Martin Brodeur uncut (From 3/17/09 morning media conference)

As promised, here is the rest of what Martin Brodeur said at his media conference this morning at Prudential Center. Brodeur will try to break Patrick Roy's NHL wins record by earning his 552nd career win tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks at Prudential Center.

With some new media members jumping on the bandwagon, much of what was asked this morning was a repetition of what Brodeur has talked about for the last week, but he graciously answered everything during the 15 minutes-plus that he was at the podium.

I'll be posting the quotes as I transcribe them and update after each answer. I'll post {THE END} on the bottom when I'm done.

Here we go.

Is it important to you to share this with your father in Montreal and again tonight?

"Yeah. Every time I've spent time with my dad going through different experiences throughout hockey and other events that we do together, it's always something special and what we got to go through Saturday (in Montreal) was pretty amazing and he's making the trip as we speak right now to New Jersey, so he's definitely looking forward to tonight's game."

How much longer do you want to play and have you thought about the possibility of making this record untouchable?

"I definitely want to play for a few more years. My contract brings me to another three seasons here in New Jersey and definitely I'm planning on honoring it. But you can't read into the future too much. I'm going to take it day by day for that. As far as the record, we're going to, hopefully, try to break it as soon as possible and then from there raise the bar for any other goalies. I think that's what (Terry) Sawchuk did and Patrick beat him and tried to raise it as much as he could. Definitely we'll be in position at the end of three years to, hopefully, get a pretty decent number that will be a tough one to achieve."

There are few guys that play 65-70 games a year anymore. Is it unlikely someone else will be able to do what you have done?

"Who knows? I think you never know. Definitely. you look at me and Patrick. Patrick played 1,029 games. I'm coming close to 1,000 games (tonight's game will be his 987th). You have to play a lot of games to be able to win that many games. The young goalies that are coming in have the benefit of not having ties. I have (105) ties to my record and I don't know how many Patrick had (118). So, they have that benefit of not dealing with that. So, who knows? All of the records are made to be broken. That's the beauty of our sport and who knows what kind of adjustment the league will make as far as how the game will be played. For me right now, I'm trying to enjoy what's going on and raise it as much as I can and who knows?".

When you had your surgery (on Nov. 6) were you at all concerned that this moment might never come?

"No. That never went through my mind at all. The injury was definitely a big injury, but the doctors right away told me everything will be fine. It was just a question of getting the surgery done and recovering from it and they were right about everything about my recovery time and how I was going to feel. So that (fearing he'd never break the record) was never the case. But definitely it altered what I thought my season would be like. But it's been nice since I came back."

Will your game-day routine be any different today?

"Apart from doing this (press conference), it will be the same. I'll go back home and watch a little TV and have lunch and try to sleep a little bit and wake up and come to the rink. It's pretty simple. I don't do anything differently. Montreal was similar. Like I said, this (the press conference) is something I'm not used to and, hopefully, this is the last time we'll do it for this (record) -- before a game anyway. For me, it's game. Again, it's been great. Everybody in my locker room, we're on a good roll right now. We want to play well and we know what's at stake. We have a lot of games in hand on certain teams around us and we're trying to make some headway here. (The Devils trail Boston by six points for first in the Eastern Confernence and have three games in hand and also lead third-place Washington by one point with three games in hand). This is nice for me and it's nice for the team. but the ultimate goal is not this."  

Do you think it's more special that you've done this in one place and did you ever think about playing somewhere else? 

"I made a big commitment to staying in New Jersey that I don't regret. I think it's been great on both side -- for them and for me to be here in New Jersey. It never really crossed my mind too much. Just the fact that every time I came into a regular season or into a playoffs, I thought I was going to win the Stanley Cup. I'm serious when I say that. Every single year. I think you cannot ask for more than that from an organization. So, for me, the thought about going somewhere else, like I said yesterday, my grass was green enough here. I didn't have to look for somewhere else."

