Brodeur's son gets rare chance to play with dad, former Devils teammates

TORONTO --Anthony Brodeur got to do a lot of cool stuff growing up. He'd run onto the ice after New Jersey Devils games, skate at the team Christmas party, go into the locker room and meet the players. He'd fly back and forth when the Devils played in the Stanley Cup Final.

To him, it was normal. He didn't think of Martin Brodeur as, you know, the Martin Brodeur.
"It was just kind of my dad," he said.
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Then Anthony got to play with his dad in the Haggar Hall of Fame Legends Classic at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday. He got to stand on the ice as his dad was introduced, as his dad was applauded, as his dad received his Hockey Hall of Fame jacket, and he got to play with guys like Ken Daneyko and Scott Niedermayer and Scott Stevens, his dad's old teammates he used to see in the locker room as a kid.
Out of all the memories, he said, this was "right up there on top."
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing," he said. "It's pretty surreal just to see him up there and see the praise he gets from everybody. It's absolutely unbelievable. … It helps it sink in, just realize what he really did."

Martin Brodeur will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday as one of the greatest goaltenders of all-time, if not the greatest.
He ranks first in wins (691) and shutouts (125). He won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year (1994) and the Vezina Trophy as the League's best goaltender four times (2003, 2004, 2007, 2008). He won the Cup three times with the Devils (1995, 2000, 2003) and Olympic gold twice with Canada (2002, 2010).
One of the special parts of this weekend each year is how the inductees share it with their families. But this was unique. Anthony, 23, is a goaltender like his dad, a seventh-round pick (No. 208) of the Devils in the 2013 NHL Draft. He plays for the University of Ottawa.
"I don't recognize him now," Niedermayer said. "I remember him as a little kid running around."
On Friday night, Anthony made 14 saves in a 4-3 win at Nipissing. On Saturday, he missed a game at Laurentian so he could fly to Toronto. On Sunday, he started for Team Belfour against Team Fuhr at the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs in an exhibition of two periods and a no-matter-what shootout.
"I kind of really didn't realize it until I stepped on the ice," he said. "I was like, 'Wow, this is awesome.' "
Lanny McDonald, chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame, was behind the bench for Team Belfour. He told Anthony he needed to pitch a shutout to get one closer to his dad. And in the first period, Anthony did, stopping the likes of Igor Larionov, Pierre Turgeon and Martin St. Louis, living up to the family name with mannerisms and positioning similar to his father's. Team Belfour led 2-0, and let's just say it wasn't playing the old New Jersey trap.
At one point, and referee Bill McCreary shared a laugh.
"He kept calling me 'Marty,' " Anthony said. "He's like, 'Oh, you're Anthony.' "

McCreary wasn't alone.
"We were going, 'Wow, that looks like a young Marty Brodeur there in the nets,' " Daneyko said. "He bailed us out."
Dad took over in the second. But he gave up two goals and left with a minor shoulder injury after 6:02. Anthony relieved him. He gave up three goals, but he also stopped Dale Hawerchuk and robbed Shane Doan with his glove. Team Belfour led 6-5 after two.
Anthony stopped Aleksander Yakushev, St. Louis, Mike Gartner, Angela James and Doan in succession in the shootout, before (shhh) letting Grant Fuhr score.
Fuhr and Ed Belfour played as skaters instead of goaltenders. Martin Brodeur always loved to play out himself, and he got his chance in the shootout. He broke in on Marty Turco with the puck on his goalie stick, wearing his goalie pads but no gloves and no helmet, grinning. He went to his backhand and …
Shot it wide.
"I should have never went to my backhand," he said. "I never had a backhand before."
He laughed.
"The moment got me," he said.
That's OK. It wasn't the moment that mattered, and Team Belfour won 7-6.
The big moment, for the whole Brodeur family, will be the induction Monday.
"Just means everything," Anthony said. "It's pretty cool just to see my dad up there. Everything he's done and just being recognized for it, it really just kind of puts it in perspective."
-- NHL.com director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke contributed to this report