December 18, 2009: It was my 40th Birthday, and I celebrated by attending the New Jersey Devils' game against the Ottawa Senators, at the Prudential Center in downtown Newark, New Jersey.
The Devils won, 4-2. They got goals by Jamie Langenbrunner in the 1st period, Brian Rolston and Jay Pandolfo in the 2nd, and Bryce Salvador in the 3rd. The Ottawa goals came from Alexandre Picard and Jarkko Ruutu, both in the 2nd.
Only 13,728 fans attended. The fans who could have attended, but chose not to, may not have realized they had the chance to witness a historic occasion. Honestly, I didn't know it was one, beyond being a milestone birthday for me. But the announcement was made that Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur was playing in the 1,030th game of his career, a new record for goaltenders.
He surpassed the record of 1,029, set between 1984 and 2003 by Patrick Roy. Roy also held the record for most career wins by a goalie, with 551. Brodeur broke that record, and raised it to 691.
Brodeur ended his career by playing in 1,266 regular-season games, all with the Devils, except for the last 7, with the St. Louis Blues. He played in an additional 205 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, helping the Devils win the Cup in 1995, 2000 and 2003, losing in the Finals in 2001 and 2012.
*
December 18, 2009 was a Friday. There were 5 other NHL games that day:
* The Florida Panthers, 6-3 at the BankAtlantic Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of
Sunrise, Florida.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins, 5-4 in a shootout at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-3 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in
Vancouver.
Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 11 games in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 95-91 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Toronto Raptors, 118-95 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat their arch-rivals, the Boston Celtics, 98-97 at the TD Garden in Boston.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Utah Jazz, 96-83 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in
Atlanta.
* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Indiana Pacers, 107-94 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
* The New Orleans Hornets beat the Denver Nuggets, 98-92 at the New Orleans Arena (now the Smoothie King Center)
in New Orleans.
* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Detroit Pistons, 109-98 at the Oklahoma City Arena (now the Paycom Center) in Oklahoma City.
* The Houston Rockets beat their arch-rivals, the Dallas Mavericks, 116-108 in overtime at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 85-82 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Sacramento Kings, 112-96 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* And the Washington Wizards beat the Golden State Warriors, 118-109 at the Oracle Arena (as the Oakland Coliseum Arena was then known). Gilbert Arenas led all scorers on the night with 45 points.
No comments:
Post a Comment