The most iconic sports venue in North America is no place for an icon to sit on the bench.
As such, and as it should be and must be, when the spotlight shines on the outdoor rink at Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Martin Brodeur will be in nets for the Devils when they face the Rangers in this showcase event for hockey.
Brodeur gets the assignment over the current and sizzling 1A goaltender Cory Schneider — who won’t be having such a great 1A day after having allowed a sum of nine goals in his last eight starts — in what New Jersey coach Peter DeBoer called, “an easy decision from a right-thing-to-do perspective [because of] his career of 20 years with the Devils and what he’s done.”
DeBoer also cited Brodeur for having played, “some excellent hockey for us,” but the point was clear. This was the rare time in hockey, maybe even the unique time in hockey, when and where the name on the back of the uniform trumped all competing considerations.
Which, understandably, Brodeur the competitor and Brodeur the athlete did not necessarily regard as especially flattering.
“Not so much,” the NHL’s all-time leader in victories and shutouts said on the eve of his 100th regular-season appearance against the Rangers. “I’ve done what I’ve done.
“I want to deserve to play because of what I’m doing now, not so much because of what I’ve done in the past.”
Understandable sentiments from an athlete who burns to be as great as ever, even after three Stanley Cups, 682 victories and 124 shutouts.
There are two all-time hockey players scheduled to play on the outdoor pond in The Bronx; two icons. They both represent the Devils, and as members of the home team for this event, they both are using the Yankees’ clubhouse.
Jaromir Jagr, the 41-year-old larger than life winger who leads the Devils in scoring by 15 points — by 15 points! — is, interestingly enough, dressing in the locker that has belonged to Alex Rodriguez since this version of the Stadium opened in 2009. Brodeur is at the other end of the clubhouse, using a locker shared by a variety of Yankees who have come and gone from month to month. The locker belonging to Derek Jeter is not in use.
“It’s a special place, that room. They have lots of great pictures of different players in it,” No. 68 said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.
“In [Czechoslovakia], when I was growing up during the communist years, you couldn’t talk about anything that wasn’t communist,” said Jagr, who emigrated to the States in 1990 after being selected fifth overall by Pittsburgh in the same entry draft in which Brodeur was chosen 20th overall by the Devils. “I didn’t know anything about baseball.
“Since I’ve come over here I’ve followed baseball, basketball and American football.”
If Jagr isn’t necessarily the Babe Ruth of hockey, he walks among the sport’s giants. He also has a larger than life personality that would not have been undersized in the Bambino’s presence.
“I took some pictures of a picture of Babe Ruth,” Jagr said. “It was pretty special.”
It was special as well for Brodeur, for whom the old Forum in Montreal was the cathedral of sports when and where he was growing up.
“Being here 20 years or so in the New York area, I know what the Yankees mean to sports to people around here,” the goaltender said. “For us to be in their locker room and hang out where they eat and everything, is pretty cool.
“The Yankees are the Yankees. Even if you’re not a baseball fan, you know who the Yankees are.”
The Yankees are about monuments. The Devils have two of their own. Jagr will be up front. Brodeur will start in nets.
That is as it should be and must be, for the bench is no place for an icon in the most iconic sports venue in the land.