PULLING OUT ALL THE STOPS : As Canadiens Go Into Decline, Patrick Roy Finds New Life With Avalanche

There was no turning back. Patrick Roy had done the unthinkable, and it was time to face the consequences.

He and Mario Tremblay, who had replaced Jacques Demers as coach of the Montreal Canadiens five games into the season, hadn’t gotten along since Tremblay--then a radio commentator--criticized Roy’s early efforts. It didn’t help their relationship that after Tremblay was hired but before his appointment was announced, Roy told him he resented Tremblay’s constant second-guessing.

They co-existed warily until Dec. 2, when the Canadiens’ defense dissembled and allowed the Detroit Red Wings to attack Roy in waves. When the Forum crowd derisively cheered him for an easy save, he responded by raising his arms in mock gratitude. Although far from the most offensive gesture ever made by an athlete, such things simply aren’t done in Montreal.

By the time Tremblay pulled his goaltender, Detroit had scored nine times and Roy felt humiliated. He stormed to the bench, walked past Tremblay and told club President Ron Corey he wanted to be traded. That too simply isn’t done. The same fans who lionized him when he was the most valuable player of Montreal’s 1986 and 1993 Stanley Cup triumphs turned on him, calling him a boor.

His wish was granted Dec. 6. The next day, as he prepared for his debut with the Colorado Avalanche, the impact of his actions sank in.

He and his wife, Michelle, talked for hours. After much agonizing, they decided to move the family to Denver, which meant yanking their children--who spoke only French--out of familiar surroundings. It would be difficult for everyone, but they decided to weather this crisis together, as a family.

“The night before the game against the Oilers, my wife and I sat on the bed in tears,” Roy said. “We both agreed we had to [get settled] fast. We didn’t want the children to come until we bought a house, and my wife found one quickly. The first few nights, we didn’t have beds, but I think it was kind of fun for them. It was like camping, an adventure.”

After initial misgivings, Jonathan, Frederick and Jana Roy, ages 7, 5 and nearly 3, are happy in their new home. The same is true of their father, who has provided superb goaltending and leadership by example in carrying the Avalanche to the Western Conference finals.

When the Avalanche acquired Roy, Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway wondered in a TV interview, “Why doesn’t he pronounce his name Roy [rhyming with toy]?” After watching Roy lead Colorado to the NHL’s second-best record, Elway--a regular at Avalanche games--knows it’s pronounced “Wah.” So does everyone else in the sellout crowds that set McNichols Arena rocking.

“I think it took him a few months to adjust and accept the trade and his destiny and what happened in Montreal. He played good, but his mind wasn’t there,” said Claude Lemieux, Roy’s teammate on Montreal’s 1986 Cup team and again in Colorado.

“I think he was still angry or sad because of what had transpired. It takes a while before you can focus not on ‘What is Montreal doing, what do Montreal people think?’ and just play the game and be happy with yourself and where you’re at. I think this has been good for him.”

Roy, who ranks 10th among goalies with 311 regular-season victories, is tied for second in playoff victories (80) and is the leader with 7,897 minutes played, regrets not that he left Montreal, but that he left acrimoniously. He isn’t sorry to be wearing a Bigfoot emblem on his shoulder instead of the Canadiens’ CH on his chest because with Colorado, he is the key to a promising future instead of a relic from past glories.

“I got to be honest. It’s going to give me a chance to play longer in the NHL. I don’t say there’s less pressure now, but this gives me a chance to see something else and gives me also a fresh start,” said Roy, who stopped 64 of 66 shots in sparking the Avalanche to a 2-0 lead in their playoff series against the Red Wings. Game 3 is tonight at Denver.

“I guess in Montreal I was carrying too much on my shoulders and at the end, it was getting harder and harder to accept to lose. I have never been able to accept to lose. I could never accept just trying to make the playoffs. My objective has always been to win the Stanley Cup, and Montreal’s objective this year was just to make the playoffs. I didn’t agree with that.

“Montreal, I realize, did a favor to me. Of course, they got the player they wanted [goalie Jocelyn Thibault], and that helps a lot in the trade, but it gave me a fantastic chance to play for such a good team as Colorado.”

Montreal exited the playoffs in the first round, but the Avalanche, backed by Roy’s 2.12 goals-against average and .916 save percentage, is threatening to upset Detroit. It’s really no big surprise, even though Detroit won a record 62 games this season. This is Roy’s favorite time of year, the time he thinks about from the first day of training camp.

“Some people play well under pressure and some don’t. He’s one of those guys who thrives under pressure, and that’s what separates superstars from the average player,” said Mike Keane, who went to Colorado with Roy for Thibault, Martin Rucinsky and Andrei Kovalenko. “Those guys want to be the one with the ball in their hands in the last seconds of a tight game. They want to be the hero.”

