Marty Still in the Prime of His Career

[JerseyDevil86]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=164865&hubname=

Brodeur, 34 on Saturday, still in his prime

Canadian Press

5/4/2006 3:15:47 PM

Marty Brodeur has never been more physically fit.

He has to be because the strict enforcement of the rules in the new NHL is sending skaters in on goaltenders in waves.

It's a shooting gallery and goalies had better not be sitting ducks.

"Puck control is a lot greater than it used to be," the New Jersey Devils' all-world netminder said Thursday on a conference call.

"Physically, it's a lot more demanding to play the game than before for a goalie. Your stamina level has to be at a level you didn't really need before."

Brodeur turns 34 Saturday when the Devils open the second round of the playoffs against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C. (TSN, 2 p.m. ET).

In the first round, Brodeur allowed only four goals and had a fantastic .965 save percentage in a sweep of the New York Rangers.

A key to survival - and the Devils have found it in winning 15 consecutive games - is to limit the number of opposition power plays, Brodeur said, because playing short-handed tires you out.

Young goalies such as Carolina's Cam Ward and Anaheim's Ilja Bryzgalov stepped off the end of their team's benches to play big roles in the first round and that doesn't surprise Brodeur.

"It think it's part of the new NHL," he said. "Times are changing.

"Experience is overplayed a little bit. You'll see the experience starting now and going forward. It's something that gets a little more important" as the playoffs roll along.

Brodeur is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. He won it in 2003 and 2004.

He didn't think he'd be in the running after a slow start to his season, which mirrored the team's malaise in the early going, but the Devils are a different team now.

Patrik Elias recovered from hepatitis and GM Lou Lamoriello stepped behind the bench and began changing lineups and strategies and the Devils took off.

"He put this team together and believed in it," Brodeur said. "When he put the team he wanted on the ice, then Patrik came back healthy, it was a combination of us believing we were able to play a good defensive hockey game in the new NHL.

"We had our doubts. We didn't believe the first part of the season we could do that. When we started getting results, and Lou took over in early January, we began to believe we could do that."

Good goaltending and defence and speedy forwards creating scoring chances give New Jersey a winning balance. But does it feel to Brodeur anything like the championship teams of 1995, 2000 and 2003?

"A little bit," he says. "We have a lot of confidence in what we're able to accomplish out there.

"It's similar to the clockwork games we played over and over in my career."

Lamoriello's approach is straightforward: check, check some more, and pounce on turnovers or convert power-play chances.

"You can see a lot of the same happening right now," Brodeur said in recalling his Stanley Cup-winning teams. "We don't shoot ourselves in the feet. We're disciplined."

Stamina-wise, they're primed for a long run, too.

[LizDevil30]

Brodeur turns 34 Saturday when the Devils open the second round of the playoffs against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C. (TSN, 2 p.m. ET).

I hope Marty gets a Win for his birthday.

[RowdyFan42]

Marty Brodeur has never been more physically fit.

[...]

"Physically, it's a lot more demanding to play the game than before for a goalie. Your stamina level has to be at a level you didn't really need before."

I guess this means pizza = health food.

[David Puddy]

I never realized Marty and my dad share a birthday.