Anthony Brodeur experienced a crazy feeling as the New Jersey Devils retired his father’s No. 30 on Tuesday.
That feeling was from more than 17,000 fans at the Prudential Centre in Newark, N.J... chanting “Marty” for minutes. They wouldn’t let his dad talk.
“It gave me the chills,” said Anthony during a phone interview before returning to Penticton on Wednesday night. “16, 17,000 (16,514) people just screaming his name, that’s my dad. It was a little weird to see that. It was really cool.”
After the Penticton Vees swept their Vancouver Island road trip last weekend, Brodeur hopped on a plane and made the trip to meet his family as the Devils made Martin the fourth player in franchise history to have his number retired. He joins Scott Stevens, Ken Daneyko and Scott Niedermayer. Martin is a three-time Stanley Cup champion, the NHL’s all-time winningest goalie with 691 regular season victories. He broke Terry Sawchuk’s record of 103 shutouts ending his career with 125 while adding 24 in the playoffs. He won four Vezina Trophies as the NHL’s best goaltender, five William’s Jenning’s Trophies for best goaltending tandem, the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year in 1994 and is a two-time Olympic gold medal winner.
The days spent with family celebrating was fun for Anthony, especially since he had not seen them in some time. Watching his dad have the spotlight was amazing and Anthony praised the job the Devils organization did in honouring his father.
“It was really cool to see, just the amount of recognition they felt he deserved,” said Anthony, a seventh round selection by the Devils in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.
Among the activities planned was the unveiling of a statue on Monday night in front of thousands of fans. The ceremony prior to the game against the Edmonton Oilers lasted roughly an hour. Anthony enjoyed listening to the speeches and the atmosphere was “super loud,” he said.
“I lived through this,” said Anthony, who was three weeks old before his father won his first Stanley Cup in 1995. “It’s really crazy to hear what people have to say and how highly people speak of him.”
Growing up Anthony watched his father play a lot. He loved watching games. He recalls going to Dallas in 2000 and wearing a cowboy hat with a devil on it and flying across the country to Anaheim in 2003.
“It was really cool to just watch my dad play, do his thing,” he said. “At the end, you get to go on the ice, go with my dad. We would sit around the cup. We would touch the Stanley Cup.”
His other favourite memories include going to the Olympics in Salt Lake City, Torino, Italy and Vancouver.
“When I was younger I didn’t appreciate it as much as I would now,” said Anthony. “It’s really cool that this, to look back to see what a great career he had.
Warriors, Smoke Eaters next
Ranked No.1 in the Canadian Junior Hockey League again, the Penticton Vees welcome the West Kelowna Warriors and Trail Smoke Eaters to the South Okanagan Events Centre, Friday and Saturday respectively.
The Vees clinched their second straight BCHL regular season title after sweeping their Vancouver Island road trip.
“We’re obviously really proud of what our team accomplished with the President’s Trophy,” said Vees captain Tyson Jost. “That was one of our goals at the beginning of the year. We’re not done yet, we still got to keep going. We just want to keep playing well and hopefully hit a peak here when we go into playoffs.”
The Vees learned some lessons from two come-from-behind wins over the Victoria Grizzlies, 7-5, and the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, 3-2.
“I know we weren’t too pleased with how we played in the first and second period,” said Jost of their game against the Grizzlies.
Jost spoke to his teammates during the second intermission and simply said for them to play the way they know.
“Play with some pride for that logo on the front of our jersey, play with respect,” he said, “I think we did that very well. We came out flying in the third period.
“It’s a learning experience,” continued Jost. “It’s something that everybody can take a few things that they learned from that game.”
In facing the Warriors (33-16-2-1), the Vees take on a group looking to solidify second place in the Interior Division. While the B.C. Ford Dealers Road to the Fred Page Cup doesn’t begin until March 4, Jost said they are getting a taste of the near future.
“Right now everybody is fighting for a playoff spot,” he said. “They are fighting to get into the mix. Right now we’re getting a taste of what it’s going to take and what playoffs are kind of like. That’s something that we really saw against Victoria there. A team that came out hard in the first two periods. I think it is a good experience. Use it and put in our little bank there.”
Off the ice, Vees forward Scott Conway was named the CJHL’s first star for January. Conway racked up 18 goals to go with 11 assists to help the Vees go 10-2 to secure top spot in the Interior Division.