Bryan Berard

Bryan Wallace Berard ( born March 5, 1977 in Woonsocket, Rhode Iceland ) is a retired American professional ice hockey defender, who during his active career, among other things, with the New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets played in the National Hockey League.

Career

Bryan Berard was selected by the Ottawa Senators as so-called "first overall pick ," that is the first of the draft in the NHL Entry Draft in 1995. He played one more year in the Ontario Hockey League with the Detroit Junior Red Wings. In time, the Ottawa Senators transferred the rights to Berard to the New York Islanders.

In the 1996/97 season the defender completed his first season for the Islanders in the National Hockey League. He convinced with his performance and was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy for the best Neuprofi. In 1998 he was a member of the U.S. team at the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano.

During the season 1998/99 he moved to the Toronto Maple Leafs. On March 11, 2000, then came to a serious incident in the game against the Ottawa Senators. Bryan Berard got in the rush of a game of the stick of Marián Hossa eye. Heavy bleeding and had to be admitted to the hospital, where they made ​​the diagnosis that he might lose his right eye. Despite everything Berard should have explained to his friends in the hospital that he would still play hockey professionally again. Overall, Bryan Berard underwent in the following twelve months, seven surgeries, so he reached with the help of a special contact lens prescribed by the NHL minimum of vision to be able to play again Hockey.

In April 2001, Berard has been recognized as a sport and handicapped him the insurance premium in the amount of 6.5 million dollars was paid. But Berard did not want to accept this. He paid back the 6.5 million and started training. The Maple Leafs had taken care of in time a lot about him. But Bryan Berard had no contract and thus the free choice to which team he would go. He decided against the Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers, as he wanted to get away from the incident and would have been very in the championship candidates under pressure. Berard signed a sample contract in New York and convinced. The comeback in the NHL was so perfect. The fact that he had only a limited field of view, he had to get used to his style and turned to. Now he was previously known for his puck control, so he tried not particularly long to keep the puck, but to play quickly to a team mate. Even the offensive he had to accept restrictions. So he sometimes could not see in time, which then led to the puck loss onrushing defender. On January 12, 2002 Berard scored his first goal after his serious injury.

The following year he played for the Boston Bruins and the 2003/04 season he spent with the Chicago Blackhawks. He was able to improve from year to year. In Boston he reached 38 points in 80 games, while in Chicago in 58 games managed 47 points a year later. In the summer of 2004, he was awarded on the basis of his successful comeback in the NHL Awards, the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which the player gets, the perseverance, dedication and fairness shows in and for the sport of ice hockey.

After the lockout and the failure of the NHL season 2004/ 05 Berard played the following season with the Columbus Blue Jackets, where he made negative headlines. In early 2006 it was announced that he tested positive for anabolic steroids. The NHL did without a lock because it was not a test, she had commissioned. However, Berard has been banned for a period of two years for international matches by the International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF.

He has also been repeatedly plagued in the season of back problems that eventually forced him to a long-term break in January 2006. After a back surgery in October 2006 and the following period of rehabilitation, he was able to celebrate his comeback in the Blue Jackets after one year on 31 January 2007. Due to excessive benefits but he was placed on the waiver list in late February, but no team signed him. Shortly after, he suffered a back injury and had to re- finish the season prematurely.

The Columbus Blue Jackets extended his contract in the summer of 2007, and even after almost three months, he was not a new team. The New York Islanders finally invited him to the end of August into the training camp, and he received on 9 October, shortly after the start of the season, a one- year contract. He graduated in the 2007/ 08 season, 54 games for the Islanders, in which he scored five goals and prepared 17 goals. His contract was not renewed after the end of the season and he received a sample contract with the Philadelphia Flyers. In November 2008, Berard was awarded a contract for Vityaz Chekhov of the Kontinental Hockey League, where he spent the 2008/09 season.

Awards and achievements

Career Stats

Internationally

Represented the U.S. at:

• U20 Junior World Cup in 1995
• U20 World Junior Championships 1996
• World Cup 1997
• 1998 Winter Olympics

( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )