Sunday, March 23, 2008

The apple, the tree and the falling




Patrick Roy’s temper was a most famous part of his legacy as a goaltender in the NHL, from the occasional dust up outside of his goal crease to the now legendary burst of temper in Montreal that marked his last game as a member of Les Canadiens, emotion has been a part of his game.

Now he and his team are in hot water again, after another incident featuring his Quebec Remparts, another in what seems to be a series of incidents with Chicoutimi, this time featuring his own son as one of the main participants. The famous Roy temper and emotion is once again on the front pages and is the topic of the Quebec radio sports shows after the Saturday night follies of Chicoutimi came to an end.

Saturday night during the second period of a rather testy affair in Chicoutimi, which saw the Remparts who were being handled quite easily by Chicoutimi on the scoreboard, showcase some of the Slapshot side of the game as well.

Of particular interest to league officials will be how they interpret the behaviour of Jonathon Roy, son of Patrick and Remparts goaltender and apparent would be enforcer. During the midst of a rather strident bit of fighting in the second period, Jonathon skated to centre ice and appeared to challenge the Chicoutimi goaltender Bobby Nadeau to fight.

Nadeu chose not to accept the invitation, so once the referee was occupied tending to the other fights on the ice, Roy is reported to have skated the length of the ice and jumped the Chicoutimi goaltender, he then made what are said to be obscene gestures to the crowd, he then had to answer a challenge from another Chicoutimi player to a fight, before finally finding himself removed from the game.

What isn’t clear is whether he was spurred on to his actions by his coach (and father) or chose to take the situation into his own hands. His penalty totals went a fair ways towards filling the 120 minutes of penalties assessed for the incidents on the ice. Roy was assessed 2 fighting majors, a minor and two game misconducts before his game was done for the night.

The game ended with Quebec finishing off with a 10-1 loss at the hands of Chicoutimi and an escort from the city police out of town, just in case some of the fans felt that more pleasantries needed to be exchanged. It’s not the first time that the Remparts have required a little help from the constabulary to leave town and judging by the animosity that seems to build up between the teams, it might not be the last. Especially when you consider that the QMJHL playoff series is tied at one game apiece, with game three set for Quebec City on Tuesday.

Judging by the numerous video presentations from Quebec television it would seem that the younger Roy will be looking at some serious suspension time, an non-combative Nadeau suffered a rather nasty looking pummelling at the hands of the Jonathon. It doesn't appear to have been one of hockey's better moments.





Of course Pere Roy is not stranger to on ice combativeness, as any YouTube search can pull up similar examples of the temper of papa such as this.






The Roy’s will find out the verdict from the league on Monday, which could be an interesting session. The last time Patrick Roy found himself in a controversial situation he threatened to leave the game for good.

Now that it’s become a sense of family honour, one wonders if the same refrain won’t be heard again?

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