Did he do it? Did he call the shot? Did Patrick Roy order his backup goaltender, who happens to be his son, to beat up the opposing backstop?
By now you've probably seen the images shown all over North America of the brawl that broke out in Saturday's playoff game between Quebec and Chicoutimi.
There are two camera angles that in my opinion are pretty incriminating. From what I can see, it appears as though Patrick Roy ordered his son to fight Sagueneens starting goaltender Bobby Nadeau, even though Nadeau wanted nothing to do with the brawl.
Patrick Roy denied giving out any such orders and he hid behind his son's insincere apology yesterday to save face.
It was a joke and a black eye for the QMJHL. Patrick Roy has always portrayed himself as a man of honour and integrity. He should show it and admit his wrong-doing and face the consequences like a man. He would show to his team, his team’s fans and more importantly to his son that he erred. That he made a mistake. But Patrick Roy preferred to put himself above his son and above the game of hockey.
When you believe you are bigger than your sport, you are blinded by your ego and ambition.
Some say Roy is a victim. After all, this is just junior stuff. It's happened a 100 times before and this incident has been blown out of proportion because it's Patrick Roy.
I say this is different. I am certain that some coaches at all levels order their players to fight or take other players out, but I have never seen a coach act so blatantly.
Keep in mind, the QMJHL's mandate is to educate and teach kids life lessons and values. How would you feel if your kid was playing for Patrick Roy's team? What kind of message is he sending these teenagers? Isn't there a limit to wanting to win at all costs?
Even if you’ve succeeded at every level, as Patrick Roy has, it doesn't mean you are entitled to do as you please, when you please. There are rules and regulations that apply to everyone in society no matter how big your bank account is.
Patrick Roy thinks he has become bigger than the game of hockey. He needs anger management. He needs to be put in his place before he completely ruins his legacy. More importantly, he needs to wake up before he destroys his son for his personal gain. I thought I had seen it all.
How low can you go, Patrick?
Roy is "King" of the QMJHL. He is untouchable and unfortunatly, will always be. My memories of Patrick Roy will not be all his Stanley Cup rings or his talent as a goalie.
If Steve Moore is allowed to file a suit against Marc Crawford because he "ordered" Bertuzzi to act the way he did, then Nadeau should file a lawsuit against Patrick Roy.
I am sorry but hockey players are the biggest whiners and babies in the world. You would never see this in any other sports (including soccer) because at the end of the day, players love what they do and have fun doing it. Hockey as a sport needs to put the fun back into the game (for all level) or else, it will continue to be a sport in decline (here and everywhere).
They should ban them both indefinitely and let them reapply at the beginning of each year.
The son was a mad dog the way he went after the other goalie who was standing in his own crease.
The finger to the crowd showed a complete lack of respect to the fans and to the sport. Send a message back.
Ban them both.
I couldn't agree more. That whole incident was a complete disgrace that both Patrick and Jonathan Roy should be embarrassed over - of course, they are not, and that speaks volumes for the character of both of them.
The Q should have come down much, much harder on both of them, but didn't because as kriskross mentioned, the Roy name is royalty in Quebec.
A disgrace to the QMJHL and to all of hockey - this needed to be dealt with much more severely.
I'd like to know what the cops are doing about this. Regardless of wether or not Patrick told him to, it is clear that his son violently attacked another person for no reason other than this little sociopath wanted to perpetrate a violent act upon someone! If the opposition goalie was my son I would demand that the Police and the Dept. of justice prosecute to the fullesrt extent, and if they refused they would subject themselves to law suites as the evidence is irrifutable of the violent offenders intent. Then maybe this type of activity (violent agravated assault) will not be viewed as a hockey brawl, or fight or whatever else the media wants to dumb it down as.
KrisKross: Are you serious? Hockey players the biggest babies? Football and Basketball players are way worse. And if you can't distinguish between this incident and the Bertuzzi one you need to start looking harder.
Say what you want about Patrick Roy, but he's never cared about being liked by the public. He relied on his skill and hockey mind to get him where he is today. He admitted openly whenever he did something bad in the past because he doesn't care what people think, there's a reason why he's not taking the blame for this incident, he didn't order it. Roy's arrogant attitude combined with undeniable passion and skill make for a lot of hatred from jealous people, especially after he left Montreal. It was a crazy incident, but it wasn't planned. The comparison to the Bertuzzi incident falls flat because Crawford and Brian Burke had BOTH said before the game that Steve Moore was going to get it. Crawford made Moore a priority OUTSIDE game time emotions. This was a line brawl involving all skaters on the ice for both teams, and Jonathan Roy went over to join in. The entire media circus surrounding this is utterly ridiculous.
