SEDALIA — Patrick Roy was a players’ coach, a man virtually everyone would run through a wall for. Roy may not be on the Christmas-card list of former Avalanche forwards P.A. Parenteau and Daniel Briere, among others, but it appears that Colorado’s returning cast will miss the Hockey Hall of Fame goalie who abruptly ended his three-year stint behind the Avs’ bench Aug. 11.

“I enjoyed playing for Patty,” Avs forward Blake Comeau said Wednesday before teeing off at the 19th Joe Sakic Celebrity Classic at Sanctuary Golf Course. “I thought he was fair, held everybody accountable and to a high standard.”

Comeau played Wednesday along with Avalanche teammates Jarome Iginla, Francois Beauchemin and Cody McLeod. Roy’s successor, Jared Bednar — who was hired Aug. 25 and introduced to Denver media Aug. 31 — did not participate. His first NHL training camp as a player or coach begins next week with the start of the Sept. 15 rookie camp. The veterans report Sept. 22.

“I enjoyed my time to get to know Patty and obviously he’s a very successful and passionate guy — and a very interesting guy to play for,” Iginla said. “I wish him well.”

Beauchemin said about Roy: “He obviously has his reasons and you have to respect his decision. Everybody thinks it’s weird timing, and we’re a little shocked and disappointed with his decision, but you have to respect it and move on.”

In the end, a new head coach could turn around a nonplayoff team that generally returns intact. The Avs made no major trades or free-agent splashes during the summer after missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

“We obviously all know we have to do something different because it wasn’t working last year,” Beauchemin said.

Said Comeau: “Jared is going to bring his own approach. He obviously has had some success with winning the Calder Cup last year. I haven’t heard much about him but he’s a young guy. It sounds like past players have enjoyed playing for him, so I’m excited. I think everybody is excited. I think everyone is looking forward to moving forward.”

“You look at different coaching changes over time with different teams, different years, different sports, whatever it is — the coach has a big impact on the team,” Iginla said. “I don’t know what the new systems, the new styles will be, but we’ll find out soon enough. But guys here are hungry and not happy about the last two years. We faltered down the stretch last year. We feel we could be better than we have been. We feel like a lot of guys are coming into their prime and I think we can be a really good team.”

Comeau said he was having breakfast Aug. 11 when he learned that Roy stepped down.

“I was pretty surprised, caught off guard with how it happened,” Comeau said. “It’s a different situation, being so close to camp and how things went down. As a player, you just make sure you’re ready to go with whatever circumstances may be. I went in and quickly introduced myself to Jared yesterday. It’s going to be a bit of a learning curve the next couple weeks, and then you have the World Cup with guys missing. It really is an odd month with everything going on. As players, we have to learn to adjust and adapt.”