ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Patrick Roys fiery personality was on full display in the opening game when the Colorado coach got into a heated exchange with Anaheim, banging his hands again and again on the glass partition until it tilted. That eruption set a tone for the season: The Avalanche werent going to be pushovers. Not with the combustible Hall of Fame goaltender taking over behind the bench. Roy guided this franchise -- the one he led to two Stanley Cup titles as a player -- back into the playoffs by tying a team record with 52 wins. They play Minnesota in a first-round series that begins Thursday. "Patrick is the ultimate winner. He doesnt accept anything less than winning," backup goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. "He did that as a player and hes doing that as a coach. "He does that when he plays golf, he does that when he plays cards, he does everything to win. And that has really translated to our team. He changed the whole mentality in this room, and it shows every time we go out on the ice. We play to win, so its fun to see that." As for that volatile temper, the players insist they rarely see it inside the locker room -- not after a bad period or a tough loss. This is their team, Roy said from the day he was brought on board, and he was there more for support than to scold. He was partnering with them, not ruling them with an iron fist. The breathing room allowed the youthful Avalanche to make some mistakes and learn from them. "They need to have someone who they can come up to and talk," said Roy, whos the fifth coach in NHL history to win 50 or more games in his first season. "Its their system." Roys only previous experience on the bench was serving as coach and general manager of the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. So he leaned on his assistants, as well as former teammate turned executive Joe Sakic. Roy has been a little unorthodox in running the team: From pulling his goalie with two, three, sometimes four minutes remaining if theyre down a goal to assembling them at centre ice after a practice and having them all yell "team" at the same time. "If we want to be different than weve been in past years, then we have to do things differently," captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "Its been great to see his point of view on things. You see the team that we are. You see the team that weve become. "At first, you might wonder, Whats going on here? But its certainly working for us." No arguing that. They were 35-0-3 this season when taking a lead into the third period and had the best winning percentage in one-goal games simply because they played loose and with confidence. "Patrick empowers us," Matt Duchene said two weeks ago, before suffering a knee injury that will keep him out for the start of the playoffs. "Sure, he gives us a kick when we need it. But when he knows we need to be treated with a little bit softer (touch) and brought up instead of put down, thats what he does. "Hes very good at sensing the feeling in the room. Hes helped us all achieve what were capable of achieving." Perhaps no one more than Semyon Varlamov, who turned in a career season under the watchful eyes of Roy and goalie coach Francois Allaire, the man responsible for helping turn Roy into one of the best goalies in hockey history. Varlamov won a league-high 41 games this season, breaking the team record held by Roy. "Of course its a big deal to beat Patricks records," Varlamov said. "Hes one of the best goalies in the world." All this from a team that won just 16 games in a lockout-shortened season. "What a season theyve had," Wild forward Jason Pominville said. "Theyve completely turned it around." Really, the only big additions are rookie Nathan MacKinnon and the presence of Roy. "They must have done something right and Patrick must do something right to make that happen," said Pominville, the teams leading scorer. Indeed. The foundation for that transformation was built in Roys very first game in charge when he lost his cool and yelled at Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, pounding on the glass. That was after a 6-1 win, too. Roy was fined $10,000 and reprimanded by the league. Wild coach Mike Yeo jokingly said he plans to "check the partition" between the benches before the playoff series. "This is a team that we have to have a lot of respect for," Yeo said. "Theyre an in-your-face team." Just like their coach. Roger Craig Jersey . -- The Grand Rapids Griffins scored three goals in 33 seconds of the second period en route to defeating the Hamilton Bulldogs 6-1 in American Hockey League action on Friday. Leon Gray Jersey .com) - The Hatch Attack is back in the Southern Conference. http://www.custompatriotsjersey.com/cust...arge-1201f.html. Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points, Shawn Marion had 22 and the Mavericks beat undermanned Philadelphia 124-112 Friday night, handing the 76ers their 10th straight loss. Nick Buoniconti Jersey .5 million. University officials released the term sheet signed by Harsin Wednesday, the day the former Broncos walk-on player and Boise native was named the successor to Chris Petersen, who left for Washington last week. Steve DeBerg Jersey . Canada wasnt in the game from the outset. Head coach Dan Church left Calgary in the morning without addressing the players. He told The Canadian Press he felt the organization lacked confidence in his ability to defend the Olympic gold medal in February.Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Ryan Johansens creative moves and hometown appeal highlighted Team Folignos successful night at the NHL All- Star Skills Competition. Team Foligno, led by Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno, cruised past Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews team 25-19 at Nationwide Arena, the site of Sundays All-Star Game. Folignos team jumped out to an early lead after taking all five points in the fastest skater competition. Jonathan Drouin, who was selected third overall by Tampa Bay in the 2013 NHL Draft, recorded the fastest time with 13.103. Torontos Phil Kessel, Montreals Jiri Sekac and Buffalos Zemgus Girgensons also won their relays as Team Foligno took a 5-0 lead to start the night. New Yorks Carl Hagelin was the previous winner in 2012 with a time of 12.993. Johansen already had the support of the crowd in Nationwide Arena on his side, but the Columbus forward also won over fans watching at home to win the Twitter vote with three creative breakaway moves that gave Team Foligno a 6-0 lead. In his first attempt in the breakaway challenge, Johansen took off his Blue Jackets jersey to reveal a red Ohio State football jersey and proceeded to kick the puck between his skates, cut back in front of the net and fire a shot into the net. During the second round, he grabbed a child from the crowd and helped him fire a shot past goaltender Corey Crawford and finished off the event by reenacting the famous Flying V formation from the Mighty Ducks movies. Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko, Flyers captain Claude Giroux, Philadelphia forward and NHL points leader Jakub Voracek and Flames rookie phenom Johnny Gaudreau also took part in the event. Patrick Kane was the quickest to destroy the four targets in the accuracy challenge as he earned Team Foligno an extra point with a time of 13.dddddddddddd529 seconds. After Ryan Getzlaf won the first matchup for Team Toews, Foligno, Radim Vrbata and Kane were each quicker than their opponent to give Team Foligno a commanding 10-1 advantage. In the skills challenge relay, the two teams participated in relays consisting of one-timers, passing, puck control, stickhandling and goaltender goals. Each team won a relay, as Team Foligno finished the first with a time of 1:37.979 and Team Toews boasted a time of 1:38.789 to win the second. Team Foligno was awarded a bonus point for the fastest time to win the event. Shea Weber finished first in the hardest shot challenge after his powerful shot clocked in at 108.5 mph. The shot was close to breaking Zdeno Charas record of 108.8 mph, set in 2012. The Predators defenseman was the lone winner for Team Toews as Ovechkin, Brent Burns and Steven Stamkos all won their head-to-head matchups to give Team Foligno a 15-4 lead. In the final event, Team Toews won the shootout round after owning a 15-10 points advantage. Islanders captain John Tavares, Nashville rookie Filip Forsberg, Stars forward Tyler Seguin, Getzlaf and Toews all converted in the final round, but Team Toews was already too far behind to complete the comeback. Tampa Bay forward Tyler Johnson, who was slated to participate in the skills relay challenge and the shootout, was unable to take part in Saturdays competition for Team Toews due to a lower-body injury. Due to the lockout-shortened season in 2013 and the 2014 Winter Olympics, the last All-Star game took place in 2012 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, where Daniel Alfredssons team defeated one captained by Chara 21-12. ' ' '