A few thoughts in appreciation of Marty Brodeur

I've never liked analyzing hockey. I’m not very good at it.   It's the sport I grew up playing.   It was something my body loved and my brain played no part in.  I didn't analyze it.  My brain just accepted the nuances of the game and allowed my body to react to them.   As a fan I like to watch on my own, to get lost in the noise of the game that reminds me of the cold, hot chocolate filled mornings of my youth.   It reminds me of the noise of skates on ice and the feeling of sweat stinging my face, and of those rides home in the back seat drinking a Gatorade and allowing a donut to fill the hole in my stomach.  So tonight I’ll give you somebody else’s opinion in this Daily News article by Kristie Ackert and then offer a few thoughts of my own. 

To me Brodeur has always been the NHL's version of Tim Duncan, the quiet superstar.  He's been consistently excellent throughout his career and winning three titles and chases a fourth starting tomorrow night.   Always durable he's led the league in minutes six times. Between 1998-08 he never played less than 70 games a season.   A knee injury shortened his 2008-09 campaign.  The following season he lead the league in minutes while posting a 2.24 GAA.   Since his 2nd season (1993-94) his goals against average has never topped two-and-half. His career has spanned a generation of hockey.  He's the bridge from the league of Jagr and Lemieux and the league of Crosby and Kane today.  Hidden from the public by the media, a victim to the ugliness of the Devil's game as much as Duncan was to the plodding of the Spurs, he never saw the the true appreciation that his talents deserved. Duncan won two MVP's in anonymity and Brodeur's 4 Vezinas (Award for the Best Goalie, think Cy Young for pitchers) were paid no justice by the American media.  Like Duncan age has render him a step slower and as his curtain falls we will only see shadows of his brilliance against Los Angeles.  He might give up a soft goal in transition or we might see his pad badly beaten post to post by Anze Kopitar. When these things happen, just remember that even he doesn't kiss the chalice one more time, he'll always be immortal.