Best of the Best Part 3: Hockey Edition [David Stefanini]

For the third installment of the Best of the Best, it is time to check out the top players in the NHL.

1 - Martin Brodeur - Brodeur has been one of the best goalies in the NHL for over a decade now. He is having arguably his best season this year by leading the league in Goals Against Avg. with a 2.07 avg, Wins with 34, and Shutouts with 10. The New Jersey Devils are on fire right now and are looking to have the 1 seed in the Eastern Conference going into the playoffs.

2 - Sidney Crosby - The hype surrounding Crosby going into his rookie year was unbelievable. In only his second season he has been able to answer all of his critics. Crosby is leading the league in the most important category, Scoring with 87 and also leads the league in Assists with 62. Crosby is on track to lead the NHL for a long time to come.

3 - Alexander Ovechkin - Ovechkin is very similar to Crosby, only Ovechkin is more of a pure scorer. He is 4th in the league in total scoring and is 2nd in the league in goals. He is only in his second year in the league and has the talent to be one of the dominating players for years to come.

4 - Joe Thornton - Thornton is one of the overall leaders in the game. Thornton is always looking to set up his teammates with the right pass at the right time. He is second in the league to only Crosby in assists and is tied for 6th in the league in total scoring. In 113 games with the Sharks he has recorded 162 points (that is an average 1.43ppg).

5 - Dominik Hasek - Hasek, like Brodeur, has been one of the best goalies in the league for a long time now. Since the 92-93 season Hasek has not had a save percentage less than 90%. That statistic is the definition of consistency. This season Hasek is second in Goals Against Avg. with a 2.08 avg, second in Shutouts with 6, and is third in the league in Wins with 30. Hasek has Detroit in second place in the Western Conference only 1 point behind Nashville. If Brodeur was not having the an unbelievable season, Hasek would be one of the favorites to win Goalie of the Year.

It is important to get a couple of goalies on this list because the goalie has the most important job on the ice. If the goalie is on his game he can single-handily keep his team in any game.

Tomorrow will conclude the Best of the Best installments with the baseball edition.