Elmont, New York | Patrick Roy has left no one indifferent since his arrival on Long Island. That's the least we can say.
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On Sunday, after his first practice with the team, then during his first game against the Dallas Stars, everyone was only happy with the intensity Roy showed.
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Anyone who hasn't followed the hockey player for five years was impressed by the intensity of the 15-minute morning workout he did before his first game. He hit the ice with his stick, shouted his instructions and encouragement to his players, was involved and physically invested in his every statement.
It captured the imagination, and we can understand it: That's not the norm in the NHL. In fact, it's not in the QMJHL either!
But that's the norm for Patrick Roy.
What people saw of him on Sunday morning with the Islanders was no different than what he did on an ordinary Tuesday morning in January in the middle of the regular season with the Remparts. Whether in 2018, when he arrived with a young and rebuilding team, or in 2023, when the team was preparing to win a championship. And I can confirm that because I was there almost every day.
Patrick Roy showed the same passion during his time with the Remparts that fans discovered about him on Sunday. Photo Stevens LeBlanc
“It wakes you up!”
Simon Gagné, assistant coach of the Remparts last year, can also confirm this and has experienced it from his own experience.
“I will always remember last year’s training camp. The first practice had the rookie players and it was Ben [Desrosiers] and I, who ran the practice. Then the veterans came and Pat hit the ice with full intensity and it left an impression on me. He speaks loudly, he is engaged, he whistles with his mouth. It wakes you up, it hits you! Guys don’t have a choice to be awake and ready every morning.”
Gagné also smiled when he saw the pictures of the training and the exercises suggested by Roy.
“The first drill they ran was a zone exit drill, which we ran almost every drill. And when he told the players, “We have to be good at this,” he was right, because he repeated it last year. “We were constantly hitting the nail on the head last season and almost taking the puck out of our zone,” he remembers.
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His long-time accomplice Nicole Bouchard also recognized the intense man driven by a flame that has never gone out, even though he is now 58 years old.
“I looked at the pictures and apart from finding it strange to see him in blue and orange, I couldn't see any change: he was the same guy we've seen in the Remparts for the last five years and even before that have.”
A little crazy
Life stage: On a personal level, the last 48 hours have been a bit crazy.
On Saturday at 3:46 p.m., the Islanders announced that they had fired their head coach Lane Lambert and replaced him with Patrick Roy. I have to admit that I had to re-read it two or three times to make sure it wasn't fake news, which is so common these days.
The rest was a whirlwind: the official 5:30 p.m. press conference with Roy and Lou Lamoriello and the scramble to get a flight the next morning so as not to miss Roy's first game behind the bench. The team in the evening.
Enough to increase adrenaline and cortisol levels!
In the end everything went well.
So I can't imagine how crazy it must have been for Roy himself. Well settled in his second home in Florida, he enjoyed life on the golf courses. Then Lou Lamoriello called him and said he wanted to meet him and he would travel for it. An in-person meeting followed and a few days later a phone call to formally offer him the position of head coach of the Islanders. Roy made no secret of the fact that the last few hours had been stressful and exhausting for him.
“I'm going to sleep well tonight!” he said with a smile after the Islanders' 3-2 overtime win on Sunday night.
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From her television, Nicole Bouchard saw Patrick Roy's nervousness.
“He looked calm, but knowing him, he was nervous. At the start of the game I thought he was pretty red! He had a lot of pressure on his shoulders, but as soon as the puck hit the ice we saw the same guy who had been with us for five years and even before.”
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Hope is reborn
We shouldn't get carried away too quickly, but we have no choice but to acknowledge that Roy succeeded in his first impression. It's not uncommon for a new coach to come into a team and for that new voice to have a galvanizing effect on the entire locker room.
We felt it on Sunday evening when we listened to the players' comments after the game.
How long will this honeymoon last? Nobody can answer this question.
But Gagne knows one thing: Roy won't give up until he can make this team what he believes it can become. Just like last year with the Remparts.
“Pat will hit the nail on the head, but he'll give the guys that are good on offense a leg up and they'll respect him for that.” Just because he's in the NHL doesn't mean it will will change. Last year, he repeatedly told players that it was important to have confidence in themselves and the process. We ended up beating the best team in Canada in the Memorial Cup final,” he recalls.