FanHouse Devils

On Wednesday night, New Jersey Devils broadcaster Sherry Ross made history when she became the first female broadcaster to provide play-by-play in English for an entire NHL game.

Ross, who is usually the color commentator on Devils radio broadcasts, took over the play-by-play when fourth-year New Jersey announcer Matt Loughlin took time to be with his family after the passing of his father-in-law. Ross called the game, with former Devils forward Rob Skrlac serving as analyst.

Thanksgiving is a holiday where we get together with family and friends to celebrate all that is important in our lives. We here at NHL FanHouse will be doing that today but before we get to the turkey, we decided to get together and talk about something else that is important in all of our lives -- hockey.

For starters, we're thankful that we get to follow hockey all day long and that you take the time to read what we've got to say. But there's a lot more that we love about the "coolest game on ice" that plays such a big role in each of our lives.

Brendan Shanahan announced his retirement on Tuesday afternoon, ending a 21-year career that saw him finish with 656 goals (11th all time), 698 assists and 1,354 points with the New Jersey Devils, Hartford Whalers, St. Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils.

He was a member of three Stanley Cup winning teams (all in Detroit), an eight-time All-Star and a two-time 50-goal scorer.

Not only was he a dominating player on the ice, he was also an extremely entertaining person off of it.

As anyone who struggled to get the new health care legislation passed over the weekend can attest, it's hard to make systemic changes. The momentum of history carries us along, forcing the boldest and most tenacious of us to aggressively fight the tide in the name of progress.

It may not be nearly on par with lowering the unemployment rate or giving our education system a breath of fresh air, but in the world of this lovely escape we call hockey, few in recent history have had as big of an impact in these terms as Lou Lamoriello. It's entirely appropriate that he's being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday night as a "Builder," because he built a dynasty out of a doormat as well as a hockey nation out of a nation with just a curious interest in the sport.

But when I think of what makes Lou Lamoriello great, I don't think about what he's done. I think about the character and personality that drove all that success.

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The Devils are a perfect 7-0 on the road this year, but a pedestrian 2-4 at The Rock in Newark, where they'll be hosting the Islanders Friday night. After six straight losses to open the season, the Isles have won four out of their last five behind John Tavares, who has four points in that stretch. FanHouse's Christopher Botta is live-blogging the Atlantic Division contest from the time the puck drops at 7 p.m. ET.

New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello will be inducted into the builders section of the the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday. The architect of three Stanley Cup-winning teams was the guest on a media conference call on Friday afternoon. Some highlights ...

Newsmakers in the NHL: During the regular season it's our weekday look at the previous night's action and some of the story lines taking place around the league. Have a tip or something you want linked? Send it in to nhlfanhouse@gmail.com.

Devils 4, Rangers 2: With a shutout on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur would have tied Terry Sawchuk's record for most career shutouts. While the future Hall of Famer will have to wait for another night to reach his next milestone, he still managed to stop 29 shots to help lead the Devils to a 4-2 win.

Zach Parise scored a pair of goals -- and assisted on another -- as New Jersey handed the Rangers their second straight loss. The Devils, meanwhile, have won five of their past six.

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Martin Brodeur is one shutout away from tying Terry Sawchuk's all-time shutout record. How meaningful is that? And what is the best means for judging goaltenders' performance?

This week, our Puck Talk podcast chats about the Devils. We're joined by radio analyst Sherry Ross, who returned to the booth in 2007, just in time to watch Brian Rolston return to the ice, and eventually Jacques Lemaire return to the bench. Seems like everyone ends up going back there at some point.

We talk with Sherry about this year's team, how Lemaire is adjusting to his young talent, and what kind of workload goalie Martin Brodeur will face this season. Check out this week's podcast after the jump.