Catching Up With The Cup

Sporting News, The, August 7, 2000 by Larry Wigge

BECAUSE THE STANLEY CUP CAN'T TALK, TSN FOLLOWED HOCKEY'S HOLY GRAIL AROUND FOR FOUR DAYS. AND YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED AT WHAT WE SAW.

For a few mind-numbing moments, the quiet, tree-lined street of 1950s-era bungalows brought to life a scene from a Hollywood movie.

Remember Josh Baskin, the 12-year-old character played by Tom Hanks in Big? In this real-life scene, there are no quantum leaps from kid to toy-company executive. But there are 30-year-olds who are returning to the carefree days of their childhood.

The boys who played ball hockey, baseball and hide-and-seek up and down this quaint street in St. Leonard, north of Montreal, are still young at heart, even if they huff and puff harder than they once did.

As Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur and his boyhood friends take to the streets for a little ball hockey, the similarity to the movie is uncanny. And if you listen closely, you can almost hear the voice of Mrs. Baskin calling Josh for lunch. Well, the local version, anyway.

"I felt the same thing this morning-and I've lived here most of my life," says 33-year-old Yvan Hebert, who grew up in the house beside Denis Brodeur Sr. and his wife, Mireille. "I can still hear Mrs. Martin down the street yelling, `Denis, Robert, Guy! It's time to eat.' The same for Denis and Martin Brodeur.

"And I'll never forget that young Marry would go inside and eat, and he'd be back out on the street in about 12 seconds. He couldn't get enough hockey then, and he hasn't changed to this day."

It's an NHL tradition that each member of the winning team gets to keep the Stanley Cup for one or two days. Brodeur took it back to his old neighborhood and put the Cup up for grabs in a friendly little street hockey game that more than 150 fans watched from in front of the house where he grew up.

Brodeur was in goal for every minute as New Jersey won the Cup for real in six games over Dallas in June.

The boys from Mauriac Street often pretended they were playing for the Stanley Cup when they were growing up. It's funny what dreams come true. Late in June, they really got a chance to play for the Cup.

"I'm 2-0 playing for the Stanley Cup on the ice in the NHL, but 0-1 on the streets of Montreal," Brodeur complains, referring to a similar 4-on-4 ball hockey game in 1995 with this same crew. "We want revenge. They beat us; beat us bad. Nothing short of a victory is acceptable this time."

Neighbors Philip Roy and Claude Romeo paired off with Martin and Denis Brodeur Jr. Hebert's team included the three Martin brothers. The teams were drawn up the way they've always been--players on the Brodeurs' team lived on the right of the street light in front of their house. Opponents were from the left of the light. That's always been the line of scrimmage for these rivals.

In the days when Brodeur only dreamed of a career in the NHL, police often would break up the street hockey games because they were blocking traffic. On this day, however, officers were only too happy to divert cars and watch the action.

The referee blew the whistle for the opening faceoff--and the trash-talking began.

"It sure is nice of your brother to bring the Cup back for us to win again," Denis Martin tells Denis Brodeur Jr.

"We'll see about that," Brodeur replies.

For a little more than an hour, these eight men dive after loose balls and muscle their way around and through opponents like they are 12 again. All the while, the prize, the Stanley Cup, stands on a table in front of the Brodeurs' home, a Devils flag flying proudly from it in the early-morning breeze.

After Denis Brodeur Jr. scores to make it 4-2 in the third game, Martin Brodeur yells to Mike Bolt, one of two keepers of the Cup from the Hockey Hall of Fame, "Get your white gloves ready, Mike!" (Bolt and Paul Oak, the other Cup keeper, have three pairs of white gloves with them at all times. They wear the gloves whenever they handle the Cup.)

Less than two minutes later, Martin Brodeur, playing defense--"In ball hockey, I let Claude learn how it feels to have pucks fly past his head."--completes a 3-on-2 break with a goal from the left side of the crease for the winner.

"Now," he says with his trademark smile, "I know how Jason Arnott felt when he scored the Cup-clincher for the Devils."

It's Brodeur's fourth goal of the day and third in the final game. Brodeur's team wins 5-3, 5-1 and 5-2.

Bolt carries the Cup to the center of the street, raising the shining prize to the sounds of We Are the Champions. Romeo shouts, "The Cup is back where it belongs."

Martin and Denis Brodeur Jr. take turns hoisting the Cup with as much excitement as the Devils did a few weeks earlier. But Roy shakes his head when the Cup is offered to him.

Why would anyone refuse to touch the Stanley Cup? Well, that's one of the juicy tidbits that are part of the lore of sports' oldest team trophy.

Roy, you see, still plays hockey--he just finished his senior year at Clarkson College--and he hopes one day to raise Lord Stanley's prize for real. Roy, a defenseman, is negotiating with six teams for his first pro contract.