The Roy/Brodeur Myth

With the Ottawa Senators in the midst of a goaltending controversy, all sorts of half-truths, cliches and myths are starting to take hold among their fanbase. You can hear it everyday if you subject yourself to the torture that is the Team 1200 and sit through the countless emails and phone calls from the passionate but mentally lazy fans.

The latest myth to take hold is that teams need a Martin Brodeur or a Patrick Roy to win a Stanley Cup. I counted at least three emails read over the air in the past two days that stated the same thing, with all three concluding that the Senators will never win a Stanley Cup because they don’t have a goalie similar to the two legends.

Cliches and myths are replacements for independent, rational and logical thought. Just a brief, cursory glimpse at some of the past Stanley Cup winning goalies completely destroys the notion that so many fans hold to be true.

Jean Sebastien Giguere won the Cup last year with Anaheim. The year before that, rookie Cam Ward won the Stanley Cup with Carolina. Nikolai Khabibulin won a Stanley Cup for Tampa in 2004. Chris Osgood and Mike Vernon each won a Cup for Detroit in the late 90’s.

None of the above mentioned goalies will be Hall of Famer's.

Come on. It's not rocket science. It's called looking at an NHL guide book where they keep things like that on record. Or maybe just try using your long-term memory.

Therefore, despite the loud wails of ignorant fans whose grasp of hockey history extends as far back as the Senators last game, it is entirely possible that one of Ray Emery or Martin Gerber can lead a team to a Stanley Cup.

The pads the goalies wear today are big enough that even Calista Flockhart could lead a team to a Stanley Cup just by standing there.

So if you’re one of those out there who constantly emails the radio show with the Roy/Brodeur myth, please, for the love of everything good and decent, stop.