Speaking in the panel on goal scoring at the 2018 Blackhawks Convention, former Blackhawks forward Jeremy Roenick talked about the toughest goalies he ever faced in his playing career.
"I think Marty Brodeur had my number the worst," said Roenick. "He was one of those first goaltenders who kind of adopted the butterfly goaltender (technique) from Patrick Roy. Roy said he always owned me, the rings in his ears, but I scored more goals on Patrick than any other goaltender in the league so you can hear my lore with him. He does have the Cups, but…
"Marty Brodeur played with you a lot. He was literally so confident in the net and he was one of the bigger goaltenders at the time and usually, the goaltenders we played against in the late 90s did the splits. Then all of a sudden you had this goaltender that had the butterfly, and it was new to us. He would literally move off to the side of the net and give you the whole (other) side of the net and just bait you into shooting. As soon as you shot, he'd go over there and he'd catch it and then you'd go by and he'd smile at you. It was so frustrating."
Another goalie who drove Roenick crazy was former Blackhawks netminder Dominik Hasek.
"He had the most unique style. He'd literally throw his stick away like a street hockey goaltender," Roenick said. "You just never knew what he was going to do. You saw him coming out of the net on breakaways and he'd slide and tackle you or throw his stick at you. He was definitely one of the most frustrating goaltenders to play against because he was so unorthodox. For a guy who knew they were going to shoot, you never knew where he was going to be."
BLOG: Roenick on toughest goalies he faced
Jeremy Roenick looks back on a pair of goalies he most disliked to play against
