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More than a goalie Like Jacques Plante, Roy has defined his position
Updated: Monday October 23, 2000 1:50 PM
The names of Patrick Roy and Terry Sawchuk are sharing sentences lately, as Roy sets to pass the all-time mark for wins, set by Sawchuk some 30 years ago. More appropriately, however, Roy's accomplishments compare closely with the impact of the immortal Jacques Plante. Sawchuk and Plante were contemporaries and perfect foils. Sawchuk the scrambler and Plante the perfectionist. Even off the ice, the two provided stark contrast -- Sawchuk the brooding loner and Plante the thoughtful sophisticate. Plante's legacy transcended wins and losses. He was the first NHL goaltender to wear a facemask in game competition, but beyond that hallmark moment, his strict stand-up approach to goaltending influenced two generations of netminders, me included. I saw Plante play a game at the end of his career when he was playing only home games for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 that night and dropped to the ice six times....in total. That included falling to the ice to cover the puck four times. Only twice did Plante leave his skates to make a save. Plante was well into his 40s at the time. It may have been a relatively meaningless moment at the far end of a great career, but that performance stays with me to this day: A man and his craft, technically flawless, effective with astonishing economy of motion. Likewise, Roy's footprint on the game is greater than being the winningest goaltender of all-time. Roy innovates with equipment as well, pushing convention to the limit, looking to gain any advantage with oversized jerseys, pads and gloves. Still, what links St. Patrick to Jake the Snake is that like Plante, Roy refined his technique to the point of definition. He perfected the "V-style" of goaltending, taking away the bottom of the net with his pads, while keeping his upper body upright and his gloves and stick in a traditional stance setup. Similar to the legion of stand-up goaltenders that followed the teachings of Plante, Roy wanna-bes now populate the NHL in record numbers. Look no further than last year's Vezina Trophy winner Olaf Kolzig, Roy's understudy in Colorado last year, Marc Dennis of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins' J.S. Aubin and Ottawa Senators' Patrick Lalime. The old saying is that imitation is the highest form flattery. For Plante and Roy, it elevates and underscores their similarly immense impact on the position of goaltending and the game of hockey.
One thousand times "Lucky" as a KingLuc Robitaille entered the NHL in 1986 with the Los Angeles Kings, which was also Patrick Roy's first full season. Robitaille recently registered his 1,000th point as a King. He is the third to do so, with the other two being current Kings' GM Dave Taylor and Hall-of-Famer Marcel Dionne. Robitaille's rookie campaign saw him score 45 goals and 84 points on his way to the Calder Trophy. His linemates? Dionne and Taylor. I was a member of that '86 Kings' squad as well and remember Robitaille scoring his first goal -- a great effort in getting to a short rebound off a Dionne shot. He entered the league with a zeal for the game and a knack for putting pucks in the net. Now in his 15th season, all but three in L.A., Robitaille has lost neither. His infectious enthusiasm remains intact -- the sparkle of his quick, engaging youthful smile is as bright as ever. He is just a handful of goals shy of 500 as a King as well, having reached that fabled mark for his career a couple of seasons ago. Initially, though, few could have predicted lofty numbers for Robitaille. He was selected 171st in the 1984 entry draft and I can still recall Robitaille's first training camp -- a gangly kid who was all elbows and kneecaps. His skating was awkward and ungainly. Yet, by 1986, he had started to fill out physically and improved his skating enough to make the team. Early in the season, I asked Luc what he had done to become a better skater. Robitaille said he had worked with a new concept called in-line skates -- hockey skates with wheels in place of a blade. The "Rollerblades" enabled him to work on his stride and develop his legs in off-ice training sessions. It gave me an early insight that this kid not only had a scorer's touch, but he had passion and desire that could make him special. I also remember thinking, in-line skating? Interesting, but it will never catch on with the masses. My instincts were definitely much better regarding "Lucky" Luc Robitaille. Darren Eliot, a former NHL goaltender, is a hockey analyst for CNN/Sports Illustrated and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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