Junior Achievement Since retiring from the NHL, Patrick Roy has taken a hands-on approach with the junior team he owns

The bad news for the Quebec Remparts on Nov. 9 was that they lost
a mistake-filled home game to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
4-1. The good news was that their boss was sometimes too
distracted to catch all their errors. As usual this season, the
team's part-owner Patrick Roy watched the match from Section 19
of Colisee Pepsi. And, as usual, every few minutes he was asked
to sign a fan's ticket stub or hot-dog wrapper. Says Roy, the
winningest goalie in NHL history, who retired from the Colorado
Avalanche in May after playing for 18 full seasons, "At least
most people in town have my signature."

St. Patrick has happily traded NHL greatness for hockey's
grassroots. The 38-year-old icon not only has a stake in the
club--he plunked down $220,000 for one third of the franchise in
1996--but he's also the public face, hands-on general manager and
quasi assistant coach of his hometown's entry in the Quebec Major
Junior Hockey League. "I knew that when I felt my passion for
playing the game slipping, it was time to go," he says of his
decision to retire. "The sign of that is when you're distracted
by other things you want to do."

Since buying a portion of the team, Roy has been a relatively
silent partner, but he became more involved last season. He
watched tapes of every Remparts game and dissected them in daily
phone conversations with coach Eric Lavigne. Two weeks after
Colorado was eliminated from the playoffs last April, Roy was on
the ice at the Colisee helping players prepare for the Memorial
Cup tournament, the Canadian junior championship.

Roy has immersed himself in every aspect of the franchise's
operation. On a typical day he's on the ice by 9 a.m. in skates
tutoring all the players. (He hasn't donned goalie pads because,
he says, "I wouldn't want to wreck their confidence.") He spends
afternoons in his plush Colisee office, formulating plans and
brainstorming ways to grow the Remparts' season-ticket base,
which is about 1,000 this year. He rides the team bus to road
games, even to outposts such as Prince Edward Island, which is a
nine-hour trek. "When I heard he was coming back this season, I
figured he'd stop by the office once in a while," says Remparts
center Josh Hennessy, 18. "I didn't think he'd be the last guy
off the ice every day."

After Christmas, Roy plans to spend much of his time in rinks
around Quebec and the maritime provinces, scouting midget leagues
for talent in advance of next summer's draft. Future Remparts
will luxuriate in the team's facilities, thanks to the
dressing-room renovation last summer that Roy oversaw. "Details,"
says Lavigne, "are everything to him."

This being juniors, in which players range in age from 16 to 20,
Roy is responsible for more than the color of the clubhouse
carpet. He's adamant that all Remparts attend school, and he has
arranged for tutors to help the team's eight American players
take correspondence courses from their home high schools. Junior
players across Canada usually live with families during the
season. Roy has two Remparts, 16-year-old defensemen Joey Ryan
and Andrew Andricopoulos, bivouacked at his suburban Quebec home.
"I'm there to make sure everything is O.K. with my players," says
Roy. "I want their families to know their kids are in good
hands."

On the whole, those kids are not the most talented group in the
league--Quebec was 8-13-3-1 through Sunday--but Roy is building
for the long haul, and he insists that he has no interest in an
NHL comeback. "I didn't feel like I was slowing down, but I don't
want to play that position anymore," he says. "It's the way I
am--when I turn a page, it's over. The Memorial is the only Cup
I've never won. I'd like to change that."

COLOR PHOTO: DAVID E. KLUTHO (2) ONE OF THE GUYS Roy, the NHL's alltime winningest goalie, helps direct some of the Remparts' practices.

COLOR PHOTO: DAN HAMILTON/VANTAGE POINT [See caption above]

COLOR PHOTO: DAVID E. KLUTHO (2) Pronger

To the Owner's Suite

Patrick Roy isn't the only current or former NHL player who has
taken a stake in a junior club. Here are eight
others.

PLAYER(S) TEAM

Guy Carbonneau Chicoutimi Sagueneens
Dino Ciccarelli Sarnia Sting
Dale and Mark Hunter London Knights
Scott and Rob Niedermayer Kootenay Ice
Chris Pronger Mississauga IceDogs
Pat Quinn Vancouver Giants