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Wednesday, November 4, 1998
Pat on back for Cujo and Cat
Roy feels for Leafs foes
Roy likes both Curtis Joseph and Felix Potvin, although Roy doesn't have to decide between Joseph and Potvin on game night.
"This must be tough on both of them," Roy said of Toronto's goalie glut as he watched the Maple Leafs practising at the Gardens yesterday. "Felix is a good goalie, but management signed Cujo to the big contract.
"I've been very lucky in my career, never having gone through (the distraction of a duel for No. 1). I talked to Cat a few times last year and Curtis was a super guy to me at the Olympics."
And why wouldn't Roy, the goalie for the Colorado Avalanche, have good things to say about Joseph and Potvin? If you look at the combined career records of the two against the Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques, it's 3-19-2, with Roy having played in the majority of those games.
Had Joseph not helped rally the Oilers to a seven-game win against Colorado in the playoffs last year, Leafs coach Quinn might have made Potvin the clear choice for tonight's Avs-Leafs game at the Gardens. That decision would have been based on Cujo's 0-11-1 record and 4.55 goals-against average versus the Avs in the regular season.
Quinn wouldn't publicly commit to a starter for tonight or tomorrow in Boston, but Joseph appears to be the favourite for this evening.
COULDN'T WIN
"That (Colorado) team absolutely owned us for about 21/2 years," Joseph said of the Avs-Oilers meetings. "They were good games, because we were both wide-open teams, but we just couldn't seem to win.
"I remember one night we led 1-0 a long time. Joe Sakic scored with a second to play and Mike Ricci or Rene Corbet scored in OT. That was typical."
Joseph's dressing-room stall was between Roy's and Martin Brodeur's during Team Canada's Olympic training camp and its Nagano practices. But game night always found Joseph in the stands while coach Marc Crawford stuck with his boy Roy for all six contests.
"It wasn't so bad," Joseph said of the inactivity. "I saw a lot of good hockey and the three of us talked a lot about equipment. It was Patrick who gave me good advice that the pads I was using might be too heavy.
"I'm not thinking about beating Patrick personally. I have enough problems trying to figure out what Sakic and Peter Forsberg are going to do."
Roy can't sit on his laurels tonight, either. Craig Billington was in net for Monday's 3-2 win over Carolina, giving the slow-starting Avs a bit of a breather after every critic in Denver came after the team for a 2-6-1 start. Roy ranks an astounding 35th among NHL goalkeepers with a gaudy goals-against average of 3.84.
That's more than a goal a game worse than his 13-year career average. His only victory this year was against Edmonton, before he lost to expansion Nashville 3-2 on Halloween.
"We've been up and down about six games, but I liked the way I played the third period against Nashville," Roy said. "We have to stop looking five games ahead and start taking them one at a time."
