Patrick Roy vs Mario Tremblay

[peacemaker]

Everyone remembers the now infamous Roy vs Tremblay moment, which ended Roy's Habs stay...

The Habs are getting humilated, and Patrick Roy gives up on his team. The rout is on. At one point Roy even waves his arms to the coach as if to ask 'are you going to pull me?'...

His coach Tremblay, an old school, blood and guts player from the Habs glory days, is pissed at Roy giving up on his teammates and leaves him in a little while longer.

Like a little school girl that didn;t get her way, Roy pouts even more, and completely gives up on his team (he had previously at least tried to act as if he was still trying...

Tremblay finally pulls him. Almost in tears, Roy has words with Tremblay at the bench, before approaching upper management (seated nearby) and telling him that 'he is so embarassed or pissed, that he wil never play in Montreal again' (my words, not Roy's)...

He demands a trade, and pinpoints the loaded Avalanche as his team of choice. It is soon after a done deal.

Years later Tremblay is villified for the incident, and Roy is seen as an all time great.

Tremblay did something that every coach before him would have done (some would have done much worse).

Meanwhile Roy wins the Cup playing behind a loaded Avalanche team. He is seen as a favourite by many.

In my opinion Roy's actions may have been amongst the very first such acts in the game of hockey, and the first sign of NHL players becoming just as spoiled as those in the NBA and MLB.

What are your opinions of Tremblay, and Roy's actions???

[canuckfan]

I don't know, I sort of saw it a little differently. I remember rumors had been going on for months, even years that Roy's time in Montreal was nearing its end, especially after '95 when the Habs missed the playoffs for the first time in like 30 years. Regardless, I thought Tremblay humiliated Roy by leaving him in for so long during that awful game...an ultimate show of disrespect towards the star of the team, the Habs bread and butter. Then he stared Roy down, especially when Roy walked past him to speak to Ronald Corey, as if he was egging him on a little more. That week on Coach's Corner Don Cherry spoke about how you never did that to your goalie, staring him down like that. He said it was for amateurs and disrespectful.

I always thought it was a very unprofessional, disrespectful display by a rookie coach like Tremblay. He pushed Roy, his star goalie, to the edge and put the team in a very difficult situation where they pretty much HAD to trade him, the sooner the better. As such they were forced into a hurried deal with the Avs that turned into one of the worst in franchise history. Tremblay should have treated his star better; everyone knew Roy's time in Montreal was coming to an end, but it didn't have to be a circus. It was right that Tremblay was later villified for the incident; he made it get to that point.

I don't see Roys actions as that of a spoiled athlete, but as a player that was pushed to the edge and deserved better, especially from a rookie headcoach like Tremblay.

[kingcobrafan]

Originally Posted by peacemaker

The Habs are getting humilated, and Patrick Roy gives up on his team. The rout is on. At one point Roy even waves his arms to the coach as if to ask 'are you going to pull me?'...

What are your opinions of Tremblay, and Roy's actions???

As I remember it, the arm-waving from Roy was directed toward Habs fans as sort of a sarcastic "thank you" after they gave him an equally sarcastic round of applause for making a routine save after the game had long been decided. I've never thought Roy "gave up" as you say; just had a really bad night in goal that shouldn't have been allowed to go on as long as it did, IMO.

[spiderarms]

Rookie head coach Steve Kasper is trying to prove a point to his team, the Boston Bruins. He feels Cam Neely and Kevin Stevens are not playing hard. He decides to sit them both at the end of the bench. After the period he pulls their shirts. This was a big deal in Boston at the time. Neely goes on to being one of the greats of all time. Stevens gets traded and bounces around without much sucess and a serious drug problem. Steve Kasper is fired. Never coaching in the NHL again. Guess what?, Tremblay has never coached in the NHL again. Lesson learned: get along with your star players if you want to be a star coach!