Patrick Roy: Winning, Nothing Else

by Michel Roy

The bestselling bio of Hall-of-Famer Patrick Roy-now in a highly anticipated English-language edition Since it published in Canada in November 2007, Le Guerrier became an instant hit, quickly selling out its first print run. For fans of Patrick Roy, the NHL's legendary goaltender, the book provided the first truly intimate, no-holds-barred look at the early life and meteoric rise of their hero, told from a unique his father's. Written by Michel Roy, himself an impassioned hockey fan, Patrick Winning, Nothing Else offers keen insights on Patrick's indomitable will to win, how he revolutionized goaltending and popularized the butterfly style, as well as his role models and inspiration, and his relationships with teachers, teammates, the media, hockey scouts and coaches, agents and players. While much has been written and said about Patrick Roy, this father's look at his famous son offers fans everywhere an unusually in-depth and authoritative look at this complicated and driven athlete.

Genres: Hockey, Sports, Biography, Nonfiction, Canada

528 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Dougie Costello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not usually much for reading biographies but with a strong passion and love for the sport of Hockey, it was amazing to read what this guy went through to accomplish all he did in the sport.

Very nicely written from the perspective of a hockey dad through and through!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Denver resident and avid Colorado Avalanche hockey fan, I have been lucky to watch Patrick Roy in action as the goaltender for the team, and now have had the opportunity to see him as the head coach for the Colorado Avalanche. When I saw a listing for this book, I jumped at the chance to read it.

Michel Roy has written an unbiased and intimate biography of his son, Patrick Roy, whom many people regard as the best goaltender to ever play the game of hockey.

Michel details Patrick’s career starting with his first experience in hockey in a Quebec City mosquito league, his ten year career with the Montreal Canadiens, his eight year career with the Colorado Avalanche, to his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto after his retirement. Patrick’s career included many very successful moments, but it also included some disappointing and frustrating moments as well. Patrick never sought fame or money. He played the game for the love of the sport. His hard work, perseverance, determination and self-confidence are the attributes which set him apart from other players.

It was interesting to learn about the way goaltenders used to play, and then learn about the ways in which Patrick Roy, under the tutelage of his goalie coach, Francois Allaire, changed the art of goaltending. Their contributions to both the technique of goaltending as well as to the equipment now worn by NHL goalies was revolutionary.

Anyone interested in the sport of hockey would enjoy this well written, heartfelt biography.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

It may have taken me almost 5 months to finish, but finish I did! I found this biography fascinating. Perhaps I am biased, as a diehard Colorado Avalanche fan, but reading about the evolution of goaltending and hockey in general, in a relatively short period of time would be interesting for any hockey fan. Roy's role in the dramatic change in position, style and even equipment for goaltenders from the 80s to the present, in addition to garnering respect and higher salaries for these mostly under-appreciated and overlooked athletes, was truly remarkable. Through the skepticism, negative reviews and reactions from fans and media alike, Roy was able to keep his eye on the prize and become one of the greatest sports figures of our generation, and arguably the greatest goaltender of all time. The beginning was a little slow, with Roy's father's descriptions of Quebec and the like, but I encourage readers to stick with it, as it really was an interesting read.

[Patrick Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a bit of a mixed bag

Disregarding content, I found my copy had a lot of odd printing errors and mistranslations. Not enough to completely ruin the experience, but frequently enough that it was a little distracting

The biography being written by the father of the subject is a little strange, but it works best for the first third of the story, describing Roy’s childhood and upbringing. You really get the sense of awe and wonder when he gets drafted and called up by the Canadiens after working through junior leagues. This theme also comes back towards the end, where Michel Roy describes the feeling he had watching his son surpass his childhood hockey heroes’ achievements, which I found to be a very thought provoking section.

However, this does mean the book is massively biased in Roy’s favour, despite the synopsis describing the book as a look at the “all too human” side of him. This is especially noticeable during the sections describing the Roy-Tremblay feud and Roy’s domestic violence incident, where the story is presented as favourable towards Roy in both instances.

On the whole, the book is engaging, although it does falter occasionally when Michel Roy decides we the audience are a lot more interested in whatever he was up to at the time rather than his son, who we are reading the book to learn about. It also loses a lot of steam after the trade to Colorado. Still would recommend especially for Habs fans

Also why did this book have the n-word in it, that didn’t need to happen

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow, the review I provided yesterday never made it online. Let's try again.



