Patrick Roy famously turned his back on Montreal on Dec. 2, 1995. So how will fans react when the back of his sweater is raised to the rafters?
It will go down as one of the most-bitter parting of ways in NHL history.
The night Patrick Roy walked out on his team in the midst of a game I am certain there were those in the organization and among the legion of faithful fans that would have rather seen Roy hang from the rafters, not his jersey.
But it was that outburst of emotion that epitomized Roy's competitive nature and competitiveness.
Roy will have his No. 33 retired by the Canadiens on Saturday night at the Bell Centre when it hosts an old rival, the Boston Bruins. The guest of honour said he is looking forward to putting that fateful night to rest.
"You always have some regrets," Roy said. "Nobody is perfect, but when you love to compete and that is the way I was, I don't think I would have had the career I had if I was not that kind of person.
"But the good thing that will happen Saturday is we're going to talk more about the good times I had in Montreal. And we can put Dec. 2, 1995 behind me. It's funny because when you get to the NHL they tell you one game does not make a career, but it seems to me my time in Montreal is remembered only for that one game. I had so many good years and played on so many great teams. I had great teammates and coaches."
Roy is the NHL career leader in regular season games played by a goalie (1,029), regular season wins (551), playoff games (247), playoff wins (151) and playoffs shutouts with 23.
All of the aforementioned accolades aside, his glorious 19-year career will always be remembered most for recording 10 overtime victories in leading the Habs to the 1993 Stanley Cup. Roy remembers his unbelievable run as if it happened yesterday.
"After two periods if we were tied, we were almost hoping to get to overtime with the same score because we were so confident we believed we could not lose a game in overtime," Roy said. "To be honest, when overtime came, it was even easier for me to focus. I was just focused on making the next save. All you can do as a goalie is buy time for your teammates. I never scored a goal; they are the ones who put the puck in the net. What you want to do as a goaltender is make saves and buy time and hopefully they will put one in before the other team does."
Roy insists he bore no grudge against the Canadiens over the years, and the only reason he has not participated in team celebrations and functions over the years is because he was busy.
"They approached me a couple of times in the past years and it wasn't a case of me not showing up because of what happened on Dec. 2," Roy said, "I didn't show up because I didn't have time. I am very involved in coaching junior hockey and there were nights I wanted to go watch the Canadiens play, but I was coaching. When (Alexander) Radulov played in Montreal I wanted to go, but I was coaching. Same thing with Marc-Edouiard Vloasic, but it was the same thing. These are players that I coached. I would have loved to be at the Bell Centre when they retired Bob Gainey's jersey, but I taped a video message for him. If I have some free time and I am asked to come to the Bell Centre, I will."
Currently he is the owner, general manager and coach of the QMJHL Quebec Remparts, the team he led to the Memorial Cup in 2006 and said he has no immediate plans to coach in the NHL, but added, "I guess you can never say never."
Roy added that his legacy is important.
"I want people to remember the way I competed in every game," Roy said. "In life you have moments when you have to persevere. I wanted to be well-prepared and make sure I would perform at a high level. There was a situation when I was younger that it would have been very easy for me to do something else. I was cut from a Midget CC team, but I decided to persevere and keep playing the position. The following year I made the Midget AAA team."
My guess is as Roy's jersey is raised to the rafters Canadiens fans will choose to remember everything he did for the city … the Cups, the great performances and the passion he exuded night after night.
And Dec. 2, 1995 will be relegated to a footnote.
