Montréal — The Islanders were on the ice Wednesday to avoid being on the ice Thursday morning, as Patrick Roy is aware of what awaits him at the Bell Centre.
In this city on the St. Lawrence River, where hockey is as important as the French language, the Islanders’ new coach is something of a folk hero.
His return to the NHL was such a big deal in these parts that, rather than waiting for the Islanders to visit Montreal only three games into Roy’s tenure, a bevy of French-Canadian reporters flew to Long Island for his debut on Sunday.
Roy is as aware as everyone that he will be entering into a madhouse on Thursday night.
“We just don’t want to have distractions,” he stated Wednesday. “No morning skate in Montreal; the lads are staying at the hotel and will be focused. And I do not want it to be about me. I want it to be about the Islanders.
Patrick Roy, a Canadiens Hall of Famer, has stated that he does not want his return to Montreal “to be about me.”
AP
“We’re going there to win the hockey game. We’re not going there to win for the coach, but for our team. That’s why I don’t think we should go skating. They’ll ask inquiries about me and say things like that. “I don’t need this, and neither does [the team].
An admirable sentiment.
However, the odds of Wednesday not being about Roy are roughly comparable to the odds of the Expos winning the 2024 World Series.
“He’s the king,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said of Roy’s status in Montreal, where he won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1986 and 1993 with championship Canadiens teams. “I’m sure he gets a red carpet treatment wherever he goes. Many of my acquaintances, including my parents, see him as a generational hero.
“He has won, competed, and is a Hall of Famer. He deserves all of the attention he’s getting right now, and I’m sure playing on the bench against Montreal will be an exciting experience.”
Samuel Bolduc, from nearby Laval, was too young to witness Roy play.
But you can bet he’s heard the stories and seen the highlights enough to understand what Roy represents in the city. All he had to do was look up into the Bell Centre rafters, where Roy’s No. 33 hung.
When the word emerged Sunday that he was taking the Islanders job, Bolduc received texts from “pretty much all of my friends and family” asking whether it was genuine.
“People there, they just love him,” Bolduc told the Post. “My dad just talked about him so much, how good he was.”
There are two points to be concerned about against a Montreal squad that, on paper, the Islanders should beat—though they’ve lost at this season, the Bell Centre has already hosted events.
The Isles entered Wednesday tied with the Devils for fourth place in the Metropolitan Division, two points behind the first wild-card slot.
Roy would like to fast-forward until after the All-Star break, when the mania over his hire will begin.
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