Il est magnifique

Roy still the standard by which netminders are judged

What defines greatness? Winning, revolutionizing an aspect of your chosen sport, longevity -- all will garner an athlete the tag of being "great." Possibly, though, it is now an overused adjective in sports, devalued by the all-too-ordinary inappropriately referred to as great.

Well, when it comes to describing Patrick Roy's career, great certainly feels inadequate. That is how far from ordinary he has traveled, reaching the pinnacle in all three defining categories. Let's start with winning. He has four Stanley Cups on his resume -- two for the fabled Montreal Canadiens and two in Colorado. Not only has he won, he has done it with panache, bursting on the NHL scene in 1985 and leading the Habs to the Cup as a rookie.

He did it again in Denver, leading the transplanted Quebec Nordiques to victory in his first season there as well. In fact, the Canadiens haven't come close to the Cup since Roy last led them in 1993, when he dramatically won 10 postseason games in overtime. It is only a decade in passing, but Roy forcing a trade from Montreal might end up being hockey’s version of the "Curse of the Bambino."

As far as redefining the position of goaltending, Roy is peerless in his perfection of the V-style goaltending technique. All you have to do is look around the NHL at the imitators. A dozen French-Canadian netminders in the league bear a resemblance to Roy. He took the old butterfly style and refined the glove positioning and upper-body posture associated with stopping shots while dropping to the ice.

In so doing, Roy changed with the times, adopting a style that was better suited for the lateral attack strategies gaining favor in the league due to the growing contingent of European players. Even beyond his profound impact on goaltending technique, Roy's constant yearning for a competitive advantage is legendary. From video analysis of opponents to equipment modifications taken to the brink of rules distortion, he has always been about gaining an edge.

Well, maybe not always. Like most youngsters who dream of making it to the NHL, once they reach that level their goals are somewhat more modest, moving from one game to one season to one decade and so on. Also, like many elite athletes today, Roy finally paid attention to fitness as an essential element in prolonging peak performance levels. It is in this regard that Roy’s career takes on an otherworldly quality. Yes, he has won. And, yes, he has left an indelible mark on his position for generations to come. But beyond those feats, Roy has performed with unprecedented consistency and longevity.

It is staggering to think that in each of the last four seasons he has posted career-best goals-against numbers. Roy set a career mark for goals against in his 14th campaign, (2.29) only to improve that standard successively in years 15 (2.28), 16 (2.21) and 17 (1.94).

However, this number-crunching only begins to document Roy's excellence. To delve too far into the stats is to invite dizziness. Already, no one has won more games or appeared in more games than has Roy -- both in the regular season and in playoff competition.

So as Patrick Roy sets to play in his 1,000th regular season NHL game -- mind-boggling by any other measure, yet muted by his own unparalleled winning and playing, playing and winning -- what are we to take away from this occasion? Truly, we have witnessed competitive greatness for the ages.

 

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