This was a very enjoyable read about one the best goaltenders in the NHL. As a Washington Capitals fan, you hated to see Patrick Roy at the other end of the ice because it usually meant a win for the Habs or the Avs. The book is an excellent look into how Roy struggled through losing youth and junior teams even though his own efforts caught the eyes of NHL scouts. It portrayed Roy's intense work ethic, his "team before self" attitude and the joys and pains of playing in the NHL.



These swings include his two Stanley Cups at Montreal, his humiliation by Mario Trembley and the Habs that lead to his trade to Colorado, and the adjustments he made in helping the Avs (formerly his hometown Quebec Nordiques) to two Cups-the last one for NHL great Raymond Bourque.



Because the book was written by his father, Michel, there are a lot of personal bias portrayed in the text. This is especially obvious in Roy's struggles to earn slots on top Quebec junior squads, the Canadian National Team and the exile of Roy from the Habs to the Avs. I think a little more balance from additional sources might have brought more perspective, even though Michel Roy didn't sugarcoat the contents as a proud father of a Hall of Fame player. It might have been interesting to see the Canadiens' Management provide a little more perspective and input as to why they embarrassed and abandoned Roy...then again, the Habs probably wonuld not have participated actively in this publications.



That said, I thought the book was well done and I am very glad the book was translated into English so that most American hockey fans could see and read this biography of one Hall of Fame goaltender.

[Luke Koran · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?” This infamous quote from legendary football coach Vince Lombardi applies to many athletes, though possibly none more in the world of professional hockey than with the competitive drive and career of goaltender Patrick Roy. Told through the unique lens of his own father, Roy’s popularization of the “butterfly” style and ascent to becoming one of the greatest goalies of all time are nicely recounted in this lengthy biography. There’s a lot to love in this book, and hopefully you learn something new about the man they call Roy.

[Darryl Diamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

As fast as the game of NHL hockey is - this is a high paced word-for-word read. The style of writing is first I've read where a father tells the story of his successful championship level play son is. Its a great read for a fan of the game, a fan of goalies and of the two franchises.

This is a great book imho.

[Miguel Galy · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my favourite hockey players.... Unfortunately not one of my favourite reads..... Written by his father who seemed to write about himself half the time.... A little disappointing but some interesting parts none the less

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

On sent que c'est très peu objectif et il semble à certains endroits que l'auteur glorifie son sujet -- c'est peut-être un peu normal qu'un père admire les accomplissements de son fils, mais bon... Je n'ai pas adoré, disons.

[Scott Holstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some who consider Patrick Roy to be the best goaltender in the history of the NHL. I’m not one of them. But I do think he’s one of the best, and perhaps the best if you go by some statistics. For instance, Roy played in more games than any other goalie in history. He won more playoff games than any other goalie in history, not even close. He won four Stanley Cups and three Vezina Trophies. All really good statistics. But he played from 1984 to 2003, 19 years. And while he was named to 11 All Star teams (why not 15, 16, or 17?), he was named First Team All Star only four times and Second Team All Star only twice. I think that’s pretty telling. And even though three Vezina Trophies for best goalie in the league is pretty impressive, are you telling me that the best goalie in HISTORY could only win three in NINETEEN years and he’s still the greatest ever? No, I don’t believe it. Even though this book sings his praises and, apparently, so do many other people, evidently not enough of his peers and NHL management thought highly enough of him to honor him while he played so that says a lot to me. And even though both Montreal and Colorado retired his jersey after he played for both teams and even though he made the Hall of Fame, I consider him to be merely one of the greatest goalies ever, although I hesitate to say who’s the best. Perhaps I would put him up with Billy Smith and Ken Dryden, among others. Grant Fuhr, to a far lesser degree. Some of the older goalies from previous eras, too, no doubt.

The main problem with this book is it’s written by his father, who is a Quebec government official, not a sports writer or journalist, and certainly not objective. And to make matters more irritating, the first part of the book seems more intent upon describing the author’s own life and career rather than Patrick’s boyhood and beginnings. It’s rather hubristic. Eventually, though, Michel Roy settles down and starts telling Patrick’s story and it’s startling grim to start out with. His entire minor league career is ugly. He plays on horrible junior hockey teams, just wretched. And one thing I never understood is, while he was apparently decent, the few times his father listed his junior numbers, they weren’t that good, which his father attributed to his teammates’ ineptitude rather than his son’s, and so I never understood why Patrick went on to become considered the top junior goalie in the league at some point. His numbers sure didn’t reflect that and he sure never led his teams to winning seasons. Weird. Usually winners hoist their teams on their backs and lead their teams to winning seasons. Not Roy.

