Sunday, March 01, 2009

The Centurian



For many years now, Martin Brodeur has been hailed as one of hockey's greatest of goaltenders, mentioned in the same breath as Terry Sawchuk and Patrick Roy, conicidentally two former guardiens de but that he will soon eclipse in the record books.

Sunday, Brodeur collected his 100th regular season shut out, a three to nothing victory by his New Jersey Devils over their long time rivals the Philadelphia Flyers. The shut out was Brodeurs second consecutive goose egg since returning to the ice last week, after a fifty game absence.
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Showing little in the way of ill effects from his extended lay off, Brodeur has looked sharp and resumed his normal steadfast work in the Devil's end of the rink.

As he returns to the top of the goaltending depth charts of the NHL he has his eyes fixed on two new goals, eclipsing Terry Sawchuks record for shutouts of 103, which judging by the way he's been playing this week could very well fall by the end of next week.

Also within reach over the next few days could be Patrick Roy's league record of 551 victories, Sunday provided Brodeur with win number 547, leaving him but four wins away from passing the Quebec folk hero.

These would all have been records that would have long since fallen had it not been for Brodeur's elbow injury and the required surgery that took him out of the line up for an extended period of time, with his return the league is once again on notice that one of it's long serving stars is set to claim his titles.

They are honours that deserve to be celebrated, considering the relative anonymity that he has played in over the years with the Devils (despite their proximity to New York, they remain the hidden team of the Big Apple) , one can only wonder what kind of respect he may have received had he been playing for a team in a hockey intense market.

Fortunately most hockey fans can acknowledge his achievements regardless of the lack of press from his days of Jersey, it's quite a remarkable set of records he is compiling worthy of an all star and future Hall of Fame inductee.

Globe and Mail-- Brodeur reaches century mark
National Post-- Brodeur shines again as Devils blank Flyers
New York Daily News-- Martin Brodeur notches 100th career shutout as Devils top Flyers
Newark Star Ledger-- Martin Brodeur posts 100th career shutout in New Jersey Devils' 3-0 victory over Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Inquirer-- Brodeur bedevils Flyers in shutout

Photo above from the New York Daily News website

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