Important revelations from Patrick Roy concerning the Montreal Canadiens

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MarcO
December 17, 2022 (9:30 PM)

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From his early days as a goalie with the Habs to his time behind the bench with the Quebec Remparts and the Colorado Avalanche, Patrick Roy has always been known as a person who had a reputation for standing tall and being rock solid.

However, as my colleague Alexandre Desrosiers of Rumeursdetransaction.com reports, the four-time Stanley Cup winner went on to make some pretty startling revelations during his appearance on the podcast La Poche Bleue.

In the company of Guillaume Latendresse and Maxim Lapierre, Roy said that when the Canadiens traded him to the Colorado Avalanche in December 1995, he went through a very difficult period, but fortunately, he was well surrounded and had a lot of help from those close to him to be able to get through those difficult moments.

"I remember there were times I would get watery-eyed on the plane. I missed Montreal. Usually, after a trip, my wife Michele would pick me up. But this time, I came back with Pierre Lacroix. He was my GM, but he was also a friend and my former agent. I told him that I was afraid to disappoint. Pierre looked at me and said: "Will you stop this? Just be yourself and everything will be fine." From that point on, I took the pressure off myself.

My next door neighbor in Colorado was Mike Keane. We traveled together. We became very good friends. He helped me through it all."

He missed Montreal, and we can understand it. It's easy to forget, but it's quite an ordeal to be traded to a new city.

Afterwards, Roy went even further in his revelations by mentioning that he discovered he was claustrophobic during his stay in Colorado and that's also when he started to suffer from anxiety.

"It was in Colorado that I discovered I was claustrophobic. Michel Lefebvre used to make my masks. One time he put plaster in my face to make my mold. I had to breathe just through a straw. That was my first episode! The second, I had injured my neck and had to have an MRI [magnetic resonance imaging]. I looked at the doctor and said, "I'm sorry, but I can't do that!"

That's when I found out I had anxiety. In those days, we didn't know that. It was a different time. Like with concussions. The healer would tell you, "Take a shower and two Tylenols and go to bed. You'll be fine tomorrow."

Still a bit surprising when you know the character of the man and you realize above all that it is a human being like any other. But what is striking in his words is how the NHL is now light years ahead of where it was at the time in terms of mental health issues.

Really brave of him, and it's important to talk about it because it can really inspire a lot of people.

To listen to the episode of The Blue Pocket with Patrick Roy, click below.