Eight years after abruptly walking out on Colorado, Patrick Roy returned to Ball Arena like he owned the joint, with a healthy arrogance as large as the “A” in the Avalanche logo at center ice.
Roy peered Monday into the rafters, where his No. 33 hangs in a place of honor not far from three Stanley Cup banners won by the Avs.
Without blinking, Saint Patrick made certain to remind us that none of those championships, including the one claimed by Nathan MacKinnon in 2022, long after Roy was gone from Denver, would have been possible without him.
“We would not have drafted MacKinnon if I wasn’t there,” Roy said.
You might have forgotten, but Roy certainly has not. And he wanted to give credit where credit is due: to himself.
After being named the Avalanche’s coach and vice president of hockey operations in the spring of 2013, his first major move was to use the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL draft on MacKinnon, when the temptation was great for Colorado to select Seth Jones, a highly touted defenseman raised down the street from where Roy won 262 regular-season games and two Cups as the team’s goalie from 1995-2003.
“I’m proud to see how MacK has been playing for them,” Roy said.
He might be 59 years old now, softer around the middle, with salt and pepper liberally sprinkled in his hair, but the Roy that returned to Colorado as coach of the New York Islanders remains arrogant without apology.
Same as he ever was. Bold. Indefatigable. Hot-blooded.
With steely blue eyes, dangerously intense passion and a dare-me smirk, Roy gave this Colorado hockey franchise its swagger and made this dusty old cowtown a city of champions before Broncos legend John Elway did.
While Joe Sakic is deservedly the most beloved icon in Avalanche history, Roy is the most important and transformative figure the franchise has ever known.
His acquisition from Montreal in December 1995 by Colorado general manager Pierre Lacroix, who had served as Roy’s agent when the goalie was drafted by the Canadiens as a skinny teenager, is what infused the Avalanche with a die-hard refusal to lose.
It was the tag-team tandem of Lacroix and Roy that established the Avalanche’s championship culture.
With memories of Roy throwing fists of fury at Red Wings goalie Mike Vernon or talking rings-in-my-ears trash at Blackhawks forward Jeremy Roenick, the arena crowd gave Roy a warm welcome when he was saluted on the arena’s giant video boards during a first-period break in the action from the Islanders’ 6-2 victory.
“Pierre and Patty were made for each other. So much alike. Two peas in a pod,” said Eric Lacroix, who was a 12-year-old kid when his father became the agent for a young, headstrong goalie in 1984.
Lacroix would grow up to be an Avalanche teammate of Saint Patrick, but will always see Roy as the older brother who used to pick him up in Montreal, then drive them both in a snazzy Honda Prelude to a local country club, playing day after day, in an obsessive pursuit of a perfect golf swing.
It was that obsession with perfection that Pierre and Patty shared to the eternal benefit of Avalanche fans everywhere.
“In this lifetime, sometimes you find a special connection between two people that seems meant to be. It’s unusual. Almost undeniable. And special,” Lacroix told me.
“My father and Patty were already great hockey talents when they met and would’ve had great careers, no matter what. But together, they raised each other to the point where there were no limits.”
Roy does not believe in living life with compromise or regret, which can make him an extremely difficult person to live with.
Drawing hard lines with a hot temper can wreck a relationship, which goes a long way to explaining why he suddenly resigned his coaching gig with the Avs in August 2016 in a disagreement with Sakic and franchise governor Josh Kroenke about the painstakingly steady way the team was being rebuilt into a contender.
“I wish I would have done things different at the time. I didn’t have enough respect for the position of coaching,” said Roy, who didn’t return to a bench in the NHL until last season, when the Islanders gave him another shot and he led them to the playoffs.
“Do I have regrets? No, because it makes me who I am today. I think I’m in a much better place today than I was then. I have more respect for the position, more appreciation for being back in the league.”
Say what? Has Roy developed a taste for humble pie?
As somebody who has traded barbs with the king of goaltenders for nearly 30 years, I’m here to tell you: Don’t believe that nonsense for a second.
When I shook his hand and asked Roy if he had mellowed, an impish twinkle danced in those steel blue eyes.
“Surprised you’re still here, Mark,” Roy told me. “I figured you’d be retired by now.”
I replied that it was too much fun causing mischief to quit.
“We can’t stop,” Roy said. “Can we?
Forever and always, there be a little devil in Saint Patrick.
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