a matter of playing for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, coached by legendary Herb Brooks; and you know all about that.

After Team USA's "Miracle Gold Medal," Brooks revealed an aspect of Ken's psyche rarely made public: "I never had to motivate him."

Neither did Nassau's coach Al Arbour, who inherited Morrow on March 1, 1980 – straight from Lake Placid -- in a game against Detroit. Kenny was so competent in his debut that the Torrey-Devellano team was in position to make the deal of all deals.

"We already had dealt for defenseman Gord Lane," Devellano recalled, "and now we had Morrow. It meant that Bill could deal with Los Angeles who needed a blue-liner and throw in a forward as well. Thanks to Ken."

And that's how the Islanders obtained "The Missing Piece," center Butch Goring. With Morrow in tow, Torrey dispatched defenseman Dave Lewis and right wings to the Kings for the peripatetic center, Goring.

Many soon realized that Morrow would prove as valuable to the Isles as Goring; and as an offensive weapon as well.

Before the Islanders won their first Cup in 1980, they had to surmount a tough L.A. team in the playoffs. Just when it seemed that the Kings would pull an upset, Morrow drilled home an overtime goal in Game Three to push his club ahead in the series they would eventually win.

"That goal took a million pounds of pressure off everybody," wrote Mike Bossy in his autobiography, Boss.

Morrow was teamed with Denis Potvin to blend into one of the best defensive tandems in NHL history.

"I was incredibly fortunate with the timing and the opportunity the Islanders gave me," Morrow observed in retrospect. "I joined a very good team on the verge of greatness. It was everything I could hope for."

But Morrow repaid the high command with a seemingly endless string of heroics. During the 1982 playoffs against Pittsburgh, Ken rescued his club when it was on the brink of elimination.

Trailing 3-1 in the decisive game, the Isles looked lost late in the third period. They managed one goal, but then Morrow set up John Tonelli with the tying counter with less than three minutes left in regulation

Tonelli then connected for the overtime winner en route to the club's third-straight Stanley Cup. Meanwhile, Morrow's game continued to grow under the tutelage of Arbour.

"Al saw a bit of himself in me,” Morrow said. “We both were defensive defensemen. I valued defending, killing penalties and taking care of my own end. Radar appreciated that. And I was low-maintenance."

Yet, he persisted in scoring clutch goals. When Arbour's skaters swept Edmonton in the 1983 Cup Final it was Morrow's empty-netter that ended one of the most momentous four-game sweeps in NHL annals.

As his Islanders marched toward their never-to-be-broken 19-straight playoff series wins in 1984, their Game Five victory over the Rangers often is referred to among the greatest of hockey contests.

Not surprisingly, the clinching overtime goal on April 10, 1984 was delivered by Morrow's stick.

He played all of his 10 NHL years with the Islanders, blending talent with determination, all under a cloak of modesty.