Ascending to the top

Brodeur takes over role as best goalie with Roy gone

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Growing up in French-speaking Quebec, Martin Brodeur was no different than the tens of thousands of other hockey-playing Canadian youngsters who looked up to game's top players.

When it came to goaltenders, there was Patrick Roy, and then there was everyone else, clustered in an indiscernible mix. Roy was the best, and there was no second best.

"He's the one who made everybody believe it was possible to be an impact player when you were a goalie," Brodeur said.

Now, as Roy leaves behind a record-filled career to retire at age 37, it is Brodeur who is being looked upon as hockey's premier goaltender, the man all those young goalies in Quebec will copy and idolize.

Brodeur, at age 31, already has won two Stanley Cups with the New Jersey Devils and can win a third this season. Last year, he was in net as Canada won its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years. Roy chose not to play in the Olympics, but there are those in Canadian hockey circles who felt Brodeur should have played even if Roy was on the roster.

A third Cup would leave Brodeur only one behind Roy. He is on pace to break Roy's record of 551 regular-season victories. Brodeur also is second to Roy in playoff shutouts, 23 to 18.

Another Quebec-produced goalie, the Mighty Ducks' Jean-Sebastien Giguere, has enjoyed a remarkable playoff run. Yet, even while he was doing so, Brodeur was matching him shutout for shutout. Brodeur's shutout in New Jersey's 3-0 victory in Game 1 Tuesday was his fifth in the playoffs, one more than Giguere.

And it is Brodeur who is favored to win the Vezina Trophy, awarded annually to the season's best goalie.

Still, Brodeur has little time for talk of his accomplishments, saying it would be counterproductive to worry about things only time and circumstances can control.

"I don't want to put so much pressure on myself," he said. "I think it's important that I have fun playing the game. One day, when I'm going to be close to those records, I know it's going to get hard. I think people will put a lot of pressure on and talk about it, and I don't think it's going to make it fun."

Devils coach Pat Burns knew Brodeur only from afar until this season, but now has a better understanding of his goalie as a person, not just as a player. He likes what he sees, too.

"He's got to be one of the guys who loves the game the most," Burns said. "When he's out there practicing, he's trying to make every save he possibly can. He's always ready to help his teammates. He doesn't put himself above anybody. That's why the players really like him in the dressing room. That's why they like him as a human being."

Goalies are known to be a superstitious lot, but Burns said, "He's on an even keel all the time."

"He doesn't have 65,000 different superstitions," Burns said. "I find he's not an actor, he's a real person. You see a lot of guys that put on a lot of show. This guy here, he's a real person."

 

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