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Three for No. 33 Roy wins third career Conn Smythe Trophy
Updated: Sunday June 10, 2001 1:30 AM
DENVER (AP) -- Once again, he was the Most Valuable Patrick. Patrick Roy, the goalie known as St. Patrick when he's on his game, became the first player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy three times after helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 3-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. The Conn Smythe is awarded to the most valuable player of the playoffs. Roy also won the trophy in 1986 and 1993 while playing for the Montreal Canadiens. "Patrick game after game kept coming, kept giving us a chance, kept giving us a reason to believe that we would win that Stanley Cup," coach Bob Hartley said. "That Conn Smythe, he deserves it. In my mind, he was the only one that could win it." Bobby Orr, Bernie Parent, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux have won the Conn Smythe twice. The award was first given out in 1965. "For a little boy from Quebec, I never thought that would happen," Roy said. "The individual honors are always fun, don't get me wrong, but there's nothing better than winning. There's 20 guys on this team that could have won that trophy." Roy's selection as the MVP came one week after he made a series-turning mistake in Game 4. While trying to play the puck behind his own net, Roy could not make a clearing pass, and the Devils tied the game after scoring into an empty net. New Jersey went on to win the game and tie the series 2-2. After giving up four goals in a Game 5 loss, many thought the play would haunt the Avalanche throughout the summer, but Roy seemed to use it as motivation. "I knew I was going in the right direction," Roy said. "It was just a matter of, 'Keep working hard and believe in it.'" After being presented with the trophy, Roy said his thoughts were with teammate Ray Bourque, who waited 22 seasons to win the Stanley Cup.
"Right now, I'm just thinking about Ray," said Roy, who has won the cup four times -- twice with Montreal and twice with Colorado. "We all played well, everybody did a lot of great things out there. "It was a bumpy ride. We faced adversity, nobody gave up." Roy tied an NHL record with his fourth shutout of these playoffs in Game 6 and then denied the Devils at their most desperate in Game 7, making 25 saves for his 137th career postseason victory -- also an NHL record. In 23 games during the postseason, he went 16-7 with a league-leading 1.70 goals-against average. Two of his victories came in Game 7s, and two of his losses were 1-0 shutouts against the Los Angeles Kings. Roy, whose piercing blue-eyed stare is as much of a trademark as his butterfly goaltending style, also had a 227-minute, 41-second shutout streak in the Stanley Cup finals until the Devils scored a goal in Game 2. The remarkable playoff run capped a memorable season for Roy. He won his 448th game to break Terry Sawchuk's record for career victories and finished the season with 484 wins in the final year of his three-year contract with Colorado. Roy, Joe Sakic and defenseman Rob Blake are three key Colorado players who will become free agents this summer. The Avs may be able to re-sign all three after their championship run. "It's not something, to be honest with you, that I have in my mind right now," Roy said. "I have a lot nicer things."
Sakic was another leading candidate for the Conn Smythe after
scoring 13 goals with 13 assists. He had a goal and an assist
Saturday night.
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