ST. PAUL, Minn. — Local hockey writer Chad Graff of our sister paper, the Pioneer Press/TwinCities.com, asked Avalanche coach Patrick Roy about Sunday’s game at the Xcel Energy Center. Here is Roy’s response:
First of all, this morning I was reading an . I thought it was very unhealthy for the game of hockey. Reading that article, itap almost like he suggested somebody go after Cody McLeod and I don’t think hockey needs this today. The game of hockey is a healthy game and I think a reporter going in that direction is unhealthy for our game, and I don’t think itap what this rivalry should be all about. Itap about playing a hockey game, winning two points, and we’re here to win two points. I mean, itap an emotional game. And sometimes things happen on the ice. But when you have 10 days to write an article like this, I would say this – this is garbage. And I hope this guy has good lawyers because if something happened to Cody today, if I was his agent, I’d be not nervous to give him a nice call.
Expect carryover?
Absolutely not. We’re here to win a hockey game. The urgency of our team is to win a hockey game. And I mentioned it to your friends. If we were about revenge, it would have been done long ago because what happened to Tyson Barrie was bad timing for us. It was in the playoffs and you know what it means to win a playoff series, not just for the players, but for the entire organization. We worked really hard to be in the position we were in. Losing Tyson affected us a lot and was probably the difference in the playoffs. Tyson was playing so well like he is right now. Itap sad to read things like this. We don’t need this in our game now.
Last week overblown?
Totally. I mean Cody McLeod last night played 18 minutes. When you’re at home, he has the first change, I’m having the last one. If he puts Charlie Coyle out, I have to put somebody on the ice. Itap not an order to going after them. Unfortunately this is a game of emotion and sometimes players will do things. But Cody is a warrior for us. He’s a player that 29 teams would love to have. He’s very special, he’s a leader on our team, he’s wearing an ‘A’ on his jersey, he’s playing hard for us every night, he loves to win, he hates to lose. He is a great role model for our young players. Is he going to compete out there? Yes. But nothing major happened. I don’t know – I’m looking at their lineup and Granlund seems to be there tonight, isn’t he?
Not worried about anything?
I hope not. I understand thatap what was suggested in that article. And I hope itap not going to translate on the ice.
For the record, I support the journalist. Michael Russo is a friend and respected peer.
This is how coach Patrick Roy opened his pre-game news conference.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff)
