All-Purpose Hockey Thread III

More like hooked.

And be careful. I might have to call for boots to butt-end you.

 

89 career shutouts, 11 consecutive seasons of 30 or more wins, 3 Stanley Cups (and counting), never gets injured, plays an insane amount of games every season...

Is it time to consider Martin Brodeur the greatest goalie of all-time?

 

If Spnited is posting on hockey threads, it's time to check the weather in hell. Might be a tad chilly.

From today's Bergen Record:

Brodeur back to business
Saturday, January 27, 2007

By TOM GULITTI
STAFF WRITER


TAMPA, Fla. -- Those six goals Martin Brodeur gave up in one period the other night in the NHL All-Star game? A mere nuisance during an otherwise delightful getaway.

With the All-Star break over and his trusty Devils' teammates playing their usual suffocating game in front of him Friday night, Brodeur was back to being his stingy self and rewriting the NHL record book.

Brodeur made 28 saves to post his league-leading ninth shutout of the season in a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum.

The victory was Brodeur's 30th of the season and extended his NHL record with his 11th consecutive season with at least that many wins. No other goaltender in league history had more than eight consecutive 30-win seasons.

"Marty was very good for us," Devils coach Claude Julien said. "No doubt he had to be spectacular. He made some key saves at the right time and our patience and him being extremely good for us paid off."

Brian Gionta's goal with 50.5 seconds left in the first period proved to be the only offense Brodeur would need. Jay Pandolfo's empty-net goal with 42.5 seconds remaining sealed it.

Brodeur is on pace to finish with 50 wins, which would shatter Bernie Parent's 33-year-old single season NHL record of 47.

"Every year I go in and I want to win 30 games. That's my first goal," said Brodeur, who started his 19th game in a row. "Now that it's done and over with I'll take a look at where I think I should be at a certain time in the season. I'm definitely happy it happened so quickly and we'll move forward now."

With 89 career shutouts, Brodeur is only five behind George Hainsworth for second place on the NHL's all-time list. He is on pace to finish with 15 shutouts this season, which would tie Tony Esposito's modern record set in 1969-70. Hainsworth established the all-time record of 22 shutouts in 1928-29.

"He just keeps going," Pandolfo said of Brodeur. "That's something you like to look at later on, but right now he just keeps going. Nine shutouts in (49) games, that's pretty amazing."

The Devils picked up where they left off before the All-Star break and improved to 11-1-2 in their last 14 games. Brodeur has five shutouts during that stretch.

With Pittsburgh's shootout win over Dallas on Friday, the Devils remained 13 points up in the Atlantic Division, but got within five points of Buffalo for first in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo lost, 3-2, to Columbus on Friday.

Brodeur laughed off his All-Star outing, which was won, 12-9, by the Western Conference.

"I told the coaches the six goals I allowed were probably [more] than I allowed in the last two or three weeks," he said. "It's nice to get back at it in real hockey situations."

None of Brodeur's teammates were worried about his psyche.

"He probably thinks it's funny that he gave up six goals," Pandolfo said. "He's probably not happy about it because he's so competitive, but it happened, it's over with and now he's back and he gets a shutout. That's the mentality he has."

Brodeur was at his best in the third, when he made 12 saves. With 3:51 remaining, he kicked out his left pad to stop Vincent Lecavalier's spin-around slap shot from between the circles and then thwarted Vaclav Prospal's rebound effort with his glove.

"He missed the shot," Brodeur said. "If he hammers it, I don't think I have time to get there. He hit it where he wanted to hit and that was top shelf, but I was deep enough in my net that I was able to reach out and catch it."

 

Interesting player survey which asked such questions as:

WHO IS THE BEST NATURAL SCORER IN THE NHL? (Ovechkin)

STARTING FROM SCRATCH TODAY, WHO IS THE FIRST PLAYER YOU PICK FOR YOUR TEAM? (Crosby)

IF ALL OF THE NHL'S CURRENT COACHES WERE IN A WWE CAGE MATCH, WHO'D WIN? (Hitchcock)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?page=07playersurvey

Thanks to FOF for posting this on his blog (along with some editorial commentary)

 

Game on! Canadian National Pond Hockey Championship just began:

http://www.canadapondhockey.ca/main/

Maybe SportsJournalists.com should have a team next year.

Over 1200 players from all over the world.

I suspect it's mostly a weekend of drinking beer interrupted by a few games of hockey.

 

Of course he no longer qualifies, but Pat Quinn would roll Hitchcock. I'd even pick Quinn in a handicap match against Hitchcock and Trotz. And you know Tortorella could hold his own against anybody.

 

Anything up with Bob Cole? He didn't broadcast the all-star game or Toronto/Montreal tonight. Thought he might just want the week off from all-star shit, but he wouldn't miss Toronto/Mtl. from the ACC unless there was something seriously amiss. Would he?

 

If I had a vote?

Pure scorer: Ovechkin
First player for a new team: Scott Niedermayer
Coach in a WWE match: Barry Trotz. He's the only guy Nashville's needed.

 

Oh, and it will take me a bit to get used to Hockey Thread III.

 

Pens announcers are going nuts and the Phoenix crowd is giving a standing O. Apparently Crosby scored on the backhand, top-shelf, while falling down. Hope the DVR's working at home.

 

The Crosby goal. Hoo-boy. He's pretty good.

 

Spent an entire day with Recchi once for a feature. He never dodged one question. Gave me GREAT quotes about some owners. Was completely candid. He's a class act.