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Published January 13, 2015
Englewood, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Colorado Avalanche coach Patrick Roy was fined $10,000 by the NHL on Thursday for an in-game outburst aimed at Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau.
Roy acknowledged the fine but denied Boudreau's version of what happened in Wednesday's game, calling the Ducks coach "classless" for saying he was "yapping" at players.
Roy, in his coaching debut, was irate that a penalty wasn't called after a knee-on-knee hit by Anaheim's Ben Lovejoy on Colorado star prospect Nathan MacKinnon with the Avs comfortably ahead in the game.
Roy and Boudreau shouted at each other through the glass partition, which Roy then pushed, nearly toppling it over onto the Ducks' bench.
"I love my players and I will always love my players," Roy said Thursday after practice. "It was what needed to be done. I thought that was something that was inappropriate."
Boudreau took issue with Roy's actions and criticized him after the game.
"A coach has no right to start yapping at players. I told him it's bush league," Boudreau said.
"There was no need for it," Boudreau said. "They got the game won. Just pull your players off and show a little class. He's going to be in for a long year if he's going to yell at every player and yell at the refs every stoppage in play. It's just not the way the game is played."
On Thursday, Roy said he doesn't talk to players or referees during games and disputed Boudreau's version of the altercation.
"What Boudreau said was all lies," said Roy. "I'm certainly not going to get too involved in this one but to be honest with you, when you talk about classless, when you lie, this is classless."
Roy earned a game misconduct for his actions, which NHL senior executive vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell called "irresponsible."
"One of the responsibilities of an NHL coach is to help diffuse volatile situations on the bench," Campbell said in a statement Thursday announcing the fine.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/roy-fined-10k-calls-boudreau-classless