Yesterday and Today: Martin Brodeur

Michael Marsh
Posted: June 9, 2003

In professional hockey, it is said that hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup above your head in victory is the ultimate moment for any player. While it is safe to say that New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur agrees, there may be one thing that outdoes winning the Stanley Cup and that's celebrating the victory -- with a cigar.

Monday night in the Meadowlands, after Brodeur and his teammates disposed of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, 3-0, in Game 7, that victory cigar was a Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur. For Brodeur, it was a cigar that was well deserved. The victory marked the goalie's third shutout in the finals and his seventh of the 2003 playoffs -- a record. Although Brodeur didn't win the Conn Smythe trophy for the playoff MVP, there is no question he was deserving of the award, just as he was deserving of the Stanley Cup and a heater.

This isn't the first time Brodeur has lifted what is arguably one of the most impressive pieces of silverware in all of sports or, for that matter, the first time he's enjoyed a victory cigar. In 1995, he lit up his first cigar ever after winning the Stanley Cup with the Devils and has been smoking ever since, including after winning his second Cup in 2000.

"When I had my first cigar in 1995, I thought, 'This is the mark of a true champion,'" Brodeur said in a 2000 interview with Cigar Aficionado Online. "Y'know, that satisfaction that you accomplished something; that's how you feel when you have a cigar in your hand. And that's something that's always stayed with me."

There's little doubt that feeling will stay with Brodeur, especially if his name continues to be engraved on the Stanley Cup.

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