Former NHL pest Sean Avery once tried to embarrass New Jersey Devils veteran goaltender Martin Brodeur when he was on the New York Rangers by waving his stick in front of the netminders face as a distraction during the 2008 playoffs, but Brodeur insisted it was Avery who embarrassed himself after he was eliminated on Dancing with the Stars after just one week.
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NJ.com reports that Brodeur was asked about his thoughts on Avery being ousted from the dance competition, and he smiled while saying he doesn't watch the show but did see it mentioned on NHL.com before getting a dig in on his old nemesis.
"What more could he do to embarrass himself?" Brodeur asked rhetorically to NJ.com. "There it is!"
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Avery and dance partner Karina Smirnoff were the first of two couples to be eliminated from this season of the show while long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad and pro Henry Byalikov were the other pair that was ousted.
Avery, a retired agitator, and Brodeur, the NHL record-holder for the most victories and a future Hall of Famer, have a storied history that reached its tipping point during a 2008 NHL playoff series. Avery waved his stick in front of Brodeur's face while standing in the crease as a way to screen him from the action several times during the best-of-seven series, which was eventually won by the Rangers in five.
Avery had tried to screen Brodeur all series long, and the goaltender eventually hit him with a jab during a 5-on-3 power play for the Rangers in Game 3, which led to an Avery goal that broke a 1-1 tie. The Devils ended up getting their only win of the series in that game in a 4-3 overtime triumph.
Brodeur was very agitated after that Game 3.
"I've played for 15 years in this league. I've been watching games for 33 years. I had never seen that in my life. I don't think that kind of behavior should be done in front of the net, but there is no rule for it," he said at the time per NJ.com.
The NHL then put in a rule to avoid a person ever actively screening a goaltender like that ever again, a rule which became known as "The Avery Rule."
"An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play," Colin Campbell the then-NHL director of operations released in a statement at the time via NJ.com.
Brodeur admitted that he talked to Avery on the ice during Game 5 and said he was going to go after him but couldn't because the Devils made a comeback before ultimately losing the game and the series, however Brodeur did snub him on the handshake line to close the series.
Brodeur said he would never be on Dancing with the Stars.
"Nope," he told NJ.com about being on the show. "I don't have that in my gene. No dancing! I don't dance ... at all. But my kids would love me to do it, just to laugh at me!"
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