(Sherbrooke) It’s training time off for the Phoenix on Monday, but Joshua Roy is a busy man. Our meeting with him in the stands of the Palais des sports Léopold-Drolet is the second of his five interviews on the agenda.
Also on the menu: indoor golf “with a dozen friends”. Roy seems good at it, recalling that he shot a 68 last summer, an atrocious score at mini-golf, but pretty good at golf.
It’s not a bad thing he’s not hitting the rink, because he’s “still on cloud nine,” he admits.
Roy, a hope of the Canadian drafted in the 5e tour in 2021, returned from the World Junior Championship in Halifax with a gold medal around his neck. In seven games, he scored 11 points, a total that only a certain Connor Bedard has surpassed on his team. The assist he served to Dylan Guenther on the tournament winning goal is part of his 11 points.
“It’s my best tournament won in life. The atmosphere didn’t make sense! “says Roy.
He was participating in the world juniors for the second time. But at its first appearance, the tournament had been held exceptionally in the summer and the refusal of the leaders of Hockey Canada to give up their position had overshadowed the competition.
“This summer, it was fun, but it was less followed. There, it was the real world junior. In Halifax, we were walking around, everyone recognized us. We were like stars. »
Hughes, Poulin and a guy with a hat
Messages of encouragement have been flowing from all sides since this magical Thursday
The biggest name among those who congratulated him? “Marie-Philip”, he retorts, without hesitation. We take it for granted here that he is talking about the hockey player, and not the singer.
“We never had any big discussions, but I met her a few times at the Canadiens camp,” says Roy.
Speaking of the Habs, “Francis [Bouillon]Rob [Ramage] and Kent [Hughes] texted me to congratulate me and tell me that I had a good tournament. They looked happy! “, he believes.
The most unusual message? It was in his Instagram message requests, something he doesn’t always look at because he gets “a lot.” “But it happened that I looked. »
He takes out his phone to show us the note from a person who introduces himself as Mathieu Landry. “I had a hat on the ice during the celebrations. The person who threw it on the ice wrote to me, “I’m glad you like the hat.” And he put a picture of himself with the hat! »
Versatile
Roy also stood out because he finished the tournament as Bedard’s line partner. “He is very down to earth. You never heard him talk about his successes, and he could have talked about them, because he’s good! He was the best player in the tournament and it was fun to play with him. »
PHOTO DARREN CALABRESE, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Connor Bedard, Joshua Roy, and goaltender Benjamin Gaudreau
But Roy especially distinguished himself by “his way of competing, of being committed in all situations”, according to Stéphane Julien, assistant coach with Junior Team Canada, also head coach of the Phoenix. If anyone knows Joshua Roy well, it’s him.
It’s quite a compliment for a player with a torturous background, first overall pick in the QMJHL, whose star has faded due to suboptimal physical form and doubts about his level of commitment. Roy himself went there for this plea in 2021: “People say I am a guy who is cowardly. I want to change my image. I’m a guy who can compete every night, who can work. »
That is exactly what he did in Halifax. The Beauceron was even given shorthanded missions, an aspect of the game that was new to him. And he delivered a few presences that marked the spirits.
“I’m still close to my bantam coach, I texted him: ‘If I had told you that in five years, I’m going to play at a disadvantage in the World Championship, you wouldn’t have believed me!’ jokes Roy.
Julien was also overwhelmed, once again, by what Roy can accomplish when things get hot, for example in overtime in the final.
“Last year, in the playoffs, we needed big goals and he scored. Some guys squeeze the stick and send that in the pooch of the goalkeeper. Him, he shoots below the horizontal bar and it goes. No matter how much you tell the guys not to stress about it, it doesn’t show. The goal in the final, there are those who would have shot, others who would have tried the pass raised over the defender. »
Back to work
As soon as he returned, Roy was already heading back to the Maritimes. “Thursday, we play in Cape Breton. There are not many people there. It’s going to make a change to spend two weeks where it was screaming so much that we couldn’t hear each other speak on the bench! »
The next goal will be the President’s Cup. The Phoenix is at the heart of the fight for first place in the Western Conference of the QMJHL.
This goal was already on Roy’s radar during the festivities in Halifax. The cameras captured a touching moment, the handshake between Roy and David Spacek, a Czech defender who also wears the colors of the Phoenix. Spacek had just received congratulations from Tyson Hinds, another Team Canada member who plays in Sherbrooke.
On the footage, Jaroslav Spacek’s son seemed to have a heavy heart, but he’s now ready to move on.
“We just thought we wanted to come back here to win a championship,” says Spacek. I congratulated them and we went our separate ways. »