Finally, he got invited to Montreal’s camp. He barely spoke English and had to play mostly in non-Quebec cities for the first time. It was difficult. He didn’t last and was sent back down, but the following year was back. His (real) rookie year in 1985-86 was good, but not great. But when Montreal made the playoffs, something happened and he caught fire and never stopped. He led the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup win and was named MVP of the series, which was pretty awesome for a rookie. And so it began.

He had a series of difficulties with coaches in Montreal. During his first few seasons, for some reason, he was forced to share goaltending duties with another goalie, which was pretty humiliating, considering he was much better. There was a possible reason. In the juniors, he had hooked up with this young, new untraditional goalie coach who had helped him develop a new “butterfly” technique of goaltending, which the NHL had rarely seen and detested. His style was frowned upon and he was actually punished by numerous coaches for using his own style no matter how effective it was. It wasn’t until he had established himself with a new coach in Montreal, and with this goalie coach, that his career took off and he started winning lots of games and he started getting career lows in goals against averages.

His second year was a down year, but then he came back and established himself. His general manager was always messing with the team though, trading good players to get new players, messing with the chemistry. It was tough to repeat as Stanley Cup champions with that going on. Nonetheless, Roy won Vezina Trophies in 1989, 1990, and 1992. And he led Montreal to another Stanley Cup victory in 1993. However, the team and even some fans began to get somewhat disenchanted with Roy by then, for reasons I never entirely understood. He was making too much money and was standing up to a new asshole coach. Big deal. So they did the unthinkable and traded him to Colorado in 1995, their old Quebec Nordiques nemesis recently moved to the Rockies. Roy would have to start all over again.

By this time, Roy was married and had a couple of kids. One of my complaints about this book is his father mentions the fact that Patrick meets a pretty woman and starts seeing her. Later, surprise, they get married! Later, they apparently reproduce. The only time we actually see her at all is when they have a massive public fight on their front lawn in Colorado, which I thought was going to end their marriage, but which evidently did not. In fact, Michel Roy didn’t delve very much into Patrick’s inner being and psyche very much at all, other than to assert that he wanted to play and win more than anything and anyone else at all. Over and over again, he beats that into your head. It gets pretty repetitive.

Whatever the case, Roy adapts to Colorado pretty quickly. His coach is his old agent in Quebec. He leads the team to a Stanley Cup win his first season there and becomes a huge celebrity in that state, according to his father, bigger than any other athlete in the history of Denver or Colorado, including John Elway, which I personally find ridiculous and impossible to believe. Utterly impossible. Roy kept putting up good numbers and Colorado eventually traded for aging superstar Raymond Bourque, who would likely be a Hall of Famer but had never won a Stanley Cup. The team decided to dedicate themselves to winning one for him, for some reason, and Roy made it his obsession. And they did in Bourque’s last year, 2001, when Roy won his third Conn Smythe award for playoff MVP while winning his fourth Stanley Cup. He then retired in 2003. After his retirement, he got involved in coaching junior hockey in Quebec and is now the coach of the Colorado Avalanche, his old team.

This isn’t a bad book. At times, it’s fairly interesting. But I’ve read many better sports bios, as I’ve read a lot of them, and I’ve read better hockey bios. As I mentioned, I don’t think it helped that Patrick’s father wrote this. He really should have had an unrelated professional write this. It would have been more objective and written better with more and better information about the man himself, I’m guessing. Still, if you’re a fan of Roy, you’ll probably like it. If you’re a fan of Montreal or Colorado, you’ll probably like it. Even if you’re simply a hockey fan, it’s possible you’ll probably like it to some degree, like me. Otherwise, I’d probably avoid it. Cautiously recommended, but obviously only for hockey fans. No point in reading it otherwise.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A biography of Roy written by his father. This does lead Michel Roy to write favourably about his son, but it also allows for a far more intimate look at Roy than other authors would be able to do. It is also quite well-written, and does a fair job of covering the life of Roy outside of games, and how he developed into one of the best goalies in hockey history.

