Paging Martin Brodeur

So Canada takes a pretty bad loss to the rival United States and everyone seems to be asking "What happened to Marting Brodeur?" Though I never took time to put this to the blog, my comments after the Swiss game were something along the lines of "Luongo should start against the US, Brodeur looks way to eager to play the puck and has had a few Elliott moments that scare me". Now the 'Elliott' I refer to is Brian Elliott of the Ottawa Senators. I'm not trying to take away from his recent success but many who follow Ottawa can agree that Brian Elliott should stay in his net and play the puck very little else he gets caught. A few weeks ago against the Blackhawks, he tries to play the puck behind the net, loses it and has to come around and make a diving save against Marian Hossa to stop, what was effectively, and open net chance. Fast forward to the games and we find Brodeur playing the puck with high frequency. I'm not trying to take away from Brodeur as, in my mind, he definitely is one of the best goalies in the world but right now, he certainly isn't showing it. Though the Swiss game was only a precursor, the issue was in plain view against the US. The first goal starts with a dump in and Brodeur trying to play the puck and sees his rim around stopped by two US forecheckers and the end result is a deflection goal later in the play. I realize many will say a deflection isn't his fault but it begs the question "With 7 all-star defencemen on the team, why is he so keen on playing the puck?" The second US goal results directly from his attempt at swatting the puck out of midair to clear the zone. The third goal was also a direct result of his diving pokecheck at a loose puck despite Chris Pronger's close proximity to the puck. The US seemed to zero in on Brodeur's enthusiasm to play the puck and turn those plays into scoring chances. This simply did not look like the Brodeur of old and I strongly believe it's time for Roberto Luongo to get the starts going in against Germany and, if Canada wins, Russia as well.