[Devils-list] WOO HOO!!
Jennifer Ellis
bud8gurl@hotmail.com
Sat, 09 Jun 2001 13:12:57 -0230
<html><DIV><FONT color=#cc3333 face="Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">Geez...I feel all gung-ho suddenly!! I have ever changing moods about this final!!! I'm so excited!!!!! I've gone from completely hopeless to this "RA RA the Devils kick ass" feeling! The Devils WILL WIN!!!!!!!!! OMG!! I should do my nails a nice Stanley Cup silver for tonight!!!!!!!!!</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#cc3333 face=Verdana>Out of my mind....back in five minutes....</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#cc3333 face=Verdana>--Jennifer</FONT></DIV>
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<H1>Third Cup would move Brodeur to top shelf </H1>
<P><I>Saturday, June 9, 2001</I>
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<P><!--SLUG: WOJSPX09X --><!--DATE: 0609 --><!--EDITION: 1e --><!--PAGE: S01 -->
<P><!--HEADLINE: Third Cup would move Brodeur to top shelf -->
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<P>By ADRIAN WOJNAROWSKI<BR><I>Sports Columnist</B></I>
<P><B>-- DENVER
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<P><FONT face=Helvetica,Arial size=+2>T</FONT>here's a sad sense of resignation, </B></I>Martin Brodeur conditioned to believe history's arms are never going to embrace him. Always, there's going to be an asterisk, always a <I>but </B></I>with the mention of his name among the game's greatest goalies.
<P>Tell him this can change with a victory tonight -- the validation of a third Stanley Cup and the vanquishing of Patrick Roy -- promising to delete the doubts, and the words are met with a face flushed with disbelief.
<P>"I don't think so," Brodeur said Friday. "You're only as good as the next series, the next game. And you know what? I'll never be at peace with that."
<P>He doesn't believe it now, but Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals offers his peace of mind. Game 7s </B></I>belong to goalies. Everyone gets a little tighter, a little cautious</B></I>,</B></I> and the difference between </B></I>winning and losing can be found in the mettle of the lonely masked men.
<P>Nobody has to tell Brodeur the world is going with Roy, picking his history over the Devil goalie's present. Roy's legacy is so much of the reason the Avalanche are believed to have the best chance for victory today. And Roy's so much of the reason a Devils victory changes everything for Brodeur.
<P>"To win three championships as a goalie, the most important position on the ice, puts you on another level of great goalies, the upper echelon," Ken Daneyko said. "Finally, Martin can put to rest all the doubts off and on that there's been with him."
<P>For five straight years, the Devil players have voted one man as the most valuable player on the team: </B></I>Brodeur. All they do is carry him, right? All they do is make him look good? Outside the dressing room, this is a broad belief. Brodeur is good. But he isn't great. This is the most important game of his life, the one they'll remember Brodeur with forever and ever.
<P>"Goaltenders are well over 50 percent of your team," Daneyko said. "I don't care how good your team is: If you don't have a good goaltender, you can't win. Marty's been the </B></I>Rock of Gibraltar for us. I know people say he's had some tough games this year, but he seems to play like our team plays."
<P>This won't be acceptable for Game 7. To cross this threshold, to win this game, they're going to need greatness out of Brodeur.
<P>Everyone sounds so sure a goaltending god wears No. 33 for the Avalanche, but there's a little myth in this legend. As much as anything, there's an aura to Roy, a mystery to the man, and it intrigues people. As this series goes longer and longer, it's been fascinating to listen to the Avalanche constantly stumping for Roy, telling the world they would be lost without him.
<P>"There's no better guy than Patrick Roy for [the] big games," coach Bob Hartley said Friday. "Patrick is as big as a wall right now. He's giving us reasons to believe."
<P>Or, is it maybe just the opposite? The Avalanche is inspiring him. He's the old fighter sitting in the corner for the start of the 15th round, his cut man and manager rubbing his shoulders, telling him he's still the champ, still the best. Nobody is disputing this is the greatest goalie in the history of the game, but let's interrupt the canonization of St. Patrick for a brief history lesson.
<P>The so-called greatest big-game goalie in the history of the NHL has, well, a losing record in the biggest games of all. Until the victory over Los Angeles in the conference finals this year, he had lost four straight.
<P>Roy lost 3-2 to Dallas in 2000.
<P>Roy lost 4-1 to Dallas in 1999.
<P>Roy lost 4-0 to Edmonton in 1998.
<P>Roy lost 5-2 to Boston in 1994.
<P>This isn't the goalie Brodeur grew up idolizing in suburban Montreal. Still, nobody wants to hear it. He's the reason the Avalanche are still in the series, they tell you. Actually, Roy's the reason the series isn't over, his foolish foray to gather a puck on the boards in Game 4 costing the Avalanche a goal and a game.
<P>For the record, Brodeur is 3-2 in Game 7s </B></I>counting the unforgettable 2-1 overtime loss to the Rangers in Game 7 of the conference finals in 1994, when Brodeur stopped 46 shots. When Roy's lost, he's had a habit of getting drilled -- especially since winning his third Cup with the Avalanche in 1996 -- but this doesn't fit into this aura of invincibility.
<P>When Brodeur insists they just remember the last game you played, there's some truth there. In Game 6, Roy was brilliant; Brodeur was dreadful. But that was just Thursday. They won't remember Game 6 for the ages, they'll remember Game 7. Brodeur has a long time to catch Roy in the record books for victories, shutouts</B></I>,</B></I> and on and on, so this is the time to catch Roy with the one part of a goalie's legacy that lives forever.
<P>Three Cups for Roy.
<P>Three Cups for Terry Sawchuk. </B></I>
<P>Three Cups for Brodeur.
<P>"Ask anybody to compare goalies and the bottom line is, 'Who won what?' " Brodeur said. "That's what it comes down to, goals against average, those stats are all nice, but winning is what it's all about. If you lose, and you do well, nobody will ever remember you. You'll never win anything. What, maybe a Vezina? That's about it. When you win, it stays with you for a long time."
<P>This time, it will stay with Brodeur forever. They'll remember the night the Devils needed their goalie to make history, to deliver consecutive Stanley Cup championships the hard way. He doesn't see it now, doesn't believe it, but tonight can free him. This is his chance to rush into history's warm embrace, and let it hold the Devils, and hold him, so lovingly. This is Game 7. </B></I>This is forever.
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