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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
“I don’t want it to be about me, I want it to be about the Islanders.”
The Islanders practiced on Wednesday because they won’t be having a morning skate in Montreal. The reason? Patrick Roy knows how it can be when he returns to Montreal, and he doesn’t want any distractions for him or his team.
A generation of Montreal hockey fans grew up idolizing Roy and that includes the Habs head coach. “The amount of times I was Patrick Roy in the street playing goalie,” said Martin St. Louis via Sportsnet. “We all admire him and idolize him. He meant a lot to me, the rest of the kids growing up here, he was kind of the backbone of the franchise for a long time.”
Roy has returned to Montreal before, he knows what it will be like, which is why he decided to take himself out of the equation and let the team spend their day mentally preparing for what they need to accomplish on the ice.
"They're going to ask questions about me; they're going to say this and that," Roy added. "I don't need this, and they don't need that. ... I want an Islanders game."
He also wants a win.
Roy is excited about how quickly the team has taken to his teachings. He relayed the amount of time they spent in the offensive zone vs. the defensive zone vs. the Golden Knights as evidence of the puck possession game he wants them to play. The result didn’t come on Tuesday, but in ways it was more encouraging than their win against Dallas.
There will come a time when we grow accustomed to Patrick Roy behind the Islanders bench. A time when it all feels normal. That time is not tonight. It will be an emotional homecoming for Roy. He will be as much of the story as the game itself, and the crowd and hometown Habs are likely to have a little more energy because of it.
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