Patrick being Patrick: Roy blasts Tigres assistant for chirping

Patrick Roy was at it again Saturday night.

In the press conference following his Quebec Remparts’ 3-1 win over the Victoriaville Tigres, the NHL hall-of-famer was up to his old tricks, this time calling out Tigres assistant coach Carl Mallette. Patrick claims Mallette was doing a lot of chirping from the bench instead of helping coach the Tigres.
Mr. I-can’t-hear-Jeremy-because-of-my-two-Stanley-Cup-rings-plugging-my-ears waited until the end of the gathering to voice his opinion, and then sounded off on the rookie assistant (video in French):

Following that is the only English word in the rant, ‘jockstrap’, with Patrick saying that carrying jockstraps is pretty easy, freeing up Mallette’s time to talk trash.

Mallette is a former Tigre, and was the captain of the Tigres’ lone President’s Cup championship team in 2002. A fourth-round pick of the Atlanta Thrashers, Mallette, 31, played in the AHL and ECHL before heading to Europe. His best professional seasons were when he played in Rouen, in France, before retiring last year. He was hired as an assistant last summer under Tigres head coach Yanick Jean.

The whole rant seems out of place coming from a guy who is known for turning the air blue around the Remparts' bench when a call doesn't go his way, or a guy known for maybe the best trash talking line in the history of hockey when he and Jeremy Roenick exchanged pleasantries during the 1996 NHL playoffs. Really, it’s Patrick being Patrick.

Roy is well known for using his fame and his persona to play the media to his advantage, be it to take pressure off his team or to put pressure on another team, especially since he was named head coach of the Quebec Remparts in 2005. The hockey media, especially in the province of Quebec, eat this up and ask for more.

Mallette told Le Soleil’s Carl Tardif that “it was quiet [Saturday night]”, so take it for what it’s worth.