8/15/2023 0 Comments Patrick roy stanley cupsThat’s when Tremblay finally decided to pull Roy. 1 goalie gets the rest of the night off, much like a pitcher in baseball who gets the hook from the manager.įor whatever reason, Tremblay left Roy in the game. Hockey tradition holds that once a game is out of reach, the losing No. When Detroit made it a 6–1 game, most everyone-Roy especially-expected Tremblay to call it a night and pull his No. Detroit got out to a quick lead, and kept pouring it on. So, when Tremblay and his Canadiens went into Joe Louis Arena and beat Bowman’s mighty Wings, the Habs coach did some chirping.īowman rarely forgot any slight, and so when Detroit came into Montreal for the early December game, he was ready for revenge. Bowman had been Tremblay’s coach on the Canadiens in the 1970s. Tremblay, in his first year as coach of the Canadiens, took a few shots at Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman before an earlier game in Detroit, basically saying he was no fun to play for. The back story on that game is a little more fascinating in hindsight. Then came the game against the Red Wings on December 2 at the Forum. But on October 17, 1995, Savard was fired by the Canadiens, and the Roy deal fell through with his ouster. According to Michel Roy’s book, Savard had a deal worked out with Avs GM Pierre Lacroix in which Roy would go to Colorado and Owen Nolan and Stephane Fiset would go to Montreal. Serge Savard was the GM of the Canadiens to start the 1995–96 season, and after a slow start for his team, he decided to trade Roy. Actually, as revealed in a book written by Roy’s father, Michel, titled Patrick Roy: Winning, Nothing Else, the Habs were set to deal their superstar goalie to Colorado a couple of months earlier. The Nordiques and Canadiens had a serious rivalry, and there would have been zero chance Montreal management ever would have traded Roy to Quebec.īut with the franchise now in Denver, and Roy and Tremblay at odds, Canadiens GM Rejean Houle felt he had no choice but to turn the page and deal Roy. While Roy was actually born in Quebec City, he was hated by the city’s hockey faithful, because that’s where the Nordiques played, and the hated Canadiens were just two hours down the road. And it sure wouldn’t have been pos sible, if the Avalanche franchise was still based in Quebec City, as it had been just seven months prior. Patrick Roy-Saint Patrick, the kid from Quebec idolized by everyone in the province, a two-time Cup winner and three-time Vezina Trophy winner? Really, the Canadiens might trade him, after just a “one of those things” blowup during a game? Still, nobody really believed it would happen. On December 3 the Canadiens had announced that Roy, their two-time Stanley Cup champion and two-time Conn Smythe winner, was suspended from the team following a blowup with his coach, Mario Tremblay, in a blowout loss to the Detroit Red Wings at the Montreal Forum.īy the afternoon of December 5, I was hot on the scent that the Avs were a prime player to land Roy in a potential trade. My lead paragraph on the game went like this: “Well, the Colorado Avalanche wouldn’t have needed Patrick Roy on this night, at least.” The night before, the Avs had played the San Jose Sharks at McNichols Sports Arena, in a game won by the Avs in a lopsided score. I was excited and energized, and kicking myself. There was no Internet to write for, so my story on the blockbuster trade of Patrick Roy to the Avalanche, along with Mike Keane, would have to wait 24 hours. Everybody in the hockey world was starting to hear it that moment. “You’re the first to know.” Well, not really. “We’re going to announce the acquisition of Patrick Roy in a release in a few minutes,” Martineau said. My phone rang at about 6 am, and Avs media relations man Jean Martineau was on the other line. That’s one of the first memories I have of the morning of December 6, 1995. I had it, and I was too chicken to write it. I thought it would be fun to post an excerpt from a book I wrote on the Avs, a chapter devoted to the trade, along with adding a few postscripts at the end. Today is the 25th anniversary of the Patrick Roy trade to the Avalanche.
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