Terry Frei - Save by Roy: Patrick Roy and the Return of the Colorado Avalanche

Also by Terry Frei

Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming (nonfiction)

Third Down and a War to Go (nonfiction)

77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age (nonfiction)

The Witchs Season (fiction)

Playing Piano in a Brothel (nonfiction)

Olympic Affair (fiction)

March 1939: Before the Madness (nonfiction)

Also by Adrian Dater

Blood Feud: Detroit Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Denver Broncos

Then Morton Said to Elway: The Best Denver Broncos Stories Ever Told (with Craig Morton)

100 Things Rockies Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

TAYLOR TRADE PUBLISHING

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Printed in the United States of America

Adrian Dater and I have written about the Colorado Avalanche for the Denver Post virtually since the National Hockey League franchises sale and move from Quebec City to Denver in the summer of 1995. Adrian stepped up from covering the International Hockey Leagues Denver Grizzlies, and I began my second stint at the paper that December both as the NHL writer and as a generalist reporter and columnist. It was a return to hockey for me; many years earlier, as a very young reporter, I had covered the NHLs Colorado Rockies for the Post in the teams final five seasons in Denver before, following years of trials and tribulations, the team was sold and moved to New Jersey to become the Devils. It was a great way to gain beat experience before I covered other sports, including the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, and major college sports at the Post, the Oregonian, and Sporting News.

In the years since the Avalanches arrival in 1995, our roles have evolved as the newspaper business and the Post sports department situation changed considerably. Adrian has remained full-time on the hockey beat. I have become even more of a generalist writer/commentator as the newspaper stepped away from in-house coverage of the league at-large. (For example, and understandably, no more trips to Pittsburgh for features on Sidney Crosby or traveling to cover playoff series not involving the Avalanche.) During the time frame of this book, as both a newspaper writer and a part-time radio talk-show host, I covered and talked about every other major-league team in Denver, college sports, and much more, and I enjoy the non-specialized role. Yet, I found myself still drawn to attending Avalanche games and writing about the team and the league for the paper when it was feasible.

Individually, Adrian and I both have written previous books for Taylor Trade Publishing and editorial director Rick Rinehart. Adrians Blood Feud is the definitive work about the once-notorious Avalanche-Red Wings rivalry. Among the handful Ive done for Taylor Trade is Playing Piano in a Brothel, which includes an extensive Pucks section about covering the Rockies, Avalanche, and the NHL.

While waiting for the February 2014 publication of my seventh book, Taylor Trades March 1939: Before the Madness, I began talking with Rick about next doing something on Roy and the Avalanche. Soon, Rick, Adrian, and I agreed collaboration was the way to go. The fact that I no longer am assigned nearly full-time to hockey in my newspaper job enabled me to conduct interviews and attend many practices and games on my own time. I did write many commentaries on the Avalanche for the Post and covered a few games, too, giving Adrian and Mike Chambers a break. Adrians work as the beat man was the basis of much that appears here, too, and he wrote many passages as reflective, interpretive reaction to the material that has been in his newspaper stories. Of course, much also was gleaned from official availabilities and locker-room situations.

So that you know: Adrian and I argue. For many years, we have argued, and argued about almost everything. Including hockey. Many of our conversations, in fact, have paid homage to Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtins famous exchanges on Saturday Night Live and included the catchphrase: Jane, you ignorant slut... or equivalents. When other folks have said, But you guys argue all the time, we generally have responded, Yeah... so?

We are opinionated, interpretive, and even passionate in telling the story, and we wrote thisappropriately, because this was hockeymostly on the fly, starting immediately after agreeing to do this book. Save by Roy certainly draws on our access and experiences as members of the mainstream media, but it is an independent work produced outside the usual constraints, involving both space and style, of newspaper work. Were not going to bog this down with footnotes that specify which one of us has written each passage or conducted each interview. As youll see, when it seemed especially appropriate or the best way to tell the story, weve dropped in more personal From the Notebook of... passages. In the rest of the manuscript, though, we didnt debate and produce compromise material we both agree with. Discerning readers might even be able to find contradictory opinions, but were going to live with that. Were not afraid to stand behind our own views and certainly will answer questions about who said what, but the most accurate assumption you can make as a reader as you move along is that although Adrian and I dont necessarily agree with every word the other has written, well stand behind this as a collaborative effort.

Terry Frei, Denver, Colorado

Doing my best Aykroyd impression: Terry, you ignorant slut.

Adrian Dater, Thornton, Colorado

The scene at Denvers Pepsi Center on May 28, 2013, was reminiscent of the opening of the Nancy Dowd-written Slap Shot, which shows Charlestown Chiefs goalie Denis Lemieux and sportscaster Jim Carr, bad wig and all, waiting for a cue from the director to begin speaking in the live local television show segment.