Back in 2014, current Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko was very excited to speak to one of his idols in Patrick Roy when he met with the Colorado Avalanche at the NHL combine. Unfortunately for Demko, the meeting didn’t go as he had hoped.
In a recent episode of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Demko explained that Roy instantly ripped him for his “Dancing Demko” antics, which he used to pull when he played for Boston College.
“When I was in college, it’s something I did to keep myself in a good frame of mind during the game,” Demko said. “I used to be pretty hard on myself. In between whistles, they played tunes and dancing kept it light for me.”
While some may understand his reasoning, Roy apparently didn’t. In fact, he made it clear he had zero time for it, and didn’t seem overly interested in his team selecting Demko because of it.
“He laid into me for this ‘Dancing Demko’ thing,” Demko explained. “I grew up idolizing this guy. I can’t wait to see what this guy is like. And the first thing that comes out of his mouth was: ‘What the f— is wrong with you?’ I was like, ah, this is not going how I hoped it would go. I’m just a young, scared kid.
“I see you out there, dancing around like you don’t give a s—. How are we supposed to draft you?” Roy added, per Demko. “It seems like you’re out there just having a good time. We need a guy that’s willing to do whatever it takes to win.”
Demko went on to admit he understood where Roy was coming from, but nonetheless it was a disappointing conversation with one of his biggest role models. As things turned out, the Avalanche chose to pass on the now-26-year-old netminder, and he was selected by the Canucks with the 36th overall selection.
He has since become the starting goalie in Vancouver and is enjoying a solid 2021-22 season with a 2.60 goals-against average and .918 save percentage en route to his first all-star nod.
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