"There are two camera angles that in my opinion are pretty incriminating. From what I can see, it appears as though Patrick Roy ordered his son to fight Sagueneens starting goaltender Bobby Nadeau, even though Nadeau wanted nothing to do with the brawl." - Louis Jean
There's three very important words here... IN MY OPINION...
Grow up Louis Jean. You wrote a 10 paragraph blog about what you think Roy (in your opinion) might have maybe said to his son. I have seen the fight (only once), and am actually indifferent to it. I couldn't care less if Roy told his son to fight Nadeau.
But the fact that you've writen a blog about it, is "IN MY OPINION" ridiculous... I mean there's nothing other that you could be reporting about?
How about the very close race in the NW division, or how the Penguins are 3 points out of the eastern conference? There's many others almost productive things you could write about other than how in your opinion you think Roy might have maybe told his son to fight Nadeau...
But then this is just in my opinion...
Roy is a clown and like father, like son. Nadeau wanted no part of any fight what-so-ever. Roy rips his helmet off and starts pumping him. Weak.. Then the worst part of it, Nadeau is laying on the ice with head covered and Roy gives him a shot to the ribs and then fingers the crowd. Do I want to take my daughter to Junior games anymore..no! Do I want to sign my son up for hockey next year..no. MMA is safer than hockey. Seven game suspension..What a joke..
Man, I just saw that clip and it was pretty disgusting. I mean, they can't take a loss? Send a message? Ya message recieved loud and clear, "we suck, so in order to win, we have to beat the other team into submission" Seriously, his son is a joke, a 4.0 gaa and 2 wins in 15 games? while the nadeau is one of the top goalies in the QMJHL. Thats like having Dan Cloutier go pummel Luongo, Or Brodeur. The guy got 6 games for that? Hell, whos to say he will ever play with that horrible GAA. The guy is a goof, and is useless to the sport. I mean at least his dad had some skill, while it looks like the only thing that rubbed of on his son was his temper and idiocy. Man, Roy was a great goaltender, but he was a horrible person. He has no class whatsoever, and his son is even more worthless than the trash i pick up off the ground. I am just so disgusted with this, I dont even have any other words to describe how i feel rite now.
I have heard a few stories about "young" Mr. Roy when he played minor hockey. Opposing coaches ordered their players to shoot the puck at Jonathan Roy's head early and often. Why? He would react like he did on the weekend and create power play time for the opposition. Does anybody remember Patrick Roy fighting in the NHL?? If he taught his son how to fight I can see why Jonathan went after a non-willing participant.
Patrick Roy is a disgrace as a father.He and his mentally unstable son should be banned from hockey for life.The police should lay assualt charges in this case.Just because you are involved in a hockey game doesnt give you the right to beat the living heck out however you want.Nadeau clearly didnt provoke this.I also feel the linesman that tackled the player coming to the aid of his teammate should be held accountable for his actions. These kind of incidents are what will continue to make hockey a second rate sport. Im I ever glad that my wife and I decided not to put our son in hockey.
Louis Jean you are talking out of your butt and have no idea if Roy thinks he's above the game. You probably don't have the courage to post this, as I'm guessing you're a bigger coward than you think Roy is.
That's a huge assumption you're making. That a father would throw his son under the bus to the media. Do you have the guts to read your column to Roy's face?
I think the middle finger to the crowd is the only really bad part of the whole thing. If P.Roy did order the fight (which is unclear), it would be nice to see him own up to it. But he has a whole team to think about and it's not the end of the world.
J.Roy should not have beat down an unwilling opponent. But let's keep in mind that this happened in the context of a brawl. It wasn't like he attacked him by surprise or from behind. Nadeau should have defended himself a little better rather than stand there with his hands at his side.
bye bye jonathan! Only common sense says your days are marked and numbered! It's a shame what you did, now walk away from the game before it gets the best of you? God may forgive? As far as dad, guilty he's done this before time and time again. It's time he faces the music.. Unbelievable....
Louis, seriously, are you on crack?
How many times a year are goons "ordered" to go out and fight to "spark their team". Even if the "orders" don't come directly from the coach, once a team is down 2 goals early, it tends to happen, regardless of what league it happens in across North America.
If my son we playing for him, the lesson i would hope he learns is that star players (Like Roy and Chris Pronger, Kobe Bryant comes to mind as well) tend to get better treatment from the leagues they play in then regular stiffs (Like Chris Simon) so work your a$$ off to become a top player.