Roy, 30, didn’t try to be Superman when he joined his new team. “I just tried to fit in,” he said. “The best leadership I had when I was in Montreal was stopping the puck, and I said to myself, ‘Let’s do the same here.’ ”

He is stopping the puck as well as he ever did behind Montreal’s vaunted defense, and he brought with him the knack he had in overtime. He is 4-2 in sudden death this spring and 28-8 in his career. “He’s calm, and he spreads that around the team,” Colorado center Peter Forsberg said. “He also spreads the attitude, ‘Let’s win this one, as long as it takes to play it.’ ”

Said Roy, whose career goals-against average is 2.42 in the playoffs and 2.78 in regular-season play: “I’m more focused in the playoffs. Concentration comes a lot easier. I enjoy myself more in the playoffs because there’s pressure. There’s always the possibility it’s going to be the last game and I love to play in that situation. Also, I had the chance to win two Stanley Cups and I feel like I have a chance now, so why not go for it?”

When Montreal made Roy available, Avalanche General Manager Pierre Lacroix immediately pursued him. They have known each other for 15 years, and Lacroix used to be Roy’s agent. “In clutch hockey,” Lacroix said, “he is probably the best goalie in the history of the game.”

Their friendship, Lacroix insists, paled beside the team’s need for a proven playoff goalie who could establish a winning tradition. The Avalanche, formerly the Quebec Nordiques until the franchise moved to Denver this season, had gotten to the conference finals only twice, losing in 1982 and 1985.

“When I took over in June of 1994, there was a focus, a vision of what we needed, and one of the things was we needed to increase the level of leadership,” Lacroix said. “The talent was there over the years, because we had drafted first-round picks after seven years of not making the playoffs. You need to have the right ingredients in order to have the right recipe.

“In order to achieve what we wanted, we needed Patrick Roy, and we also needed Claude Lemieux and Mike Keane. Not only does Patrick bring more experience to the goaltending situation, we knew for the playoffs we would be in better position. And on defense, we added Sandis Ozolinsh. . . . All of them together have brought us where we are.”

Roy is intent on succeeding at everything he does. His father, a government envoy, and his mother, a former Canadian synchronized swimming champion, encouraged him to play tennis as a child in Quebec City. But like so many Canadian kids, he turned to hockey. Playing in the Quebec Major Junior League, a fertile ground for goalies, he was the 51st pick in the 1984 entry draft.

He spoke no English when he made his NHL debut, “which is kind of sad,” he said. “I’m still not as good as I wish, but I am learning every day.” His speech is flavored by a strong French accent, but his zest for his new life comes through clearly.

“We’re having fun in Denver. People have been very supportive to me and to the team, and it’s such a nice town,” he said. “There’s a lot of things to do. There is baseball, football and basketball. And there is more chance to play golf in Denver than in Montreal, it is true, but during the season I don’t play as much because I like to focus on the games. When I go to play golf, it makes me relax and think about something else.”

His thoughts now center on the Stanley Cup, which is six victories away.

“I think Vancouver was a better team than people think they were. It was a good challenge for us,” he said of Colorado’s first-round series. “Then going up against a team like Chicago, where we lost the first game, made each of us realize we had to play better defensively if we want to get through. We were 2-1 down and had to find a way to come back in the series and we won it by winning the last three games. We played solid defensive hockey, and the guys realize that’s not going to take away their scoring chances. Every one of us has to work harder and be committed to the team.

“It shows how hungry the guys are. There have been so many frustrations in the past in this organization. Having a chance to be this far in the playoffs is a great opportunity for all these guys, as it is for me. I know how fun it is to win the Cup, and I think the guys realize they have a crack at it and they certainly want to take that chance and go for it.”

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Goalie Greats

How Patrick Roy ranks among the all-time goaltenders:

CAREER VICTORIES (Playoffs)

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Goalie Wins Titles Bill Smith 88 4 Ken Dryden 80 6 Patrick Roy 80 2 Grant Fuhr 78 4

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(Regular season)

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Goalie Wins Terry Sawchuk 447 Jacques Plante 434 Tony Esposito 423 Glenn Hall 407 Rogie Vachon 355 Gump Worsley 335 Harry Lumley 333 Andy Moog 326 Grant Fuhr 320 Patrick Roy 311

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MOST PLAYOFF GAMES

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Goalie Games Bill Smith 132 Patrick Roy 128 Grant Fuhr 121 Andy Moog 116 Glenn Hall 115 Jacques Plante 112 Ken Dryden 112

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MOST PLAYOFF MINUTES

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Goalie Minutes Patrick Roy 7,897 Bill Smith 7,645 Grant Fuhr 7,071 Glenn Hall 6,899 Ken Dryden 6,846

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