In first game, Coach Roy proves everyone right

When Patrick Roy was hired, reaction from Avalanche fans was overwhelmingly positive, but there were some who had concerns about his suitability for the job. Although opinions vary, people's predictions about Roy's performance behind the Colorado bench can be placed into two broad categories:

Group 1: Patrick Roy is a winner who will bring passion and excitement to the Avalanche. He will not accept losing, and his energy will be infectious. His team will play hard, and Roy will make up for his lack of NHL coaching experience by changing the culture of the team. Win or lose, the Avalanche will be an exciting team to watch this season.

Group 2: Patrick Roy is a man with violent tendencies and well-documented anger management issues. His desire to win will be overshadowed by his volatile temper and he will create a circus atmosphere around the team. His intensity may be able to overcome his inexperience coaching at the NHL level to a certain extent, but it remains to be seen if he can develop the talent on the Avalanche roster.

After the Avs' season-opening 6-1 win over the Anaheim "don't call us 'Mighty'" Ducks, it seems that we already have an answer on whose prediction is most accurate: everybody's!

The Avalanche played a spirited game. Far from dominant or mistake free, the Avs still had an energy that was able to sustain them through their sloppy spots in their own end, and created plenty of opportunities the other way. Their up-tempo style of play wore the Ducks down by the third period, and even though the Avalanche defense was often typically soft, Varlamov played a fantastic game and lost the shutout only in the waning moments of the game. All in all, it was a great debut on the ice for Roy's team.

On the other hand, despite the encouraging start on the ice, Roy still managed to make himself the center of attention. A chippy affair throughout the night, it was a knee-on-knee hit to Nathan MacKinnon (who had a terrific NHL debut) that got the Avalanche riled up at the end of the game. The typical Ducks rough stuff at the end of a blowout escalated to yapping between benches, with Roy's face getting redder and redder. It was all well and good until this moment:

That was the point where Roy crossed (or rather, jumped over with a rocket cycle) the line from "Passionate coach sticking up for his team" to "Dangerous maniac who has no concept of how adults behave themselves."

Is it possible to be proud of Roy and ashamed of him at the same time? Apparently not, as Avalanche fans have overwhelmingly pooh-poohed this ridiculous act of aggression as entirely justifiable. "It never would have happened of that glass was properly attached," many have written in Roy's defense. Oh really? Maybe that glass was properly attached, because a coach isn't supposed to be slamming up against it like a crazed chimp in a zoo?

If we're already talking about reinforcing Roy's cage to keep those around him safe from harm, we're off to a bad start here. As much as I hate to agree with Bruce Boudreau, Roy's actions were bush league. He's a coach, not a player, and as Colin Campbell said in fining Roy $10,000, it's a coach's job to diffuse volatile situations, not escalate them. Roy's passion is great... but it seems that even well past his playing days, he remains unable to see the line between his passion and a violent loss of control.

Roy's team came out and played a great game... they were not as dominant as the score would indicate, and many of the problems (especially on defense) were masked by the excitement and the energy, which can't possibly last an entire season. Still, it was a great game, a great win, and a great start to the season. People who thought Roy was the correct choice for head coach are patting themselves on the back today. However, people who were concerned that a man with Roy's famous temper and lack of control would be setting the example are no less concerned.

People ARE talking about the Avalanche today, but are we proud of what they're saying?

Welcome back, hockey!

Another year of NHL hockey is upon us! Strictly speaking, the season started already, but since both Colorado and Detroit have their first games tonight, who really cares what happened yesterday?

The Avalanche, of course, have their big change behind the bench, as Patrick Roy takes over. While I'm not optimistic this was the best choice for the team, at least it's a new start. One reason I preferred an experienced NHL coach to Roy is because if the Avs fail under Roy, we still won't have really learned all that much. If they respond and grow into a winning team, then we will know that Sacco and/or youth was the problem the last few seasons, and our questions are answered and everybody's happy. But if they continue to underachieve under Roy, we won't know if it's the players or yet another unproven coach that is the root of the problem... and without understanding the problem, how can they hope to fix it?

They have plenty of talent, but it never quite came together for Sacco. I like the forwards and I'm a supporter of Varlamov, but the defense looks like an accident waiting to happen, and I'm not so sure that a change of "system" is going to solve their problems. But that's half the fun of the beginning of the season: wondering how it will go and then finding out.

The Red Wings' biggest change is that they're now in the Eastern conference. It will take a while before I break the habit of looking at the Western Conference standings for them. It will also take a while for me to be comfortable saying anything about the "Metropolitan" division. Central, Pacific, Atlantic, etc. were bland and unimaginative, but at least they weren't just silly. How is Carolina more "metropolitan" than Boston? The person in charge of realignment should have thought a bit harder for about the fourth name. For that matter, they could just have as easily gone back to honoring some of the builders of the game, and named them Norris, Smythe, Adams, and Patrick, as there was absolutely nothing wrong with those names in the first place.

I do like having Detroit in the Eastern Conference now, if only because it will give me a reason to pay closer attention to that conference. Basically, an excuse to watch even more hockey, and that's a good thing. And now, I'm going to get started on that very thing.