Game On!

Talk to anyone who ever has been a teammate of Martin Brodeur and he'll tell you that among the goaltender's most appealing traits is his laid-back-ability.

Sports Illustrated author Michael Farber underlined this point in a recent article that featured Brodeur's colleagues discussing The Man who, on Saturday night in Montreal, could tie Patrick Roy's NHL record of 551 wins.

One who knows Marty well — they were business partners in a Montreal pizza place — is veteran NHL defenseman Sheldon Souray. The onetime New Jersey Devil and now with Edmonton, recalls a typical Brodeur dressing room vignette.

"There's Marty after the second period having his Sprite and half a bagel, working on a shutout, and he's talking and joking with the guys in the room," Souray told Farber. "Then, he'll go out and stop ten shots in the third. 

"There's just this calmness about him. Maybe it's because he still thinks of hockey as a game."

And so he does, Sheldon, and so he does.

My favorite Brodeur memory dates back to the Summer of 1995. The Devils had won their first Stanley Cup and finished the traditional White House visit — at the time with President Bill Clinton. Owner John McMullen had shepherded a bunch of us back to New Jersey in his private jet and Marty was munching on an apple, schmoozing with me about the four-game sweep of Detroit.

There was no prompting; no lead-in to what the goaltender was about to say and, perhaps, that's what amazed me the most. But out of his mouth came a simple declaration: "I know I got a lot of attention for this (Cup) win but I don't think I played THAT well. Really, it was the guys in front of me."

That's the essence of the Brodeur personality. A good fourteen years later — with three Stanley Cup rings — he hasn't changed one iota. Just the other day, he said with remarkable calm, "I don't think I was anything special — but being a Devil has."

Or how about his unabashed admiration for Roy. "For me, he's the top goalie; the guy I looked up to all my life. I don't hide that."

Those of us media types who've been fortunate enough to have covered Marty for a decade-and-a-half never for a second forget the fact that he's the most approachable, quotable and likeable superstar who ever has passed through the Metropolitan Area.

Now both Marty and Patrick will be in the same building together as Brodeur tries for the record.

But, as I just — two seconds ago — wrote those words, I realized that Brodeur is not trying for the record; the Marty I know simply wants to win another hockey game for the one and only NHL team he has ever played for in his life.

He wants to win the game because he wants his Devils to finish in first place. And Martin knows darn well that the fellows sporting the "bleu, blanc et rouge" of Montreal are desperate to win for their own selfish, playoff purposes. The Habs problem is that they never drafted Montrealer Marty.

I like the way Farber sums up the Brodeur effect:

"He is surely the most balanced of men who rank among the elite. He is garrulous and engaging, his spirit roaming far beyond the 48 square feet of blue paint outside his goal. He appears more than, in hockey's favorite phrase, 'normal...for a goalie.' 

"He actually seems normal for almost anybody."

Brodeur has come a long way from that dim, distant night, March 26, 1992, when he played his first big-league game and defeated the Boston Bruins, 4-2.

"One day I'm playing Junior hockey in Canada," Brodeur recalls, "and the next night I'm in the NHL. Unbelievable."

Yeah, that's the word.

UNBELIEVABLE — a nifty definition of Martin Brodeur's career.

MORE:

• Greater by the Game
  
• Martin ... as in Magnificent
  
• All Hail Martin Brodeur!