Martin Brodeur

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Martin Brodeur bigraphy, stories - Ice hockey player

Martin Brodeur : biography

1972-5-6 –

Martin Pierre Brodeur ( born May 6, 1972) is a Canadian ice hockey goaltender who has played his entire National Hockey League (NHL) career with the New Jersey Devils. In his 21-year tenure with the Devils, he has won three Stanley Cup championships and has been in the playoffs every year but three. Brodeur has won two Olympic gold medals with Team Canada in the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympic Games, as well as several other medals with Team Canada in other international competitions.

Brodeur is the NHL’s all-time leader in regular season wins (surpassing Patrick Roy in 2009), losses, shutouts, and games played, and holds numerous other league and franchise records. Brodeur has won at least 30 games in every season since 1995–96, with the exception of the 2010–11 season, an injury-shortened 2008–09 season in which he played just 31 games, and the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. He is the only goalie in NHL history with eight 40-win seasons. He is a four-time Vezina Trophy winner, a five-time Jennings Trophy winner, a ten-time NHL All-Star, a Calder Memorial Trophy winner, and one of only two NHL goaltenders to score a goal in both the regular season and the playoffs.

Brodeur uses a hybrid style of goaltending by standing up more than butterfly style goalies, though he has recently become more comfortable using modern techniques. He is known for his puck handling, his positional play, and his reflexes, especially with his glove hand. Brodeur’s prowess at puck handling directly led the NHL to change its rules regarding where goalies were allowed to handle the puck outside of the goal crease.

Brodeur’s son, Anthony, was drafted by the New Jersey Devils with the 208th pick in the 7th round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Martin announced his son’s selection to the crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

Legacy

Milestones

Brodeur, in net during the 2005–06 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Brodeur is the youngest goaltender in NHL history to reach the 300, 400 and 500 regular season win plateaus, and is the only goaltender to reach 600 regular season wins (at the end of the 2012−13 season, he stood at 669 wins). His 300th victory came on December 15, 2001, with a 39-save shutout against the Ottawa Senators at the Corel Centre. His 400th victory was on March 23, 2004, at the Office Depot Center in Sunrise, Florida, as the Devils defeated the hometown Florida Panthers. Brodeur stopped twenty-one shots, and needed to work overtime to get the win. With the victory he also became the first goaltender to win 400 games playing every game for the same team. Brodeur reached the 500 win plateau on November 17, 2007, against the Philadelphia Flyers, with a 6–2 win. On March 15, 2008, he earned his seventh 40-win season of his career, the most of any goaltender in NHL history. On April 6, 2010, Brodeur reached 600 wins with a 3–0 shutout over the Atlanta Thrashers. On April 5, 2012, in a 2–1 win over the Detroit Red Wings, he reached his 14th 30-win season, again the most of any NHL goaltender.

On March 14, 2009, Brodeur recorded his 551st career win against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre to tie Patrick Roy for the most in NHL history in his hometown and where Roy played the first half of his career. To acknowledge their fellow countryman, the crowd of Canadiens fans chanted Brodeur’s name at the end of the game and gave him a standing ovation. Brodeur’s father Denis was at the game taking pictures. Three nights later, in a 3–2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, Brodeur became the all-time NHL leader in regular season wins by a goaltender with 552.

On November 27, 2009, Brodeur broke the record for most minutes ever played by an NHL goaltender, breaking Patrick Roy’s record of 60,235.

On December 7, 2009, Brodeur tied Sawchuk’s record for regular season shutouts at 103 in a 3–0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Twelve nights later, Brodeur broke the record set by Patrick Roy for games played by a goaltender in the National Hockey League (1,030 games). Two weeks after tying Sawchuk’s shutout record, Brodeur recorded his 104th regular season shutout, breaking Sawchuk’s record with a 4–0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, stopping all 35 shots. On December 30, 2009, Brodeur and the Devils again shut out the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2–0. It was his 105th career shutout, giving him the all-time professional record, surpassing George Hainsworth’s total of 104 combined in the NHL (94) and Western Canada Hockey League (10).