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A Tale of Newfoundland; The Greatest Roster of All Time
#1

The S60 Newfoundland Berserkers wrapped up a historically dominant season, tallying 56 wins, 7 losses and 3 losses in overtime for a total of 115 points. Ask any hockey analyst and they'll tell you the same thing, the Newfoundland Berserkers as they stand right now are just flat out the best team the SMJHL has ever seen. The skeptics will argue that their season was a "flash in a pan" or even go so far as to chalking it up to just dumb luck, but anyone who's taken a glimpse at the roster can see the true level of budding talent that this minors team has to offer.

"Flash in the pan" teams are sort of the name of the game in a league where the primary goal of teams is to develop their players in a competitive environment only to have them shipped off to the majors to perform in their honour, so it begs the question: how will the Newfoundland Berserkers perform next season with a handful of notable players heading up to their respective major teams? Are the dynamic GM duo of Juke and Ham really all that and a bag of chips or was their iconic drafting ability only a product of sheer luck? Are players only updating because they feel compelled to impress that really cool guy named chicago in the discord locker room, essentially rendering him indirectly responsible for all the Newfoundland Berserkers success? All this will be answered in the following article.

When breaking down the success of a monumental team it makes sense to begin with the star player, top scorer, Robert Black. Somehow the Berserkers managed to snag this absolute rocket of a player at the top of the third round in the S58 SMJHL Entry Draft, and boy has he been performing for them since. This past season, Black ran up an astounding 71 points in 66 games for the Berserkers, topping the points charts in an already abundantly talented roster. Upon getting drafted by the Berserkers in S58, he spent his rookie season improving upon his draft stock which led the Manhattan Rage to select him at an admirable 19th overall. It'll be interesting to see whether or not Black has any more SMJHL juice left in his system, or if he will be making the jump to the pro level to begin his journey of SHL greatness.

Next, we will be taking a look at the two premier goalscorers for Newfoundland, Evil All-Bran and Leon Athanasios. Both reached a jaw-dropping 30 goals last season (Evil All-Bran snagged 31 goals compared to Leon's 30, although Leon hit 60 points while All-Bran hit 54) and the two star wingers both without a doubt left their mark on Newfoundland history. Where the NHL has their Draisaitl/Hyman star scoring combo (copium), the SMJHL has their All-Bran/Athanasios scoring combo. While it's left to be decided if Athanasios will be making the heavy jump up to be the next Ovechkin in the SHL (or maybe it has been decided I have no idea I did not check) it can be rest assured that All-Bran will be returning to rack up some heavy amounts of statistics in another season of Newfoundland Berserker domination.

The staple of the left wing, Jesse Trudeau, racked up a total of 66 points this past season and making a name for himself as a strong, power playmaker on the wing. He came in second for total point scoring and you will be hard strapped to find anyone who disagrees that his heavy, throw the body presence on the roster contributed heavily towards the the Berserker's success. A continuing theme is occurring, in that Jesse Trudeau was drafted by the Newfoundland Berserkers at a surprisingly late 38th overall. This only serves to beg the question: what are they doing in the draft that is working so well that the other teams just have not figured out yet? Comparative to a prime Jamie Benn, many will tell you that Jesse Trudeau has been an iconic roster player for the Newfoundland Berserkers for the past few seasons. Will he be getting called up next season? I have no idea. The answer is probably out there but for the sake of writing an ambiguous article the Berserkers fans will have to wait and see to find out if the star left-winger will be going up to the SHL next season.

To begin with the conversation of defensemen, who better to start out with than Aleksandrs Balcers, the hard hitting defenseman who managed to tally a staggering 60 points. Truly serving as the the league's best quarterbacking defenseman, Balcers made a point to provide steady, secure defense while setting up the offenders to skate up the ice and score off the back of plays he made, and it is shown in his 46 assists. Balcers was picked up by Newfoundland at first overall, and boy has he proved to all the doubters that Newfoundland did not make anything but the right decision with his selection. Somehow he ended up slipping to 27th overall in the S59 SHL draft, getting selected by the Minnesota Monarchs, but nothing about his style of play has been considered worrysome by many SHL analysts, and many of the scouts were stumped as to how this budding defensive star slipped so far. Either way, should he be getting called up next season his legacy left in Newfoundland will be a tough one to top, and his future in the SHL has never been brighter.

Shion Okamoto, the defensive stud that Newfoundland relied on proved to be just that: a defensive stud. With a +46 rating, it's easy to say that when Shion was on the ice the opposition just couldn't score! Some may disregard his success as "Well, put anyone on a team that stacked and anyone could put up crazy numbers like that!" but anyone who's sat down and watched Okamoto play hockey will tell you that the guy is just a straight up workhorse, never giving up pressure on the puck and keeping the oppositions goal opportunities at a minimum. Even with a heavy defensive presence Shion managed to secure a total of 53 points on the season, which for any defensive minded player as hugely impressive. Shion was another of Newfoundland's enormous draft steals, picking him up at 50th overall in the S57 SMJHL Draft, and he's been a staple of the blueline ever since. Shion ended up left off the board in the S58 draft, but he did end up going to Chicago for the S59 draft. In what is likely his final season as a Berserker, Shion Okamoto will go on to the SHL to make teams offensive attacks a living nightmare and be a sturdy blueliner for Chicago.

Lastly, it's time to talk about the Newfoundland Berserker's all-star starting goaltender, Evgeni Petrov. With an absolute mind-boggling record of 38-4-2, Petrov has had an absolute career season that will be near impossible to top for any goalie. Bundled with his impressive win record, he also managed a steady 0.914 save percentage and a 1.95 goals against average. This guy was quite simply the backbone of the team in every way, as when he was on the ice you just knew he was playing in the zone and wasn't going to let anything by him. Every team in the league needs to kneel down and pray that he gets called up next season, because you don't want to face a Newfoundland Berserkers team, let alone one that has Evgeni Petrov in net.

So, after discussing the absolute top of a roster that already is stacked with talent, even outside players on this list, how does one rationalize how a team of such caliber came to be? The simple answer is, rookie development. While certainly not the only thing and only a big part of an otherwise one of a kind prospect development plan, it's hard to imagine where these rookies would be without the Newfoundland coaching staff. Just look at how late some of these picks have gone in their respective drafts! While it's also a testament to how impressive the drafting procedure is within the Berserkers organization, it cannot be understated how important a strong, rookie friendly environment is within a team. Newfoundland Berserkers are just the team that has that all figured out.

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artermis,Feb 2 2017, 04:11 PM Wrote:9gag pretty lit tho
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#2

Are players only updating because they feel compelled to impress that really cool guy named chicago in the discord locker room, essentially rendering him indirectly responsible for all the Newfoundland Berserkers success?”

No
Good article though



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#3

Influencer

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Germany Berserkers Stampede Stars Barracuda syndicate
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#4

wew bless

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#5

Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers Berserkers

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