ITHACA, N.Y. -- Legendary Cornell hockey goaltender Ken Dryden has been named as one of the top 50 players in ECAC Hockey as the league celebrates its 50th season in 2010-11. The league office announced the first five players to be recognized, with Dryden in the initial group of five honorees.

The league is announcing its all-time top 50 players in segments of five players each, to be released every two weeks until the league championship weekend on March 18-19, 2011, in Atlantic City, N.J. The players joining Dryden in this first installment are Rensselaer forward Bob Brinkworth, Harvard defenseman Mark Fusco, Clarkson defenseman Brian Mueller and Boston College forward Joe Mullen.

Dryden's accomplishments with the Big Red are numerous. A three-time first-team All-American, he backstopped the Big Red to the NCAA Championship in 1967 and league championships in 1967, 1968 and 1969. The league's player of the year in 1969, he was a three-time first-team all-league selection and was named to the league's all-tournament team all three seasons, garnering tournament most outstanding player honor in 1968 and 1969.  A member of the NCAA's 50th Anniversary team, he led the league in goals-against average and save percentage in each of his three seasons with the Big Red. He posted an astonishing record of 76-4-1 over his three seasons, recording 14 shutouts in 83 career games. Dryden finished his career with a 1.59 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage, numbers that still rank him third and second in NCAA history, respectively. Dryden went on to play in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens, winning six Stanley Cups, six NHL All-Star selections, five Vezina Trophies as the league's top goaltender, the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's top rookie in 1972, and the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1971. Dryden is the only player in history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy in the NHL playoffs before winning the the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's top rookie.  He was elected to the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.

Any player who played on a team that was a member of the ECAC, ECAC Hockey League or ECAC Hockey at the time are eligible to be named to the all-time top-50 list. A 10-member selection committee voted on the top 50 players; members of the committee include Joe Bertagna, former hockey commissioner of the ECAC and current commissioner of Hockey East; Ed Carpenter, former Sports Information Director at Boston University; Bill Cleary, former student-athlete, head coach and director of athletics at Harvard; John Connolly, longtime sports reporter at the Boston Herald; Dan Fridgen, former student-athlete at Colgate and former head coach at Rensselaer; Mike Gilligan, former head coach at Yale and vermont; Lou Lamoriello, former student-athlete and head coach at Providence and current CEO, President and General Manager of the New Jersey Devils of the NHL; Mark Morris, former student-athlete at Colgate and former head coach at Clarkson; Tim Taylor, former student-athlete at Harvard and former head coach at Yale; and Adam Wodon, editor of CollegeHockeyNews.com.