Sergei Berezin

Sergei Berezin Jewgenjewitsch (Russian: Сергей Евгеньевич Березин; born November 5, 1971 in Woskressensk, Russian SFSR ) is a former Russian ice hockey player.

Career

Beresins professional career began with his hometown club Chimik Woskressensk near Moscow. In 1990, he came into the Hockey League of the former Soviet Union to his first stakes. The left winger, who always wore the shirt number 94 in his career, it fell on mainly by its extremely fair play, which he paired with strong technical skills and an accurate shot. In 1991 he was nominated for the World Youth Championship in the Soviet team. He played three more years at Woskressensk where he could improve his game and increase his stats continuously. Thus, the Cologne Sharks were aware of him, which he undertook for the first DEL season 1994/95. There, he surprised all critics, scored in 43 games 57 points scorer and rose to the absolute crowd favorite.

In the National Hockey League his talent was not initially discovered only at the NHL Entry Draft 1994, he was pulled from the Toronto Maple Leafs at 256th place. Since the Leafs the right-handed shooters did not want to commit immediately, he opted for a second year in Cologne. He increased the yield points of his first Germany -year, scored 80 points scorer - including 49 goals - in 45 games and was elected to the All- Star team. 1996/97 he made his debut then in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He made ​​it to 25 goals and 16 assists in 73 games, which is a very significant value for a rookie. Consequently, he was in 1997 appointed to the NHL All- Rookie Team in the NHL. By 2001, Berezin always played the entire season with the Leafs, where he also was one of the most popular players with the fans thanks to his fair play and his demeanor off the ice.

For the 2001/02 season he was traded to Phoenix, but where he could not establish himself in the first team. Even during the season, he was released to the Montreal Canadiens, where he played the remaining games. In the following season, he was first transferred to the Chicago Blackhawks and then to the Washington Capitals twice, which meant that he no longer felt comfortable in the NHL. His stats clearly showed that he could not get used to the ever-changing circumstances of new clubs. He left the NHL and returned to Russia. There he played in 2003/ 04 for the HK CSKA Moscow in the Russian Super League. During the 2004/ 05 DEL season, there were rumors Berezin would again return to the Cologne Sharks, which was not however the case. In fact, he ended his active career in 2004 and retired from hockey.

Internationally

Berezin played in his career at four World Championships for Russia - 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1998, He also represented his country at the Olympic Games in 1994 in Lillehammer and the World Cup of Hockey in 1996, but he won no titles or medals.. . So the German championship title remained with Cologne 1995 his only major success.

Awards and achievements

Statistics

• NHL: 554 games, 173 goals, 143 templates, 60 penalty minutes
• Super League: 165 games, 57 goals, 23 templates, 58 penalty minutes
• DEL: 88 Games, 87 Goals, 50 Assists, 16 penalty minutes
• National team: 36 games, 23 goals, 11 assists, 12 penalty minutes