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In Hainsight: Roy Leads Remparts to Memorial Cup Title |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Patrick Roy has always been known as a winner, he was a clutch goaltender and he captured 4 Stanley Cups and 3 Conn Smythe trophies over his storied career. Once he retired, he tried his hand at coaching at the Junior level and immediately won the Memorial Cup with the Quebec Remparts, when he started coaching in the NHL, he won the Jack Adams trophy as best coach and now, in his second stint as the Remparts’ coach he led them to the LHJMQ championships and a second Memorial Cup title. Roy will have ended his junior coaching career just like he started it, with a championship.
Last night, the Remparts were taking on the tournament’s favorite Seattle Thunderbirds and they played a perfect game. Their defense was amazing and always ready to launch the attack, their goaltender William Rousseau shone brightly, and their forwards were lethal. Roy’s team was on a mission, and they went home to Quebec having accomplished that mission.
Will Roy now come back to the NHL as a coach? I think he will, there’s a lot of rumblings linking him to a few teams like the Rangers (where former teammate Chris Drury is the general manager), the Senators (Roy interviewed with them for the coaching job back in 2019) and the Flames (even though he once had an altercation at practice with now Calgary GM Craig Conroy). While some believe he’s black balled because of the way he left the Avalanche right before the start of the 2016 season, I think there’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then and both the man and the coach have matured. Besides, if Mike Babcock could land another coaching job after everything that went on in Toronto and Detroit, why couldn’t Roy?
Having watched most of the Remparts’ games in this tournament, I’d like to see the Canadiens invite undrafted goaltender William Rousseau to their next rookie camp. The 20-year-old netminder was named best goaltender of the tournament and he’s had a great season with the Remparts. Considering the cupboard is a bit bare goaltender wise in the Montreal system, it wouldn’t cost a thing to give him a chance, it would be up to him to grab that opportunity.
The Remparts’ win last night meant that Habs’ prospect Jared Davidson went home empty-handed, but the young man can still be proud of his season. In 60 regular season games the left-handed center got 82 points and he added 23 more in 19 playoffs games. At 20 years old, his junior career is now over, and it will be interesting to see what happens with the 2022 5th round pick (he was passed over for two years at the draft before the Canadiens drafted him last year). Right now, he doesn’t have a contract with the Canadiens, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him in Laval in October.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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