Saturday, November 22, 2008

On Patrick Roy

When the announcement came that the Habs planned to retire Patrick Roy’s jersey on November 22, I started thinking about his years with the Habs and realized (a little sheepishly) that I don’t have many memories of him.

Ken Dryden defined the Habs for me, starting with the Canada / Russia series and through the seventies when the team captured six Stanley Cups. A decade of excellence and a very spoiled fan was born.

When the cups started dwindling, I must admit so did my interest, I didn’t follow the team that closely during the eighties and nineties. After the win in ’93 I actually had the audacity to say “meh, it wasn’t one of our best ones.” Wow, can you even imagine having the luxury of saying that now.

Fifteen years later, being older & wiser and having suffered through the longest Stanley Cup drought in Habs history, I’ve started to appreciate what Patrick means to a whole generation of younger fans and why they worship him.

I had to go through several YouTube videos to truly see what the fuss was all about, so now the verdict is in. He was sensational.

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