People often talk about goaltenders having hot and cold streaks, but you are known for your consistency. Have you gone through hot streaks and cold streaks?

"Yeah. I've been really hot and I've been cold, too. In a season, sometimes it's not just a question of winning and losing. It's how you feel when you play the game. I think when you play with a good team, you are able to not play well and still win sometimes. That makes a difference in some of the streaks that you're putting together. I've been fortunate I've been playing for some great teams and I try to minimize these things, but it could happen at any time. That's why you've got to stay honest with your game and how you prepare yourself and how you are commited to be successful."

Have you had any other interesting well-wishers try to reach you?

"No. Like I did in Montreal, I kind of turned off my phone. So, I'm just concentrating on I had a relaxed night last night (he did watch 24) and getting myself ready for today. So I didn't really hear from anybody too much."

What are you the most proud of as you approach this record?

"Staying in New Jersey for that long and being able to do it with one team. That's one thing that I really cared about in my career, to make that commitment to the Devils and being able to be successful at the same time and not regret the decision that I made. Sometimes you could regret it to a certain extent and I've got zero regrets of making all the decisions I made in my business career to some extent because it become that (a business career) when you do make these commitments."

Do you think some athletes don't understand that commtment to being in one place?

"Everybody is different and I don't think my best way. It's the best way for me. Other people make their own decisions. People have agents. People have other people that have different agendas in what they do for a living, different backgrounds. So, you can't discard that; Everybody has their own path and what they want to do and what they think is right and mine is what I believe is right through the way I grew up in my family and all of that and the advice that I got from the people close to me. Other people do different things and that's OK, too."

Why did you not adopt Patrick Roy's butterfly style like many other goaltenders in your era and are you the last stand-up goalie standing?

"I probably couldn't play butterfly. That's why I didn't use it (laughing). I don't know. It's one thing. I didn't go to the hockey schools that maybe other goalies did that that style was taught in Montreal. I went to one with Francois Allaire, who is Patrick's coach who is really the guy who introduced the butterly style to the goalies and to Patrick. But I just liked to compete. I didn't want to be a guy that played the same way over and over and I believe the butterfly goalies to a certain exent -- not anymore, but maybe eight years ago a lot of goalies were playing the same way over and over. Now you can see some of the goalies are bigger. They're a little more athletic in net. They're not as predictable as they used to be and when I grew up that was one thing I was scared of, being predictable when I was playing. I just wanted to make sure that it was a challenge for a shooter to shoot on me and it was a challenge for me to get a shot from a shooter. I saw that as a big challenge for me to try to change a lot in the way I played. And the fact that I'm open to everything. I look at all of the goalies. It didn't matter what kind of goalie you were. If there was something they were doing I thought I could put into my own game, I would do it. Not just because he was a top goalie or a successful goalie. It's just sometime I thought something was pretty neat about a certain guy and I was like, 'All right. Let's try it.'"  

If you couldn't do it, why did you think you benefitted from not doing the butterfly?

"I think getting tired as far as physically. You know, going on the ice and having to go down on every single shot. For me, every player comes in and I play the player and I play the situation and it could be the same situation back to back and I'll play it two differrent ways. For me, I thought it was kind of boring a little bit to play and do the same thing. That's my opinion on it, but it's been working for everybody. It's just that I don't think that it was the right thing for me to do."

Are you surprised more goaltenders haven't adopted your style?

"I don't know. It's maybe a little too complicated to explain to them. It's because I react to everything. I do some hockey schools where I'm going to go out and teach my kids and when I teach what I do, it's nothing about a style. It's about fundamentals of the game. It's about reacting, your positioning, your stick on the ice, doing different things. That's what my goalie coach through all of these years (Jacques Caron does it). It's not really how I stop the puck. It's how you get to make the save that's important to me and not really when the puck comes at me. I think controlling your rebounds and doing different things is something that I really care about because if I control my rebounds I feel I'm able to cut down eight to 10 shots a game. That's a reason why when you look at the shots against for New Jersey compared to maybe other places, there's a difference. I believe it's the way I manage the game and it's all these little things. So, it's hard to teach somebody, a young eight-year-old kid, this is the way you should play. When you fall on your knees and put your pads apart, it's a lot easier to teach to somebody that's for sure."

