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One-man revolution Intense Roy redefined goaltending with his butterfly stylePosted: Tuesday May 27, 2003 4:24 PMUpdated: Wednesday May 28, 2003 5:51 PM
The most indelible impression Patrick Roy leaves me with comes from the All-Star Game in February. While most of the players involved in the SuperSkills Competition approached the proceedings as a lark, Roy was giving it his all. Give in? Give up a goal? Never. The stubbornness to prevail still burned brightly -- almost out of place in such a laid-back atmosphere. For Roy, there is no such thing. When it came to stopping pucks, there was only a seriousness of purpose, as evidenced by the sweat streaming down his face while other players glad-handed all around. But it wasn't always like that. Long before Patrick Roy became St. Patrick, he had humble aspirations. Like most kids, he wanted to play just one game in the NHL -- just to be able to say he made it to the top. Then one season led to another and another, amassing four Stanley Cups and many all-time goaltending records along the way.
Simply put, Roy's will to win was unparalleled. He became a star under the intense scrutiny of the Montreal hockey fans and then made goaltenders the star attraction in the game itself. That inner fire manifested itself in many ways. With success and stardom came the reality of being Patrick, which led his off-ice demeanor to range from caustic to aloof, from pensive to demanding. Popularity and apology were never part of the equation. How could they be when winning was the sole defining trait? To that end, Roy was an innovator, always looking for an edge. The intimidation tactics -- like the "in your face" pose with the glove hand after a save -- were signs of ego and bravado, yes, but also the culmination of the effort put in to adapt and achieve. Roy tirelessly refined the butterfly style of goaltending, making it a widely adopted and accepted art form and popularizing the "V-style" as the modern standard of goaltending. As goaltending coach Francois Allaire told me, Roy was open to advancements at an early stage in his career, even with his accomplishments at a young age. This made him "the perfect athlete" to give such change a chance to take hold. Perfecting a mode of goaltending included countless hours of tape analysis. Pad positioning, stick positioning, glove positioning all were modified to close the holes. It meant pushing the legal limits of equipment -- always tinkering and experimenting. Most important, Roy's efficiency took equipment from the realm of protection and conceptually merged it as part of the strategy for blocking shots. In essence, his endless pursuit in the areas of goaltending style and equipment possibilities as a means of gaining an advantage over the shooters is manifest to Roy's drive. Where form and function converge all in the name of winning. His impact in that regard is evident throughout the game of hockey, as countless armored-to-the-hilt goaltenders emulate the butterfly style. Allaire's current disciple is Jean-Sebastien Giguere, he of the marvelous springtime display of netminding for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Giguere's default status to the butterfly positioning and relative little movement as he plays the odds more so than the shooter is possibly the next level -- not so much a goaltending style as it is a systematic approach to puck-stopping. All of which proves that even as Roy leaves the game, his impact will reverberate for generations to come. Darren Eliot, a former NHL goaltender, is a hockey analyst for SI.com. Eliot will provide Stanley Cup Playoffs commentary throughout the postseason, and he is also broadcasting the Stanley Cup Finals for NHL Radio.
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