Bio
Denis Brodeur was born October 12th,1930 in the East End of Montreal. As he reached the age of 6, his father put up a rink for him at the side of the house. Every Sunday, he made the trip to the Forum to watch the Sr. Canadiens and, at times, the NHL Canadiens. As he reaches 16, he makes his debut as a goalkeeper. A few years later, he finds himself with Jean Béliveau in Victoriaville, in the Quebec Junior League. Later on he gets to play with Bernard Geoffrion with the National Jr. playing out of the Montreal Forum. His participation in the Cortina d'Ampezzo Olympic Games in 1956, where his team (the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen) win the Bronze medal in Italy, and the Gold medal won by Martin at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games are his two most cherished memories. They form the only father-and-son goalkeepers having won medals in the history of the Olympic Games. Having put an end to his hockey career, he becomes a sports photographer for the Montreal-Matin newspaper and the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club. He has had the chance to frame in his lens and be along side some of Hockey's great legends: Jean Béliveau, Henri Richard, Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr. He has lived great moments in his career, particularly in capturing on film 11 Stanley Cups won by the Canadiens, three by the New Jersey Devils (needless to say, with a lot of emotion!), then one by Calgary and another by Philadelphia. In the meantime on Maurice Richard's request, he again puts on the pads as the goalkeeper of the Former Canadiens Team. He plays along side Maurice Richard, Butch Bouchard, Jacques Plante and Elmer Lach. He faces Oldtimers from Boston, Detroit and Toronto. He believes himself to be in the NHL! 1972 is a special year. His wife Mireille gives birth to Martin, their fifth child (Line, Claude, Sylvie and Denis Jr came into the world before him). During the same year, he catches the famous 12-photosequence of Paul Henderson's celebrated goal during the Centennial Series in Moscow. Throughout his career, his camera is pointed on goalkeepers. He concentrates on the game played by Terry Sawchuck, Glenn Hall, Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden, Bernard Parent and Patrick Roy. At that point, he has no idea his son Martin would, one day, become one of the great goalkeepers in NHL history. At the end of his career he publishes ‘GOALIES, GUARDIANS OF THE NET' with "KeyPorter Books" and 5 books with "Les Éditions de l'Homme": 30 ANS DE PHOTOS DE HOCKEY', ‘LES GRANDS DU HOCKEY', ‘LES GARDIENS AU HOCKEY', ‘LES JEUX COCASSES AU VIEUX FORUM' and ‘LE PLAISIR DE JOUER' which relates Martin's career. His collection of more than 115,000 photos is now the property of the NHL. |
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