The score is Patrick Roy 4, John Elway 2. If championships are what really matter, Saint Patrick has the Duke of Denver beat.
And we all know how much a Hall of Famer hates to lose.
Elway is king of the comeback. Roy’s trademark is the great save. The two biggest winners in Denver sports history form a very exclusive mutual admiration society, as Roy and Elway restore the luster to proud Colorado teams they made famous.
Long before Elway took over football operations of a Broncos franchise that had fallen into disrepair or Roy returned to town as coach of the struggling Avalanche, the two legends met on a golf course a dozen years ago.
“He’s a good player,” said Elway, chuckling as he prepared to stick the needle in Roy. “As I recall, Patrick was a better player than what he told me his handicap was.”
OK, here we go. There is no expiration date on competitive juices. Game on.
“What you see with Patrick is what you get. That’s what I like about him,” Elway told me Thursday. “If there’s a common denominator among players in all the Halls of Fame, it’s the guys all have great competitiveness. Patrick Roy is a fiery competitor. He was fiery as a goalie. He’s fiery on the bench as a coach. And he was fiery on the golf course. During the round, I seem to remember a couple words I won’t mention.”
Well, pardon his French.
In plain English, here’s what Roy admires about Elway: There’s a natural confidence, totally devoid of pretension. Elway knows he’s good. There’s no need to tell you about it. The easy laugh of Old No. 7 covers the slow tick of a gambler’s fearless heart.
“John should feel great about himself as a leader, because here’s a guy who’s not afraid to make tough decisions,” Roy said. “It was a tough decision to replace a quarterback as popular in Denver as Tim Tebow with somebody he knew could bring a Super Bowl to the team. Elway knew Peyton Manning had something left in his game. It was a high risk in the eyes of a lot of people, but in Elway’s eyes it was the only right decision.”
After arriving in a trade from Montreal, where he won two championships, Roy walked confidently onto Elway’s turf and won the Stanley Cup in 1996. The Broncos countered with Super Bowl victories to cap the 1997 and 1998 NFL seasons. The Avalanche drank from the Cup again in 2001.
The quarterback and goalie retired. The Broncos and Avalanche tumbled from elite status. During a patch of rough ice five years ago, I remember Avs senior vice president of communications Jean Martineau sitting through another loss in the Pepsi Center, insightfully lamenting what seemed to ail the local NFL and NHL teams was an inability to recapture the magic that departed when larger-than-life legends walked out the door.
Elway and Roy defined the golden age of Colorado sports. And they’re back.
At age 48, Roy is a little thicker than he was as a goalie. Now 53 years old, Elway still bleeds orange, but his hair is streaked with gray. Hey, middle age happens.
Time has robbed skills from Elway and Roy, except the most important one: an unbeatable, insatiable passion for winning.
“It’s the passion you have inside that never goes away,” Roy said. “When I retired from playing, my first two or three years were tough. I suffered anxiety. I felt I was missing something in my life. But when I started coaching in Canada, I started to reconnect with what made me happy.”
The Broncos have nothing except first-place finishes since Elway returned to the front office three seasons ago. As a rookie on the Colorado bench, Roy has established himself as a legitimate contender for coach of the year, while leading his young Avs to a 31-13-5 record.
“My challenge is to prove this is a great hockey town. We’re never going to be like football in Denver, but I want it to be a great hockey town again,” Roy said. “Yes, it hurts me when I see only 14,000 people in the building for a game, after so many years when we sold every ticket. But we cannot force people to come. We want to excite fans enough to make them come back. There have been some bumpy moments in the past. But having the chance to be a difference-maker is what makes me excited about this challenge.”
No town looks better in confetti than Denver. In Elway and Roy we trust. And trust this: Roy and Elway dream of victory parades.
“Getting in the Hall of Fame was great, but I wanted the next mountain. That’s why I want to win a world championship in a different role than as a player,” Elway said. “I was built to climb mountains. So I will probably always be looking for the next mountain to climb until the day I die.”
The next summit on Elway’s checklist: Beat Seattle. The Duke is one victory away from his third Super Bowl ring.
Hey, Saint Patrick: Do not look back. The Colorado sports legend in your rearview mirror is closer than he appears. Elway, the king of comebacks, is gaining fast in a quest for championships.
Game on.
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or twitter.com/markkiszla