Devils Riding “The Legend” To The Top

His teammates call him “Marty,”  but fans call him “legendary.”

On this night, he sits down in front of his locker, sweat pouring down his blond hair that has signs of helmet head.

He strips off his pads and stacks them next to him.  His skates, they’re resting on the floor, as is his jersey.

This was an easy night for a guy who likes a challenge.  A guy who’s won three Stanley Cups and has been to the playoffs 12 of his 13 years in the National Hockey League.

What does a guy like Martin Brodeur do on the ice when his teammates are scoring six goals?

“I always look around,” Brodeur tells me. “We were watching the scoreboard.”

Brodeur and his teammates watch the scoreboard because it’s just as important as how they play.  Teams need to lose — the Pittsburgh Penguins need to lose.

“We slipped a lot of points (this season),” Brodeur says. “We need to get back on top of our division somehow.”

Defenseman Colin White believes the opposite of Brodeur.

“We just have to focus on what this team’s doing and get ourselves ready and we can’t be worried about what other teams are going to do.”

White has two Stanley Cups and is gunning for that third.  He knows his team is in second place and already in the playoffs, but that’s not good enough.  That’s not what he plays all year for.

The Devils are just four points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins in the standings.  With only a few games left, the Atlantic Division is within their grasps.

Defenseman Johnny Oduya tells me that “every game is a new game” to them.

The Devils have high hopes that some of those new games will be for the Stanley Cup.

The fourth for “Marty” the “Legend.”