0326avery.jpg

Left: Sean Avery exchanges words with Martin Brodeur during a 2010 Rangers-Devils game. (Photo by Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger); Right: Sean Avery and Karina Smirnoff danced a contemporary routine on the first week of ABCas "Dancing with the Stars."

(Adam Taylor/ABC)

UPDATE: Sean Avery calls Martin Brodeur 'Fatso' in scathing response to 'Dancing with the Stars' comments

NEWARK – Devils goalie Martin Brodeur couldn't help himself and smiled a little when asked Wednesday if he'd heard old nemesis Sean Avery lasted just one week on "Dancing with the Stars."

“I didn't watch - I don't watch those shows – but I was watching NHL Network and they mentioned it,” Brodeur told NJ.com.

And his thoughts?

“What more could he do to embarrass himself?” Brodeur said with a chuckle. “There it is!”

Avery and pro partner Karina Smirnoff were one of two couples that were the first to go in the new season of "Dancing with the Stars" -- long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad and pro Henry Byalikov the other.

Brodeur, the winningest goalie ever, and Avery, a retired goon, have a history, of course – the 2008 playoffs, a first-round series in which Avery’s Rangers eliminated the Devils in five controversial games.

This was the series when Avery infamously repeatedly screened Brodeur in a way no goalie had ever experienced. Standing at the goal crease, Avery would face Brodeur and wave his raised stick back and forth trying to block the goalie's vision, all the while not paying a bit of attention to what was going on behind him.

In Game 3, Avery agitated Brodeur with those tactics during a Rangers 5-on-3 power play. Brodeur threw a jab at Avery in an attempt to stop him, but after the Devils got a clear, Avery ended up scoring a goal to break a 1-1 tie.

The Devils had the last laugh that night, winning 4-3 at Madison Square Garden on an overtime goal by John Madden to cut the Rangers' series lead to 2-games-to-1.

After the game, Brodeur vented, saying, “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."

The very next day, the NHL made Avery's antics illegal, as Colin Campbell, then the NHL’s director of operations, issued a statement that read:

“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.”

The rule became known as the Avery Rule.

The Rangers, who were led that season by Jaromir Jagr, ended up winning the next two games to take out the Devils.

In the clincher, Brodeur thought about getting a payback on Avery.

“We were down 4-1 in Game 5 in the second period and every time Avery came around, I said, ‘The series is over. Be careful. I’m going to go after you.’ He was yapping and yapping. I was thinking, 'What do I have to lose?' The next thing I know, we scored two goals and it became a closer game, so I couldn’t do anything.”

The Devils ended up losing 5-3, an empty-netter in the final minute sealing their fate.

So now that Avery showed that he can't dance, maybe Brodeur someday will.

“Nope,” the future 41-year-old future Hall of Famer said with a laugh. “I don't have that in my gene. No dancing!”

But what if "Dancing with the Stars" comes calling with an invite?

“No. I don't dance … at all. But my kids would love me to do it, just to laugh at me!”