A season of 50 goals and 119 points. The top scorer in the QMJHL. A first professional contract with the Canadian. “It’s been a perfect season for me, honestly,” Joshua Roy said on the phone.
Posted at 9:00 a.m.
Difficult to find a better way to sum up the last eight months of the young hope of the Canadian.
“Not much could have gone better,” he admits. But the series arrive, and everything starts again. Everything we did in the season doesn’t count anymore. »
It doesn’t count anymore, no, but it’s certainly positive for the rest of his career.
Roy’s sensational season began with a more than successful first training camp in Montreal. Upon his return to Sherbrooke, the 2021 fifth-round pick wasted no time in getting things started. He tallied 30 points in his first 16 games, quickly taking the lead in scoring.
“After the camp in Montreal, I was quite confident, but from there to know the season that I know… I really didn’t expect that, he admits. It’s not something I relied on. »
My goal was to help my team win and we finished first in our division. I can say it’s successful, so it’s perfect.
Joshua Roy
In the Phoenix’s last game of the season, 1er May, Roy scored a hat trick against the Val-d’Or Foreurs to secure the Jean-Béliveau trophy, awarded annually to the top scorer on the Courteau circuit. The battle for first place with Saint John Sea Dogs forward William Dufour will have dragged on to the very end.
“I was trying not to think about it [dans le dernier match], but it was not feasible, admits the Beauceron. Want, don’t want, I was thinking about it. But I was trying not to pressure myself with it. […] It didn’t matter if I had finished second, third or fourth, it wouldn’t have mattered. I wanted to win and that’s what we did. »
That evening, he also marked his 50and goal of the season with a sharp and precise shot in the top of the net.
“I knew it was the 50and, he admits about it. You could see the guys were trying to get me to have it. It was a special moment. »
Successful new start
We have already talked a lot about the career of Joshua Roy. Selected first overall in the 2019 QMJHL Draft by the Saint John Sea Dogs, the young man asked to be traded in January 2021. The Maritime team responded to his request by sending him to the Sherbrooke Phœnix .
During the Canadiens camp last fall, Roy said he had lost 15 to 20 lbs during the previous summer. Even today, when we ask him what he considers to have improved the most since his arrival in Estrie, it is this weight loss that he talks about.
My physical condition has changed so much. The step I took compared to that… It’s huge. It looks so much on the ice that I lost weight. I am lighter, faster. Everything is easier.
Joshua Roy
The young man has come a long way in the last year and a half. This transaction which brought him to the Phoenix was most beneficial.
“In Saint John, things weren’t going so well, that’s why I asked for a trade,” he said. It was in order to have a fresh start, to start over. That’s what I wanted and I couldn’t have asked for better than to be traded to Sherbrooke. »
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, PRESS ARCHIVES
Joshua Roy at the Canadiens rookie camp
Roy has spoken with Habs director of hockey development Rob Ramage and player development coach Francis Bouillon over the past few days.
“They are super happy with my game this year,” he says. They told me they were looking forward to seeing me at development camp. »
As he is only 18 years old, Roy should, in all likelihood, be back with the Phoenix next season. It will be that or the Canadian.
“I want to take it step by step. I mustn’t skip a step, he insists. It is sure that I will arrive ready at the camp next year. It will happen what will happen. Either way, I won’t be disappointed. I expect to come back to Sherbrooke and try to win again. I don’t really have any expectations. »
Joshua Roy and the Sherbrooke Phœnix will face the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the first round of the QMJHL playoffs starting this Thursday.
Riley Kidney agrees with the Canadiens
PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK
Riley Kidney
The Canadiens have signed striker Riley Kidney to a three-year entry contract. The organization made the announcement in a press release on Wednesday. Kidney, 19, was selected in the second round, 63and overall, by the Habs in the 2021 draft. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan center finished the season seventh in QMJHL scoring with 100 points (30 goals, 70 assists) in 66 matches.
Katherine Harvey-Pinard, The Press