What is your best physical attribute that's helped you be so successful?

"I think to be pretty limber, I guess. All of these years, knock on wood, that's what I said before I hurt my arm, I never really got injured. Going around the net and being able to get my position and make saves and recover from saves and move around with people on me or close to me and get to these areas that I need to to make some saves, is something that I've done pretty well throughout my career."

Do you appreciate that you are trying to break this record while still playing at a high level and not at the very end of your career?

"For me, I play hockey to win. I get myself ready and I'm excited about this season. I'm definitely well rested. So, it's something that I can't control when your'e going to break anything and it's happening to me now and I'm excited. And, again, it just gives you the opportunity to raise that bar when it's going to be done at a different level. That's the only thing I can say. I play and I'm having fun playing. Success is coming through what I do, but definitely from what my teammates are doing also."

Do your sons who are goaltenders (Anthony and Jeremy) play butterfly style?

"Yeah, they are more butterfly than me. That's for sure. (Laughing) But they're fun to watch. They definitely are active little goalies in there. They do pokechecks and they roam around their net a little bit. It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool to see little young Martys out there."

{THE END}

Comments

[MoonDragn]

Marty is like the Bruce Lee of Hockey Goalies.

[MikeK]

Who keeps asking him about playing elsewhere? New York papers who dream of him coming to the Rangers?

[Falcone]

Probably the national papers keep asking him. Local guys have followed him and already know his answers.

TG- Is it sold out tonight? Do you know? NHL Network said Versus will go to the Devils game if they're winning in the last min. Now that's cool. Only if ESPN could do that.

[nnjrules]

reading the money line, it doesnt look great for the devils tonight. saying that I hope they win. Prediction devils 2-1, Rupp scores another big goal for Devils history. Ruppamania will have heart failure if this is true

[Captain Cornholio]

At 2 p.m., I'm sitting here at my home in Newburgh watching the St. Patrick's Day Parade on NBC4. According to Ticketmaster, tickets remain unsold.

In just a few minutes, I will hitch a ride to Beacon and take the Metro-North down to the city, where I will pick up the PATH to Newark.

I will wear my Brodeur jersey proudly as we all thank him for his service to the organization. I hope to see many of you tonight.

TG, I wish you the best of luck in covering this potentially historic night. I also hope you enjoy it!

[e]

Let's go Devils!!!

[Jason]

I work next door to the NHL building. It's really a disgrace (though not surprising) that they have done NOTHING to commemorate this event. Not even a jersey hanging in the window display of the NHL store. NOTHING. They have had the same Sharks/Kings (who F'ing cares?) display for the last 3 weeks, and today (of course) have these ugly St Patrick's day jerseys out there. The NHL is so unbelievably out of touch with their fans, their locations, and their own sport, it REALLY surprises me this league turns any profit at all.

[Mor]

I just picked up to tickets at 38$ center ice 2nd floor on TicketMaster. Good luck

[Dan]

Is anyone from the Canadian media there? If not I guess they are just picking up some clips from MSG.

[TG]

Be patient, Jason. I guarantee you there will be tons of Brodeur stuff in the NHL store when he breaks the record.

[Ben M.]

Is anyone else like really incredibly excited right now? I can't even focus on anything right now..

Let's go DEVILS!!

[JJ]

If this game isn't sold out I will stop making excuses for our attendance and call it a disgrace.

[adam?]

hey guys...is it 7 yet?

[Robbie]

I'm so pumped for the game, I can walk to Newark.

[Mor]

I'm sweating like a dog

[Steve]

Ben M r you going to the game?

[Steve]

sorry i meant JJ

[Ben M.]

Yes i am going, catching the train now..