[Jack Youd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable and probably the most I’ve enjoyed a biography. Being written by Patrick Roy’s father it offered a different perspective to other biographies in terms of his early life and career as well as insights into Roy’s thoughts before big moment in his career. Great read.

[Nathan Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome read.
Even cooler when I met him by accident at the NHL draft combine at a hotel in Toronto several years ago.

[Daniel Cudmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly thorough look at one of the all-time greats.

[Howie · Rating 5 out of 5]

a few factual mistakes with names & teams but am excellent read just the same.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Be very, very careful when a biography is written by a family member. It's one thing if a child or descendant writes the book, as they will at least conduct some research to dig into the events occurring before their birth, or before they obtained an adult understanding of those events. However, when the biography is written by a parent, as is the case here, a very different result often emerges.

Michel Roy undoubtedly had the best of intentions when he sat down to document his son's life to date. However, he falls prey to the irresistable temptation to impose himself upon the reader, rather than step back and allow inferences to be drawn. In the early parts of the book, we learn much about Michel, his activities, intentions, feelings and motivations -- but not nearly that much depth about Patrick. Indeed, the early portions of the book, encompassing Patrick's rise through the junior ranks, reads more like the father's biography than the son's.

Roy hits his stride a bit more as Patrick becomes a professional -- likely because his own role simultaneously developed. A high level image of Patrick as a competitor comes through clearly, and some fascinating details emerge about the Canadiens' organization and the intrigues behind the scenes. There are some particularly funny anecdotes -- such as Roy being dispatched by road-roommate Adam Foote to buy Foote some underwear. Roy's trade to Colorado is handled deftly.

Ultimately, however, the book skates across a thin surface, largely documenting what Patrick Roy did, but not who Patrick Roy is. We hear precious little about his wife, children, friends, interests away from the game, etc. There is a distance and superficiality here that leaves the reader unfulfilled, despite the heft of the volume itself.

So, while the book covers the essentials of the career, we come away with little about the man himself, and that was disappointing.

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating is 3.5 stars.

This book is a biography of what some people consider hockey's greatest goaltender. It is written by his father.

I wanted to love this book as I have been a fan of Patrick Roy since his days of playing with the Montreal Canadiens and judging by my avatar of his days with the Avalanche. This ended up being an enjoyable novel and the reason is the subject matter. The problem with this book was the author. Michael Roy is not a professional author and it showed. At the beginning he would jump around with his writing that at times I believed I skipped a page. Also, he would interject himself too much into the book. It would have been fine involving himself if it related to having an affect on Patrick but it would be useless stuff about his job or him playing at the Forum during the lockout. When Patrick hit the NHL is when this book starting being a really interesting read. I think this stage was helped out by me being a fan and recalling these events.

I believe this book can only be enjoyed by his fans or fans of hockey. It did provide some nice interesting trivia and some nice insight into the subject's world. But there is a part of me thinking this could have been a five star novel if it was handled by a different author.

[Denis]

Patrick Roy: Winning, Nothing Else is a disappointing waste of time and money. Patrick Roy's biography written by the Hall-Of-Famer's father. As one might suspect, Michel Roy praises his son to the rafters and used his forum to attack the goaltender's enemies and rivals.

I believe Patrick Roy is a fantastically intriguing subject for a biography. However, Patrick Roy: Winning. Nothing Else fails miserably.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started this, I thought the writing is going to be oh so simple and I wondered how biased it would be as it was written by the subject's father. I really enjoyed the book. It was very interesting reading about the climb through junior hockey to the NH and Roy's total commitment to winning.

[Kevin OZ]

I t was a great book. All about my favorite hockey player.It described his life and all the decisions he made going from team to team. I would recommend it to any hockey fan especially goalies and Colorado Avalanche/ Montreal Canadian fans.

[G-E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Très intéressant de découvrir le parcourt et les sacrifices cet athlète fier et compétiteur qui s’est toujours dépassé. Un peu tôt pour une biographie, par contre. Un tome 2 pour ça carrière derrière le banc?

[Jarrett Fullerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

great story, told with love and admiration through the eyes of Patrick Roy's father. must read for hockey fans or those just wanting a glimpse into the life of an elite athlete and all that comes with it

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars for a book i didn't finish just because it's mr roy.

[Steve]

Got this for Christmas and it's very good indeed.

[Ryan Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome book great book about Patrick Roy.