THE CANADIAN PRESS
CHICOUTIMI, Que. — The son of legendary NHL goalie Patrick Roy could face discipline from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for his role in an ugly brawl during a first-round playoff game between the Quebec Remparts and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.
Roy coaches his son Jonathan on the Remparts and denies he encouraged the slugfest near the end of the second period in Saturday night’s 10-1 thrashing from the Sagueneens.
“We will take the time to look at all the elements of this incident, all the reports from the two supervisors who were there, the officials and the images that are available,” QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau told all-news channel LCN on Sunday.
Courteau added that any potential punishments would be announced Monday after all the people involved were interviewed.
The series is tied 1-1 with the Remparts hosting Game 3 Tuesday night.
The Sagueneens led 7-1 when the trouble began at 19:32 of the second period, after Quebec forward Christophe Poirer and Chicoutimi centre Joel Champagne collided in the Remparts end.
A scrum immediately ensued and gloves quickly flew, with all 10 skaters on the ice eventually pairing off. As they fought, Jonathan Roy skated to centre ice and appeared to challenge Chicoutimi goalie Bobby Nadeau to a fight.
Officials prevented him from skating down but they eventually left him to deal with other fights, freeing Roy to skate to the other end of the ice and jump Nadeau, rip his mask off and begin pounding him.
Nadeau fell to the ice and curled up to protect himself as Roy kept punching him.
Once he was done beating on his opponent, Roy scowled at the crowd as he skated away and flipped the Centre Georges-Vezina crowd a couple of middle-finger gestures. Chicoutimi defenceman Sebastien Rioux then jumped Roy and another fight ensued.
Roy was assessed two fighting majors, a minor and two game misconducts while Nadeau was unpenalized. The teams combined for 120 minutes in penalties in all.
“I can’t control the reactions of my players in the heat of action,” Patrick Roy told reporters after the game. “That’s part of the game.”
The senior Roy, who watched the clashes from the bench, said he did nothing to encourage the melee and denied he made any gesture to his son to approach Nadeau.
He said he saw Nadeau at the blue-line and, “I imagine Jonathan took that as an invitation and things happened.”
Jonathan Roy confirmed his father’s version of events but says he decided on a different plan than the one indicated by his coach.
“Patrick looked at me and told me to calm down,” Jonathan Roy said. “I said to myself, He doesn’t want me to go’, but when the line judge released me, I said to myself . . . I’m going.”‘
Richard Martel, coach of the Sagueneens, said Patrick Roy’s position is understandable.
“It’s a father and son,” he said.
City police escorted the Remparts players to their team bus after the game to prevent any further fights.
