NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: MIGHTY DUCKS v DEVILS

May 28, 2003

Martin Brodeur

MARTY BRODEUR: It's definitely nice that I have been considered that I'll be able to try to get close or anything like that. There is a reason why he got them all is because he's a great goalie, and it will definitely be tough for me to get close to some of the records he has. Hopefully it will happen, but he played on great teams for a lot of years, and so far so good for me. I still have a lot of years in front of me. I need to do really well and be consistent and be healthy to get close to what he accomplished.

MARTY BRODEUR: I think in this day and age, I think the goalies are real important for hockey clubs. I think Patrick was one of the first ones that was recognized as one of the main players. A lot of people changed the idea of being the goalie, not being the guy who couldn't skate. He good athletes are goalies now and they're getting bigger and bigger like the forwards are. He's the one that made everybody believe it was possible to be an impact player when you're a goalie. With French-Canadians, when you see a guy from your town being able to be so successful in this level at the NHL, it makes you believe that you can do it, and that's one of the reasons when I was playing Juniors and I saw Felix Potvan do so well, I said, "wow, two years ago I was playing against him." I felt I could do it too. Now you'll see so many goalies looking up to me or Jean-Sebastien and saying it's possible to make it if these guys do it.

MARTY BRODEUR: Well, I believe not. I don't want to put so much pressure on myself. I think it's important that I have fun playing the game, and I think one day, when I'm going to be close to these records, I know it's going to get hard. I think people will put a lot of pressure and talk about it. I don't think it's going to make it fun too much. I want to enjoy the ride. It's been an awesome ride for me. I have been fortunate to play in great teams and given opportunities to be successful. If I start thinking too much about these things, that's on a personal level. I rather believe we're here as a team and we're going to go out and win as a team all the time. Definitely all these records will come in reach for me, if I have success with my club.

MARTY BRODEUR: I don't know. I think we have that confidence. When we have the lead, we're hard to get scored on. We take a lot of pride in playing well defensively. I think just the way we are I believe to shut teams down and with the transition game that we have from our checking line, I think usually makes us have more success because by rely on teams' turnovers. When we're hot and playing well, we take advantage and we have that killer instinct. Definitely it's one of the things we have hopefully we will keep it for the rest of the series.

MARTY BRODEUR: Definitely. There is a few things why Quebec it's a little different than other leagues. I remember when I played, they played me every single game. It doesn't matter if I got beat 8-1, the next night I was playing again. I think you learn the survival; you learn how to play the game. I remember nights I would have 64 shots, and you go on and you play so many games a season. I remember I was comparing myself, when I got drafted, to a guy that, I don't remember which college he played for, but he played four years of college and his first year he was able to come to training, and all his seasons together didn't add up to my one season as a Junior. It's maybe one of the reasons why French-Canadian goalies are -- you have a lot of them out here now.

MARTY BRODEUR: It's fair for everybody. You know, it's just the standards of records and history of the games will change. That's the bottom line. They're going to open a door for a different league if they do that. How can you justify a guy that had a great career like Wayne Gretzky and scored so many goals in a net that's a certain size and next thing you know somebody comes in and shatters all the records. I think there is different ways to try to improve some offense, but don't tell me this hockey in the playoffs is not exciting with all the overtime games we have and the tight games. I know we had two tight games, Game 6 and 7, against Ottawa. Everyone I talked to really enjoyed the show we put on, and there weren't too many goals scored in these two games.

MARTY BRODEUR: I don't know. I have no clue. It's just -- like I said, I don't really care, because my net is not going to be bigger than somebody else. If it's fair for everything, that's fine. I'm pretty tall. I'll be all right. Just if you you're not 6 foot tall, you can't play hockey anymore. I don't know how it could change. I think guys would take more shots on net maybe, but the quality of shots would they be the same. Who knows.

MARTY BRODEUR: Well, you don't go that far just to say this was a great experience. They'll try everything they can to win a game here. Their job is to win only one game in this building. They have the opportunity of doing it tomorrow. I'm sure they're not happy to just have 16 shots on net. I'm sure they're going to try to get more offense, but, you know, definitely they give up a lot of chances too. Maybe they'll try to tighten up a little bit.

MARTY BRODEUR: I mean, if I'm going to go out there, I'm going to try to be the best I can be. It's pretty rare I'm going to go out and go through the motions. I think it's not good for the guys shooting on me and it's not good for my game if I don't try to be my best all the time. I think this time of the year you've got to rest up a little more. During the regular season I don't take too many days off. I play a lot. I need to be sharp. It's important. I take a lot of pride in my games, and it's one of the ways for me to get ready.

MARTY BRODEUR: Well, I think Lou's a fun guy to be around. I think there is a lot of perception sometimes because he's so hard. I think when you play with him for a long time, I think you understand why he does a lot of things. I think new guys that come in and have to wear a tie all the time and have to be -- different ways we have to practice and the amount of beverages we can have after a game whether we win or lose, you just go out and you realize that it's all about discipline and it's all about respect. I think he doesn't want everybody to cheat the opportunity he has. All these little things he puts around us at all times, sometimes you think it's not really important, but you know what, when you start following it, when you look somewhere else and you see other teams and you realize this is the reason why we have success here. You look at teams with guys having long hair and facial hair, in the same picture, you see our team get out of a bus ask everyone is clean-cut, it makes you feel you're part of something. This is a team, we all act as a team. We have a lot of respect with each other, and I have been here for a long time, and hopefully I'll stay here for a long time under him.

MARTY BRODEUR: Not from my game. I think for people that are covering the game and watching the games, I think I gained a lot by playing like that and coming through for my country. I mean, I didn't do it by myself. We had a great team. Definitely when you go out and perform under the gun like we had to do in all these games, I could sense that around the league and around the hockey world, that made somewhat of a difference that I did that. For that, it's kind of nice for me. I was happy to have that opportunity. I think my attitude about the game probably really gave me that opportunity to do that. I think if I had acted differently in a different occasion because of the way I was treated or the way people saw me, maybe the outcome would have been different for me.