Save by Roy: Patrick Roy and the Return of the Colorado Avalanche

by Terry Frei, Adrian Dater

Overview

In 2013, the Colorado Avalanche announced that Joe Sakic, a franchise legend and Hall of Fame center, would be promoted to become the new executive VP of hockey operations. Soon, Sakic was instrumental in the hiring of Patrick Roy, the greatest goaltender in NHL history, a man crucial to the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup victories in 1996 and 2001, as Colorado’s new coach. This book, a collaborative effort between seasoned sportswriters and authors Terry Frei and Adrian Dater, is an opinionated, interpretive, and in-depth look at Patrick Roy’s first season as a National Hockey League coach, and the Avalanche’s surprising 2013–14 season.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630760014
Publisher:	Taylor Trade Publishing
Publication date:	11/05/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Award-winning journalist, author, and screenwriter Terry Frei is in his second stint at the Denver Post. He has been a sports columnist for the Portland Oregonian,a football writer for the Sporting News,and an ESPN.com hockey columnist. Among his seven previous books are March 1939, ThirdDown and a War to Go, ’77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age, and Olympic Affair. His website is www.terryfrei.com. Adrian Dater is the author of several sports books, including Blood Feud: Detroit Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Denver Broncos. He lives in Thornton, Colorado.

Table of Contents

Colorado Avalanche, 2013-14 Roster vii

Off the Record… xi

Part I Resurfacing

Coach Roy 3

Hockey's Denver Limbo 13

Moving Forward 23

The Kid 31

Summer Moves 37

Netminders 39

Camp 45

Part II Regular Season

Getting Started 55

Young Guns 61

"Why Not Us?" 79

Blood Feud, Redux 89

Glass Houses 99

Staying on Track 109

Divisional Battles 117

Blueliners 127

"Tell Patrick to…" 139

Unreliable Sources 147

Dismissed, but Not Forgotten 157

Selected and Snubbed 165

Those Darned Rings 175

Forwards 185

On the Block 193

Denver Starts Paying Attention 203

Will He Stay or Will He Go? 211

On Defense: Off the Scrap Heap 221

"What's Made 'Em So Good…" 225

Club de Hockey 235

Grit 245

And Down the Stretch They Come! 249

Part III Playoffs

It's Minny 263

Balls on the Table 275

Sudden Death… and Beyond 283

Stats and Standings 293

Editorial Reviews

03/16/2015
Sportswriters Frei and Dater present a fast-paced, game-by-game account of the 2013–2014 NHL season of the Colorado Avalanche, which was also the first year of its coach Patrick Roy, "the greatest goaltender in NHL history and instrumental in Avalanche Stanley Cup victories in 1996 and 2001." As the team heads toward a surprising playoff appearance, the authors detail the "remarkable thing" that was accomplished in the face of numerous skeptics: "Roy took a team in disarray and put the pieces back in order." This includes a frank assessment of Roy's volatile temper and his successful effort to harness his old-school energy to deal with players with vastly different temperaments, from stereotypical testosterone-charged bullies to the "quiet, reflective" Ryan O'Reilly, "a yoga devotee often found stretching in corners of locker rooms or hallways." Frei and Dater provide excellent sketches of almost every Avalanche player and each one's relationship with Roy, which will delight Avalanche fans. And hockey fans in general will enjoy the moments when the authors break from the season's narrative to tell stories from their individual "notebooks," such as Frei's account of a late-season interview with Roy in which the once hyper-intense coach admits that he realizes he has no real control over how playoff pairings develop: "I believe in destiny.... If it's meant to happen, it will happen." (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly