long and thought-provoking. Roy played his last game for Montrea

When Patrick Roy returns to Montreal on Tuesday as an NHL head coach for the first time, he will have a chance to look up to the rafters of the Bell Centre and enjoy the presence of his Canadiens No. Chris Sale White Sox Jersey . 33 retired jersey banner. But as the Colorado Avalanche bench boss told TSNs Michael Farber in conversation, the road from his 1995 departure from the Habs, to that jersey honour, to his present-day job in Denver has been long and thought-provoking. Roy played his last game for Montreal on Dec. 2, 1995 when he was left in the net for the first nine goals of a 12-1 Detroit Red Wings victory. When he was finally pulled, he stormed past head coach Mario Tremblay to team president Ronald Corey and told him that the game would be his last with the Canadiens. Four days later, the future hall of famer was traded to the Avalanche as part of a five-player package. Fast forward 13 years with plenty of water under the bridge, and the Canadiens retired Roys jersey on Nov. 22, 2008. Farber asked Roy if the raising of his number to the rafters put his difficult exit from Montreal behind him. "I have to say yes it did, but for me it was before that," explained Roy. "When I retired I was already in peace in what happened in Montreal, and when Pierre Boivin and Bob Gainey came over to my house and talked about retiring my jersey and start talking to me, (asking) how do you feel...I said Im already in peace, Ive already moved on. "I understand that hockey is a business, I made a mistake, and Im sure on the other side they felt like they made a mistake as well. But at the end Im not there to judge. I was so happy to get back into the Canadiens family." Roy also recalled being frustrated by a separate incident from the same night, when late-arriving teammate Vincent Damphousse was not disciplined by Tremblay prior to the Detroit game. "Mario, I thought he was tough on me...I thought he was trying to send messages by being tougher on me. And I always thought that as a coach you need to be fair, and on that day I thought that Vinny was privileged. "He came in late because he slept in, and I just felt that was unfair to the team. Everybody has their opinion, everybody has their thinking about how things could have happened that night, and lets leave the past where it is." Would Roy have still been a Canadien if he had been pulled after the first five goals had been scored? "I have no idea," answered Roy. "I remember being down 5-1 after the first period and Mario came into the room and asked, "are you okay?"...and I said "yes Im okay". At some point I felt so sorry for my teammates (since) I couldnt stop a beach ball. My head wasnt there any more, I couldnt stop a puck. "Youre almost asking for help, but at the end were professional, you stay calm, and this is something I did not do." With the game 7-1 and catcalls coming from the home fans in Montreal, Roy made a save on a long shot by Sergei Fedorov and raised his arms to the crowd. He disclosed that his mocking action remains his only regret about the entire night. "My only one. Every day I played in Montreal, I was ready to play...I was ready to compete. I was accountable for the team. I wanted my teammates knowing that they could close their eyes knowing that their goalie will come that night and play hard for them. Thats what I wanted." Farber asked what prompted Roy to raise his arms after the save. "Its just frustration I guess. The fans love the Canadiens. The fans are...to them, they love the team, and if a player doesnt perform, then it is what it is. If youre performing, its the best place to be, and I knew that." Roy discussed why he spoke to Corey, who was seated in the front row behind the Montreal bench, after he had finally been pulled. "Because I think at the time, this is where we were. Ive been brought up to win the Stanley Cup, and I just felt like things (had) changed. Im not saying I wanted to leave Montreal, it was just time and unfortunately it happened that way." With that history firmly in Roys past, the Avalanche head coach is looking forward to playing his old club on Tuesday. "I was happy to be a part of the Montreal Canadiens...it means a lot to me to be able to go coach (against them), but Im going to try to approach it as a hockey game." Early Wynn Authentic Jersey . The Bruins suffered their share of setbacks, a notable one just a week earlier. Once the Pac-12 tournament got rolling, the Bruins took off.Ozzie Guillen White Sox Jersey . Kershaw allowed one run in 6 2-3 innings of a 3-1 victory over Arizona in the March 22 opener at Sydney. The two-time NL Cy Young Award In the process, the reigning NL Cy Young winner strained a back muscle and went on the DL for the first time in his major league career. Those 36-year-old legs of Manu Ginobilis have been feeling pretty spry this season. That spring in his step that had been missing for so much of last season was back, helping the Argentine magician become a game-changer again for the San Antonio Spurs. So when the lane opened up in the third quarter Tuesday night against the Houston Rockets, Ginobili decided to go for it. He rose up, cradled the ball in his left hand and threw down a solid, one-handed dunk. And with that, Ginobili joined the growing list of injured Spurs. The team said Wednesday that Ginobili strained his left hamstring on the dunk and will miss the next three to four weeks. Ginobili joins Danny Green (broken finger), Kawhi Leonard (broken left hand) and Tiago Splitter (sprained right shoulder) on the teams injured list, a run of bad luck that has torn apart the teams depth, particularly on the wing. "You play the guys on the bench," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "We cant play the guys on the other team. I know that." The team is hopeful Splitter, who hasnt played since Jan. 4, will return in time for the teams annual rodeo road trip, a 10-game stint that begins Monday in New Orleans. That would help out Tim Duncan and the big men up front, but the problems on the perimeter remain. After struggling for much of last season, Ginobili signed a two-year contract to remain in San Antonio. He has rebounded this season to resume his role as the Spurs playmaker off the bench, averaging 12.1 points, 4.5 assists and shooting 52 per cent on his 2-point shots. During a monthlong stretch from the middle of December to the middle of January, Ginobili scored at least 20 points five times in a 16-game span to help the Spurs once again establish themselves among the NBAs elite teams. Hes been pretty healthy as well, missing two games earlier in January because of a sore left hamstring before injuring it more severely on Tuesday night. Early Wynn White Sox Jersey. Ginobili, who has long been the emotional centre of this close-knit team, was dejected as he limped off the court. His injury puts even more responsibility on the shoulders of veteran Marco Belinelli, who has been a reliable shooter in a supporting role after coming over in free agency from the Chicago Bulls. Belinelli is averaging 10.9 points and shooting 46.7 per cent from 3-point range for the Spurs. With the injuries to Leonard and Green, Belinelli had become a starter on the wing and seen his playing time steadily increase. Belinelli played 38 minutes in the loss to Houston, and the Spurs recently signed NBDL standout Othyus Jeffers to a 10-day contract to give them another warm body on the perimeter. Thanks in large part to Ginobilis return to form, the Spurs entered Wednesdays game against the Bulls at 33-12, good for second place in the hyper-competitive Western Conference. But theyve lost three of their last four games, are 1-11 against the top seven teams in the league and now face the daunting challenge of that long road trip without Ginobili, and with Portland (33-13) and the Clippers (32-15) right on their heels. Chicago is facing its own injuries woes. All-Star point guard Derrick Rose was lost for the season with a knee injury for the second consecutive year and starting centre Joakim Noah (illness) and guard Kirk Hinrich (right hamstring) are game-time decisions for tonights game against San Antonio. So, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said he has little empathy for the Spurs, not because Chicago is also battling injuries, but because of how deep San Antonio is. "Its the nature of the league. Its the grind of an 82-game season. Youre going to take injuries on. Its how you respond and the Spurs have always done a good job with that. Its the way the Spurs are built." cheap jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' '