Testing positive for COVID-19, Patrick Roy will be deprived of his place behind the bench at the Quebec Remparts, Wednesday night, in the game against Bay-Como Drakkar at the Videotron Center. His assistant, Benoit Desrosiers, is the one who will take the reins of the team.
Roy isn’t the only member of the Red Devils who has tested positive in the past few days. Defender Charles Trochon and sports therapist Steve Bellanger are also on the sidelines.
The manager should be in position on Friday at Shawinigan, if he gets a negative result by then. As for Trochon, he could return to play on Sunday against the Sherbrooke Phoenix.
In Roy’s absence, the Destroceres led a lengthy training session on Tuesday. The 33-year-old assistant believes the players will only see fire on Wednesday night.
“I will convey the same message as usual. I will not change the recipe. I will say the same, address the same points,” he noted to reporters.
This isn’t the first time Desrosier has taken charge from his head coach this season: he already did when he was suspended in early November.
Usually, Roy and Desrosiers share the workload. The first deals with the attackers and the second with the defenders.
On Wednesday evening, video coordinator David Rodrigue will leave his usual chair to support the coach for a day in his duties.
As if there were
Compared to other teams in the New York Hockey League (LHJMQ), the Remparts have been saved from COVID-19 this season.
Strikers Xavier Fillon and Nathan Gaucher had to miss matches earlier in the season after positive results. Other members of the organization contracted the virus, but during the match break in January.
Even if he couldn’t be with the team physically, Patrick Roy worked closely with Desrosiers to prepare for the match against Drakkar.
“Patrick is at home, but we talk to each other several times a day. We planned to train [de mardi] together or together.”
big week
The Remparts are going to have some pretty good challenges this week. Granted, 16th-placed Bai-Como is far behind (second) Quebec in the general classification, but Desrosier noted that recent matches between these two teams have been closer to the indicated result.
Then comes Waterfall (fourth), Friday, then Phoenix (third), Sunday.
“It’s going to be a good weeks until the end of the normal schedule,” Desroseers said. It’s a good preparation for the final matches and we have to be ready. This is how we will deal with the game [mercredi soir]. “
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