Rock Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 Since Olympics, Brodeur good as gold http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/27...46p-26344c.html By DARREN (N)Єverson DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER The Winter Games are long gone, but eight months later, Martin Brodeur is still benefiting from his experience in Salt Lake. And not just because he has a gold medal to show for it. Brodeur has been on a hot streak ever since he led Canada to the gold at the Olympics. It's a streak that continued despite the Devils' disappointing performance in last season's playoffs, and it even seems to have carried into this season. It's more than just a streak, actually. It has to do with the way Brodeur, who had always been an aggressive goaltender, adjusted his game going into the Olympics. "I changed my game a little bit in the Olympics with the bigger rink, not challenging as much," he said. "I kind of put that back into this game. Sit back and look more, read more."I've kept doing it the same way, and I feel pretty good about it," he said. "I've felt good for a long time." Brodeur's numbers support that feeling. Before the Olympics, he was 24-21-9 with a .903save percentage. Afterward, he went 14-5 with a .914save percentage. The Devils lost in the first round of the playoffs in six games to the Hurricanes, but hardly because of Brodeur, who posted his lowest goals-against average (1.42) of any postseason in his career. This season he has allowed three goals in two games, helping the Devils to a 2-0 start. They return to action tomorrow after a six-day layoff, playing host to Nashville. "It took me a little while to get used to not just going after people," Brodeur said. "I'm used to going after people. I love challenging people, going one-on-one, making them lose the puck or shoot wide. I love to do that, but over there you can't afford to do that because the guy is going to look you off and make a pass somewhere because there's so much space." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 on an almost unrelated note: Marty & company will be getting their Olympic ring soon. TSN.ca has a picture of Wayne wearing his. I think it's the ugliest thing I've seen in a while, but hey, that's just my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beck27 Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 Brodeur played the absolute best hockey of his career during and after the olympics last season. I still think if the offense hadn't sputtered so badly last spring, the Devs would have been able to ride him at least to another Conference Championship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyydax Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 Brodeur played the absolute best hockey of his career during and after the olympics last season. I still think if the offense hadn't sputtered so badly last spring, the Devs would have been able to ride him at least to another Conference Championship. Not sure what games you were watching during the playoffs. But I was watching a Devils goalie give up soft goals at the absolute worst times(late in games, OT, etc.). I was watching the goalie with the worst playoff OT record in NHL history cement his place there..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
point Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 Yeah yeah yeah. Repeating one's single issue opinion gets old after hearing it a couple of hundred times. If you could garner your incredible intellectual powers, vast hockey knowledge and extraordinary literary skills and manage to produce an opinion on another topic, I would be very appreciative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundstrom Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 i remember just about all of the goals brodeur let in being deflections and rebounds where there really wasn't much he could do. the devils didn't score AT ALL in that series. i'm not a huge brodeur fan myself. i think he's definately a top 5 goalie in this league and might be the greatest puck handling goalie of all time. i certainly wouldn't say that i come to his defense all the time at all. but constantly bashing him is also ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
point Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 The 'Canes got to the SCF living on those late soft goals. Is CUJO a terrible goalie 'cause he lost 3OT games last year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek21 Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 It's hard to say what a goalie's best ever stretch was. It's subject to differing opinions. When it comes to Brodeur, I always felt the way he played in '94 was his best ever goaltending. Honorable mention would be the way he performed in the 2000 Cup Finals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyydax Posted October 18, 2002 Share Posted October 18, 2002 It's hard to say what a goalie's best ever stretch was. It's subject to differing opinions.When it comes to Brodeur, I always felt the way he played in '94 was his best ever goaltending. Honorable mention would be the way he performed in the 2000 Cup Finals. Of course the Brodeurites are going to say during the Olympics were his best performances. All 3 games of them...... Obviously Brodeur's best stretch was from '93-'95. There is absolutely no comparison. As I've stated in the past, the '00 Cup was won despite his shoddy goaltending. He turned in some great games during the Finals, of this there is no doubt, but with the way he played in the earlier rounds, it was a miracle they even made the Finals.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyydax Posted October 18, 2002 Share Posted October 18, 2002 The 'Canes got to the SCF living on those late soft goals. Is CUJO a terrible goalie 'cause he lost 3OT games last year? No, because he doesn't lose 3 OT games every round.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyydax Posted October 18, 2002 Share Posted October 18, 2002 Yeah yeah yeah. Repeating one's single issue opinion gets old after hearing it a couple of hundred times. If you could garner your incredible intellectual powers, vast hockey knowledge and extraordinary literary skills and manage to produce an opinion on another topic, I would be very appreciative. What's your point, point? How about I post about Ken Daneyko and how slow he is and how he's lost a step or 6 over the years? Would that be better? So we can have a thread where everyone is in agreement and we're all happy. Or maybe I can post about how Brian Rafalski was one of the best free agent signings of all time and how much of a steal he was? Would you like that? I guess you've missed my Niedermayer posts. Shall we talk about him and how he is a sad case of unfulfilled potential? Must be nice in your world...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepperkorn Posted October 18, 2002 Share Posted October 18, 2002 uh oh...KY seems to really be losing it now... sing it brother... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyydax Posted October 18, 2002 Share Posted October 18, 2002 uh oh...KY seems to really be losing it now... sing it brother... Oh, hello PK. You must be lost. I don't recall anyone mentioning Scott Stevens in this thread...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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