Jonathan didn't do too bad against a defenceman after beating the crap out of someone who decided to turtle instead of fight like a man. The only thing Jonathan did wrong was keep going once he realized that the other goalie was too chicken to fight (either that or HE thought he was above the game and felt he didn't have to get involved in the melee with a "lowly" back up in Roy.
Who knows what Nadeau might have said to Roy while this whole fracus started? Instead of accusing Patrick of instigating his son's fight, why hasn't anyone tried to find out why Nadeau Turtled or what he may have said to Jonathan that angered him so much?
And please stop trying to bring the law into hockey. Lawsuits over this? PLEASE. It was dealt with by the league it should remain there. We are becoming a society that is overlegislated to death and you want to bring the law onto the ice? People, get a grip. Courtrooms are full of real criminals, let's keep them focused on their REAL job instead of asking Cops to investigate a hockey fight....
I have been a Montreal fan my whole life and even though Patrick was a great goalie I have never had time for him. Now I feel that his son will likely end up the same as his dad. (A know it all disgrace to the game). I ran into Patrick at the 2000 Major Junior draft in Shawinigan. Asked him for an authograph for my daughter who thought the world of him, asked him to write (To ----- and sign it. He scribbled his name but told me he never had the time to personalize it. Nice guy. I certainly hope he and his son get charged for this unfortunate but really stupid incident.
Roy is just the latest in a long list of former star athletes that has disgraced himself. Be a man, admit your guilt and pay the price. What a coward.
Now Roy can be mentioned alongside names like McGwire, Clemens, Bonds and Simpson.
I would like to quickly address Sonechop2 by mentioning that if any league was run by a dunce like you it would falter quicker than you can say "layman" because that is all you can ever be if you think that we should all lighten up and teach our kids that easier is better and junior brawls are just smitten.
Roy has a history of bailing out on his team. Especially when all the attention is put on him. Remember that blowout against Detroit which led to his departure from Montreal? And although I resent Tremblay for being such a stubborn senseless coach, he and Houle ruined the Habs up until Gainey took over, it was Roy's lack of loyalty and Medicean superciliousness that caused him to pull off such nasty dramatics.
Let's face it, the man's last name translates into King and I guess he thinks he's royalty or something like that. The truth is that a lot of Quebecois treat him that way. If you ask Courteau why Jonathan Roy was not banned for the rest of the playoffs the answer would have to be related to big Patrick's influence.
A note on Junior. He is not that good and for some reason thinks he has inherited the respect entitled to Senior. As a reaction to dad's skills, statistics and stature as a on ice NHL performer some boys think talent is genetic in all cases forgetting to work at it like papa did. His son is going to suffer badly when he does not make the NHL because he is not even worthy of playing double-letters and these comments have nothing to do with Saturday's incident. Trust me.
But speaking of consequences due to the incident. Chicoutimi was destroyed the other night 6-1. The Roys got to their heads as Senior has done in the past. The Sags played like victims and suffered as a result of their sub-par performance.
PS - Patrick's eye and facial twitching must be revelatory of his high stress level and perhaps, dare I write it? Madness! The guy must think about hockey and winning so much. He probably believes he is always the most deserving and in this case invincible. Yet success is obtained differently behind the bench Pat. Not all formulas are applicable!
I cannot believe the overreaction to this whole thing. Comparing Roy to Barry Bonds? Hoping they get charged criminally? Give me a break. This all happened during a brawl. It wasn't the first brawl in junior hockey and it won't be the last. There was nothing here that went beyond the accepted risks of hockey. Fine, the suspension is warranted because the other guy didn't want to fight, plus the whole finger thing. But to say these guys are disgraced forever and should be locked up is extreme.
ban both goon roys forever because until some one gets the strength to actually do something severe enough to create a wave this crap will continue....i hope the other guy roy attacked sues and wins
ps...
Beauregard: Are you kidding? Roy is known for bailing on teams eh? That's why he has 3 Conn Smythe trophies as MOST VALUABLE PLAYER to his team when it counts most? More than any other player in the HISTORY of the game. More than Gretzky, Lemieux, Richard, Orr, and Howe! The Canadiens in the mid-1990's bailed on their goalie, they let any player worth a penny go and hired a hack coach. And in case you didn't know, he gave the GM an ultimatum, he said fire the coach or trade me. Now what would a smart GM do? Fire a rookie coach or trade the best goalie who ever played? Do you call Luongo someone who bails on their team because he didn't resign in Florida? No, he was sick of losing and sick of his team not even attempting to be competitive. Roy, like Luongo, is a winner, and he didn't want to be saddled in his prime to a team that wasn't committed to winning.