Patrick Roy Headed To Colorado

Today is a sad day in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. From the Colorado Avalanche website:

The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that the organization has reached an agreement in principle with Patrick Roy to become the franchise’s Head Coach/Vice President of Hockey Operations. Due to the Memorial Day weekend, the Avalanche will hold a press conference next week in Denver to formally introduce Roy. 

Roy, 47, becomes the sixth head coach in Avalanche history and the 14th in franchise history. In addition to his head coaching duties, Roy will also work with Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Joe Sakic in all player personnel decisions.

Roy provided unlimited amounts of entertainment - and wrote quite a few cheques as well - during his time with the Quebec Remparts. It just won’t be the same watching the Remparts without him standing behind the bench and whistling for line changes.

The Q has posted a congratulatory message on their website.

Per the Avs website, “he guided the Remparts to a 348-196-0 record (.640) in 544 regular season games behind the bench” over eight seasons. Despite all the regular season success, the 2006 Memorial Cup is the only championship the Remparts won in the Roy coaching era.

Roy never guided the team to a QMJHL title and they only appeared in the league final once (2006) and the semi-finals three times (2006, 2009, and 2011). They also blew a 3-0 series lead in the second-round of the 2012 playoffs to the Halifax Mooseheads.

It’ll be interesting to see how Roy at the NHL level. He’ll no doubt provide some entertainment.

It’ll also be interesting to see who Roy brings in as assistants. Will he dip into the QMJHL?

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation