The son of Denis Brodeur, a bronze medalist in ice hockey at the 1956 Winter Olympics, ice hockey goaltender Martin Brodeur spent 1989 through 1992 with the Saint-Hyacinthe Laser of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Drafted in 1990 by the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils, he played four games as an emergency backup during the 1991-1992 season, but was relegated to the American Hockey League’s Utica Devils the following year. After collecting a Calder Trophy during the 1993-1994 season as the league’s top rookie, however, he began an exclusive stint with the Devils that is ongoing as of 2010. With the squad he has won the NHL’s Stanley Cup Championship three times (1995, 2000, 2003), the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender four times (2003, 2004, 2007, 2008), and the William M. Jennings Trophy for the goaltender who lets in the fewest goals four times (exclusively in 1998 and 2004, shared in 1997 and 2003). As of 2010 he holds numerous goaltending records, including most regular season wins, shutouts, overtime wins, consecutive 30 and 35-win seasons, 40-win seasons, games played, single-season wins, minutes in a season, shutouts in a playoff, and playoff shutouts, in addition to total minutes played. He is also the only NHL goalie to have scored a game-winning goal. Internationally he won a silver medal at the 1996 World Championships and was the backup goalie for Patrick Roy at the 1998 Winter Olympics, but did not participate in any matches. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, however, he minded the net for five games and brought home one of Canada’s first gold medals in Olympic ice hockey in five decades. He received another silver medal from the 2005 World Championships and was Canada’s goaltender for four matches at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where the team failed to reach the podium. He minded the net for only two games at the 2010 Winter Olympics, with Roberto Luongo capturing most of the glory for Canada’s gold medal win that year. His autobiography “Brodeur: Beyond the Crease” was released in 2006.
Canada