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Saturday, June 9 Updated: June 10, 4:39 PM ET
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Roy only player to win award three times
Associated Press
DENVER -- 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.
| ![Patrick Roy](http://espn.go.com/media/nhl/2001/0609/photo/s_roysmythe_i.jpg) | NHL commissioner Gary Bettman awards Avs goalie Patrick Roy with his record third Conn Smythe Trophy. |
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
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AUDIO/VIDEO
![video](/media/nhl/2001/0609/photo/roy1v.jpg)
Patrick Roy talks with Darren Pang after winning his third Conn Smythe Trophy (Courtesy: ABC Sports). RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN Cable Modem
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