 |
| |
|
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Bowing out on top Cocksure Roy offered great memories to hockey fansPosted: Thursday May 29, 2003 1:21 AMUpdated: Thursday May 29, 2003 1:47 AM
If you ever have a deep, dark secret that you just need to share with someone you can trust, give Patrick Roy a call. Roy played his final NHL season with the knowledge it would be his last, yet somehow managed to keep it a secret for nearly nine months. It was one last great save by the greatest goaltender ever. Perhaps Roy's slow start to the 2002-03 season can be attributed to the decision weighing heavily on his mind. He improved as the season wore on and he seemingly came to grips with his decision. In formally announcing his retirement Wednesday, Roy was as cool as he looked in the crease while staring down an odd-man rush.
Roy always has been among my most respected hockey players because of a great first impression I got while watching him lead the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup 17 years ago. People are stretching the truth when they tell you after the fact that they clearly could see greatness in someone's future. But even though I was just an 11-year-old defenseman playing pee wee hockey in Waukesha, Wis., after watching the 1986 Stanley Cup finals I was pretty certain this Roy character was a little bit unique. He was a gangly 20-year-old rookie netminder wearing No. 33 in the Habs' famous bleu, blanc et rogue sweater who talked to his posts. Roy twitched his neck, gyrated his body and slithered around his crease when the puck was out of play, but he looked so calm when he needed to make a big save. Roy posted a .923 save percentage and a 1.92 goals-against average to become the youngest player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. As impressive as those postseason numbers would be now, back in the high-scoring '80s, they were utterly stunning. Part of the intrigue about Roy is that he never had the incredible advance hype. He just sort of appeared out of nowhere to play one period on Feb. 23, 1985 against Winnipeg after playing one game in the AHL with Sherbrooke following a mediocre 16-25-1 campaign with Granby of the QMJHL. Sure, it spiraled into the St. Patrick phenomenon a year later, but at the time Roy was just viewed as a potential competitor with Steve Penney and Doug Soetaert. No one could have predicted at the time that he would shatter Terry Sawchuk's wins record, but over time it became clear that Roy was a winner like no one who came before him. The debate will rage on forever about whether Roy, Sawchuk, Dominik Hasek, Glenn Hall, Jacques Plante or Tony Esposito was the greatest netminder ever, but Roy's numbers speak for themself. Nearly a decade after my introduction to Roy, I made what was undoubtably my greatest hockey prediction ever. On Dec. 6, 1995 when Pierre Lacroix pulled off The Trade, acquiring Roy and Mike Keane from Montreal for Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Rucinsky and Andrei Kovalenko. I laughed at this front-office theft and told my college roommates that the Avs had just won the Stanley Cup in early December. Colorado was an impressive 16-7-4 at the time the deal was struck, so it wasn't like I was choosing a longshot like Ottawa or San Jose to win the Cup. Six months later, on a warm June night in Florida, the greatest goaltender in NHL history authored one of the all-time classics in a masterpiece-filled career. Roy's 63-save effort in the sweep-clinching Game 4 topped John Vanbiesbrouck's similarly spectacular effort, and St. Patrick got to skate the Cup for a third time. Roy's fourth Cup was enjoyable to watch, too, but moreso because fellow Quebec native Ray Bourque was able to polish off his great career by capturing the ultimate prize. For once, the often egotistical Roy took a back seat to a teammate and was happy to let Bourque bask in the glory of his first and only Cup. So after 18 brilliant years, Roy is walking away from the game he redefined. The goaltending torch officially has been passed to Martin Brodeur and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, each of whom begin their pursuit of the mighty records of their one-time idol. Speculation is that Roy decided to announce his retirement during the Cup finals to take some of the spotlight away from Brodeur and Giguere, two of his proteges in the ever-deepening Quebec goaltending legacy. Roy always loved the limelight, but after 18 remarkable years he has decided to slip away from it, knowing his place among the game's legends is secure. And even though he kept his retirement plans to himself for nine months, most of us who watched him will agree that it's no secret Roy was the best there ever was. Jon A. Dolezar covers the NHL for SI.com. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
