{"id":189808,"date":"2025-09-12T05:24:32","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/189808\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T05:24:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:24:32","slug":"islanders-coach-patrick-roy-returns-to-colorado-and-the-building-where-his-retired-number-hangs-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/189808\/","title":{"rendered":"Islanders coach Patrick Roy returns to Colorado and the building where his retired number hangs"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER \u2013 New York Islanders coach<\/a> Patrick Roy stepped onto the ice at Ball Arena and briefly glanced toward the rafters.<\/p>\n

Yep, his familiar No. 33 was still up there with all the other banners representing retired Colorado Avalanche<\/a> numbers.<\/p>\n

Being back in town for Roy brought back memories of helping Colorado win two Stanley Cup titles as a goaltender. It also made him reflect on the bitter end, when he abruptly resigned as Avalanche coach two months before the start of the NHL 2016-17 regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of good memories,\u201d Roy said Monday after practice and hours before his first game against his former team as coach of the Islanders. \u201cThat\u2019s the way I want to look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy has no regrets over how he handled the situation even as it took more than seven years to land another NHL head coaching job. It just made him more appreciative returning to the bench last January when he took over for Lane Lambert. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in a much better place today than I was then, more respect for the position, more appreciation for being back in the league,\u201d said Roy, who went 20-12-5 last season to guide the Islanders into the playoffs. \u201cAt the same time, things went well for the Avs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Especially for Jared Bednar, who was hired as coach after Roy’s departure. It was a rough first season under Bednar as the Avalanche went 22-56-4 in \u201916-17. Five years later, the Avalanche were hoisting the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably owe him a big hug and a steak dinner,\u201d Bednar said of Roy. \u201cEveryone does what\u2019s right for them personally, but for me, it just opened a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022, Roy texted longtime teammate and Avalanche president Joe Sakic to tell him how proud he was.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was happy for them,\u201d Roy said. \u201cWhen you play here for those years, and the connection with the fans and the opportunity to wear that jersey night after night, it\u2019s something that we put a lot of pride in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being back in the Mile High City, Roy couldn’t help but think about Colorado general manager Pierre Lacroix<\/a>, who died in 2020. Lacroix was once Roy’s agent and after Lacroix arrived in Denver helped orchestrate a trade with Montreal that brought Roy to town.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the one that gave me my chance,\u201d Roy said. \u201cSo obviously, I\u2019m always going to have a thought for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy won 551 games over his Hall of Fame goaltending career with Montreal and Colorado. He captured three Vezina trophies and was part of four Stanley Cup teams between the Canadiens (1986, 1993) and Avalanche (1996, 2001).<\/p>\n

The 59-year-old Roy was hired as coach by Colorado in 2013<\/a> to turn around the team. He propelled the Avalanche into the playoffs his first season and with a rookie named Nathan MacKinnon. After two more seasons, Roy suddenly stepped down. At the time, Sakic contended the team’s lack of success played into Roy\u2019s decision to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, I would take things for granted,\u201d Roy explained Monday. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s nice to put your ego aside and understand that it\u2019s a privilege coaching in this league. Every day you need to put the work (in), you try to learn new things. I think that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing a lot better than I was doing then.”<\/p>\n

He’s treating this as just another game. Same approach as last season against Montreal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always have the Avs in my heart. Same thing with Montreal,\u201d Roy said. “I had great memories over those 11 years that I was involved with the (Avalanche) organization. I’m thankful for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2013 New York Islanders coach Patrick Roy stepped onto the ice at Ball Arena and briefly glanced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,192,144,5277,5,1117,6174,4,2905,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-189808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-colorado","10":"tag-colorado-avalanche","11":"tag-coloradoavalanche","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-jared-bednar","14":"tag-lane-lambert","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-patrick-roy","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115189662577007742","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}