The Nhl

Winning in Style
It's not just that Patrick Roy has a record number of wins, it's how he won 'em

There are no small stories about Patrick Roy. From the way he won his three Stanley Cups (as the postseason MVP in 1986; after an unprecedented 10 straight overtime wins in the '93 playoffs; and following a blockbuster trade, in '96) to the way he bolted Montreal (he went to Canadiens president Ron Corey during a game and demanded to be traded), from his sporting companions (he golfs with Fred Couples and has hit with Monica Seles on Roy's tennis court) to the goalie sweaters he wears (which are so oversized, they look as if they come from a Big and Tall Man's Shop), Roy, the Avalanche's goalie, has signed his name in capital letters. When he beat the Blue Jackets 3-1 last Saturday to tie Terry Sawchuk's record of 447 regular-season wins, Roy stood at hockey's summit.

There have been endless comparisons made between Roy and Sawchuk, who starred with the Red Wings in the 1950s and '60s: Sawchuk had more than twice as many shutouts (103) as Roy (48), but Roy's 447 victories came in 125 fewer games; Sawchuk couldn't feast on expansion teams for most of his career, but Roy has faced harder shooters. These are futile, bar-stool arguments.

A more appropriate comparison for Roy is with Sawchuk's contemporary, Canadiens stalwart Jacques Plante, who ranks third with 434 wins, was the first goalie to use a mask and was the first to leave the crease to play the puck. Roy, like Plante, is an innovator. Roy didn't pioneer the butterfly style ( Glenn Hall, who played 10 seasons with the Black-hawks, is widely considered to have been the first to use it, in the 1950s and '60s), but Roy popularized it, sealing off the bottom of the net. There were doubters about Roy's dropping to his knees like a supplicant at high Mass, including the Canadiens' management, but St. Patrick's early success, coupled with his steadfastness, legitimized the butterfly. "Patrick influenced his position," Flames general manager Craig Button says, "the way Bobby Orr influenced defense."

"Unlike any goalie before him, Patrick made himself the focal point," says Brian Hayward, one of Roy's backups in Montreal and now a television analyst for the Mighty Ducks. " Plante handled the puck and Hall butterflied, but Patrick went beyond them. He handled the puck in the defensive zone whether or not his coaches approved or his teammates understood. He took charge. Being Patrick Roy meant not just stopping the puck but also saying outrageous things. He wanted the spotlight, and, more important, he wanted the responsibility"

Responsibility came in the playoffs. The delicious irony is Roy's being hailed for a regular-season record when his brilliance is most obvious in the spring. He captured the NHL's imagination with 13 saves in overtime in Game 3 of the 1986 semifinals against the Rangers, but he impressed his Montreal teammates as much by coming off the ice whistling after a loss in Game 4 of that series. "I wanted to show them I'd be back for the next game," Roy says.

He stunned hockey with those 10 overtime wins in 1993, but he cemented his legend earlier that spring in the pivotal fifth game of a first-round series against the Nordiques when he pleaded with the Canadiens' doctors to shoot him with painkillers so he could play with a bruised shoulder; Montreal prevailed 5-4 in that overtime game. He won a third Cup in '96, with the Avalanche, in what he called an "act of revenge" after an embarrassing incident in Montreal prompted his trade to Colorado. The deal established the Avalanche as a perennial Cup contender while destroying the Canadiens' dynasty.

On Dec. 2, 1995, Roy was in high dudgeon before facing the Red Wings, because Montreal star Vincent Damphousse had arrived only 10 minutes before warmups. "When Vinnie came in, Mario [Tremblay, the Canadiens' coach], who'd been acting all pissed off, patted him on the shoulder," Roy says. "On my way to the bathroom I said to Mario, 'If it had been [journeyman] Yves Sarault, would he be playing tonight?' " That evening Detroit thumped Montreal, and Tremblay let Roy stew for nine goals before yanking him late in the second period, prompting the humiliated Roy to storm over to Corey, who sat behind the bench at the Forum, and announce he was finished with the Canadiens. "The only thing I regret is raising my hands [in mock salute to fans, who had cheered him sarcastically after a save]," Roy says. "They'd been great to me. It showed a short memory on my part."

Being Patrick Roy means rarely having to say you're sorry.

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