He has been the epitome of consistency while playing the most physically and mentally demanding position of any sport. All the while, he never appears frazzled and keeps all the wins and losses in perspective.

A tale of two goalies

One goalie learned a great deal about his position from a terrific coach early in his career -- Francois Allaire, who stresses the percentages when it comes to playing the butterfly position. Allaire gets his goalies using their skate edges to push from their butterfly position and bring the arms in tight to the body, while maintaining a good spine angle. The goalie's success has a lot to do with the attention to details and commitment to perfect positioning. The other goalie spent roughly 15 minutes with Allaire before heading off the ice. He didn't much like the restrictions placed on the goalie, with all the percentages and regulations and such. The second goalie is much more of a freelance kind of athlete, one that may want to butterfly on one play, and then drag a pad on the next. He doesn't mind the odd two-pad stack and the quick pokecheck to keep the shooter off guard. The first goalie is Patrick Roy; the other is Martin Brodeur. The have different personalities and different styles, but they have one very important thing in common: the same desire and passion to stop the puck and be the very best.

He has won two Stanley Cups, a Calder Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year and an Olympic gold medal in Salt Lake City last winter. Remarkably, he never has won the Vezina Trophy, yet he ranks among the all-time greats in the most important goaltending categories.

He is Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils.

He is calm under fire and one of the most gregarious athletes you'll ever meet. Any sport. Any time.

With all the success that the legendary Patrick Roy has achieved -- and the time it has taken for several of Terry Sawchuk's all-time records to fall -- you may be surprised to find out that Brodeur is on pace to pass Roy in several statistical categories, including wins, games played and minutes.

It is interesting to note that Brodeur plays roughly 10 more games per year than Roy and has a higher career winning percentage (.621 vs. .595), so Brodeur can reach Roy's numbers faster than Roy has. Brodeur plays between 70 and 75 games per season, whereas Roy gets into roughly 60 to 65 games.

Brodeur also has a chance to match one of the all-time great feats -- 103 career shutouts, a record held by the immortal Terry Sawchuk. Brodeur currently has 61 shutouts in 639 career games. If he continues to average one shutout in every 10 appearances, he will reach Sawchuk's mark in 343 games, or five more seasons.

On Sunday, Brodeur became the only goaltender in NHL history to reach the 30-win mark for the eighth straight season. He also has the chance to challenge Bernie Parent's single-season win mark of 47. To do so, he'll need to win 17 of the Devils' 28 remaining games – a tough job, but not impossible. Parent and Sawchuk each won 44 games twice in their careers, while Brodeur has hit 43 wins twice. Roy has reached the 40-win mark once (40, 2000-01).

This competition between two French-Canadian goaltenders is an interesting one, and you have to know the ever-observant Roy is keeping an eye on Brodeur. Breaking Sawchuk's records has been one of the things that has kept Roy motivated. Brodeur will always have Roy's accomplishments staring him in the face to keep him going for that "one last win" down the stretch.

I never count out superior athletes. When they struggle for a little while, critics are quick to point out they are slowing down or don't have it anymore. But what is it that makes them special? They ALWAYS have another gear. ALWAYS.

So never count out the guys that are heading to the Hall of Fame, because there is something special in them that lifts them to one last level of superior play.

That brings me right back to Patrick Roy, who is the NHL's Player of the Week (again).

How many of you out there thought he was slipping just a little? Plenty, I'm sure. But yet here he is, ratcheting his game up another notch and being the difference maker in huge back-to-back wins over the Wings. Roy certainly wasn't happy with the way he was playing just a month ago, yet now he has that confident swagger back in his game (again). How many times does he dig in his heels and go find another gear? That is what separates the big boys from the average run-of-the-mill guys in this great league. Lets get to the rankings for this week.

The top five rankings:

Giguere	5. Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 5 GP, 4-1-0, 2.01 GAA, .932 save percentage As the Ducks hunt down a playoff spot in the West, they continue to play like a team, with much credit going to the fine goaltending of Giguere. He has gone 4-1-0 in his last five games and was a star in his last three. He made 32 saves in a 4-3 win at San Jose and continued his fine play with 23 saves at Calgary. The road trip continued to Edmonton where he 2-1 (22 saves, third star). He got back into the win column by beating up Phoenix 3-2 (31 saves, third star). He was the difference with a 28-save performance in a 2-1 win over Carolina.
Cloutier	4. Dan Cloutier, Vancouver Canucks 5 GP, 3-0-2, 1.94 GAA, .932 save percentage He has shown tremendous resilience in his NHL career, a testament to his heart and character, especially after giving up a goal on the long-distance shot by Nicklas Lidstrom in the playoffs last spring. The Canucks tied Minnesota 2-2 to begin this five-game segment for Cloutier (22 saves). He was the third start in a 3-3 tie with Edmonton (29 saves) before heading to Mario's barn in Pittsburgh and winning 3-2 (30 saves, first star). The trip continued on to Buffalo, where Cloutier won 4-2, making 34 saves and earning the game's second star. In Vancouver on Monday night, Cloutier beat the Hawks 2-1 to go 3-0-2 in his last five games.
Belfour	3. Ed Belfour, Toronto Maple Leafs 5 GP, 4-1-0, 1.61 GAA, .943 save percentage The Eagle's body is good and so is his play. Belfour has been brilliant for the Leafs. After a 3-0 loss to Patrick Roy and the Avalanche, He won 3-2 at Carolina, making 25 saves to start this four-game streak, and then went into red-hot Atlanta and beat this hard working team 5-2. He then headed to Florida and smoked the Panthers 6-0 (33 saves, first star). After Trevor Kidd played in the 3-2 win at Tampa Bay, Belfour made 32 saves in the 3-1 win vs. Montreal and was named the second star of the game.
Brodeur	2. Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils 5 GP, 4-1-0, 1.61 GAA, .925 save percentage He is only 6-5 when facing fewer than 20 shots in a game, but the more action there is the more he can dominate the outcome of the game. He has the mental make-up of a Ken Dryden when it comes to making the one momentum stopping (or gaining) save. He beat the Wings 1-0, and although he only had to make 16 saves he was still named the first star of the game as many were of the quality variety. Marty beat the Flyers 5-1 (22 saves), before getting a break while Corey Schwabb made 19 saves in a 4-1 win vs. Buffalo. Marty was back in the net for the 4-1 win at Washington (27 saves), then dropped a 4-2 decision to Atlanta before being named the third star in the 3-2 record-setting win over Minnesota.
Roy	1. Patrick Roy, Colorado Avalanche 5 GP, 4-0-1, 1.36 GAA, .947 save percentage The NHL's player of the week (3-0, 1.63 GAA, .950 save percentage) for the second time in the last three weeks, Roy has got his game in order for the surging Avs. The blood simply gets going when you have a home-and-home with the rival, especially the defending Cup champs in Hockeytown. Clearly, Roy was up to the task. He started out his recent five-game sequence by shutting out the Leafs in Toronto (3-0, 30 saves) and tying the Blue Jackets in Columbus 2-2 (17 saves). He watched as David Aebischer beat the Rangers 4-3 in overtime (38 saves) before skating into Boston to stop the Bruins with 28 saves in a 3-2 win. The Detroit series began with a 1-0 win at Joe Louis arena (28 saves, first star) and ended with a 5-3 (empty net) win vs. the Wings, while making 31 saves, several of them spectacular. He is 12 wins shy of winning at least 30 games for the eighth straight season, which would match Marty Brodeur.

Darren Pang, a former goaltender with the Chicago Blackhawks, is a hockey analyst for ESPN. His goalie rankings appear every other week in Net Effect.