Patrick's baaaaack!

The NHL season is not even one week old and one of the main topics of discussion since the puck dropped last Tuesday night, is how we've missed Patrick.

Well maybe not so much Bruce Boudreau, but for observers of the game and journalists and broadcaster league wide it's a case of Bienvenue Patrick, Bienvenue

The return to the NHL of Patrick Roy provided for much to talk about this week, from the six goals accumulated by his Colorado Avalanche players in that season opener against the Ducks, some stellar goaltending from Semyon Varlamov and for good measure, a display of the fiery Patrick Roy temper.

Denver Post-- Patrick Roy's Avalanche coaching debut a smash hit in wipeout of Ducks
National Post-- Colorado Avalanche's Patrick Roy loses his cool, takes it out Ducks and a glass partiion in NHL coaching debut
Toronto Star-- Patrick Roy wins Colorado Avalanche coaching debut, gets into screaming match at end of game
Globe and Mail-- Feisty as ever, Patrick Roy wins coaching debut

That last item taking us back to the days Roy's departure from Les Canadiens, the fire in his eyes as he bid farewell to Ronald Corey the then Canadiens President, sprinkled with the memories of his days of coaching in the Quebec league where his emotions would on occasion run high, sometimes a little too high.

Fast foward to Tuesday night and there he was at the end of the game clearly unimpressed with the Ducks coach Boudreau and his assistants, the stanchion between the benches taking the brunt of his anger.
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The post game discussion of course focused much on the exchange between Roy and Boudreau, much of it involved the placement of the players on the ice and a last second skirmish that set the tone for the after the siren confrontation between the coaching staff.
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As the week moved on another incident involving the Avalanche's Steve Downie made for discussion as on ice events took a nasty turn in a game against the Predators on Friday night, though eventually no punishment was rendered by league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan.

Two games in and already the Avs are finding themselves as featured viewing attractions at the NHL office...  "Hey Gary, grab the beer and some popcorn, Patrick's coaching again tonight"

For the home opener hostilities, Roy saw his paycheque relieved of ten thousand dollars, which over the course of an eighty game season could cut into his walking around money by the time the playoffs roll around.

We imagine that with the Avs early tendencies to the dramatic, the travel itineraries for Brendan Shanahan and other senior NHL executives could for the short term anyways, feature more than a few Avs home games for the 2013-14 season.

With the Roy era now underway, one thing seems certain, the Avalanche this year will be a team to watch for more than just their play on the ice. And if we can borrow a word from Brian Burke's thesaurus of hockey talk, the Avs are a team which it seems have developed a sense of truculence.

Something that has received the endorsement of Don Cherry, who spent a portion of his Saturday night on the CBC lending his support to the efforts of the Avs fiery coach.

CBC-- Don Cherry praises Patrick Roy's feisty coaching debut
Globe and Mail-- Don Cherry backs Patrick Roy's outburst,  says it was a good thing

While Cherry and NHL fans circle their schedule planners for the next  Avs game, it would appear to be a given, that of the maintenance crew at Denver's Pepsi Centre most likely having already received notice from the NHL of the need to get to work on reinforcing the between the bench stanchions.

Below, some of the early design models under consideration for the new barrier to come... they just might do the trick... maybe...