Ryan Berard Gone???

[datch]

midlandpucks said:

eric8199...

no disrespect intended...but i take issue with you suggesting last year's team somehow lacked work ethic.

really?

who didn't work hard who is right now?

tom pyatt? patrick mcneill? cody bass? tyler haskins? mitch maunu? are you serious....you're basically calling these players out and acting like last year was a country club. they had NINETY-PLUS points!!!! i'm not trying to blast you, but this whole "work ethic" thing does such a disservice to last year's club.

give me examples, name names, and name games where you didn't see maximum effort. if anything, the "slugs" and "lazy" players are in some cases, still very much on this team. so overnight - now they're working class dogs? i'm not buying the "hard work" spin. at the end of the day, most teams are working as hard as each other...but talent more often than not wins games. i take issue with anyone who thinks the soo outworked saginaw. they had much better goaltending, our star centre broke his leg in game 3, and a few of their players stepped up, like godfrey and had exceptional series. i'm not saying you are, but people need to stop shaming last year's team for what it didn't accomplish as opposed to what it did.

I really enjoyed watching the Spirit last year, but it seems clear to me thus far into the season that this team seems to have more heart then last years team. Last years team had a great amount of talent, but it was clear as day that they gave up on some games. You need specific examples? How about 9/27/06 5-1 loss to Plymouth, 11-22-06 6-3 loss to SSM, 1/28/07 5-9 loss to Windsor and the list goes on. I guess if you don’t take those and other games as facts of them giving up then maybe you should “do your own research and follow up.” Facts are what is important, rumors are for the birds.

edit:
*under advisement by donjohnson to stay in topic... Bad Berard!!!

[donjohnson]

well said GensFan!!!!

Back to the original topic...I know what Berard did and if the Spirit don't get a thing back for him it's a good loss. While it may not seem as big of a deal as the incident last season, I personally believe it's worse as far as team sports, and leadership go (note: i DO NOT want or intend to disrespect the victim of the incident last year by that comment). Berard was the overwhelming choice on this fan board to be the Captain and leader of this team because of his hard work and he completely showed that he cannot function as a leader in team sports due to what he and others did.

What really irks me is that someone can come on here and say they know what he did and defend him while attacking the General Manager. What has the GM done besides field a hard-working team that has had 2 very entertaining games when all we heard was that this was going to be a terrible year?

If these players are so unhappy with the Spirit in general, get the heck out...we don't need you. This team has shown me in 2 short games that they are willing to work hard when it counts...if you're not willing to sign on for something like that, hit the road. I personally see a team that is willing to work hard for themselves, their teammates, their coaches and their fans...Berard wasn't willing to do that and he's gone, plain and simple.

Finally, the blog article was correct in one thing...it was not even Edwards who punished him...it was the coach.

[eric8199]

I agree with the above post. I remember going to Plymouth last season and destroying Plymouth on their ice, only to return home and play the same team during the same week, and play like we had one hand and one foot tied behind our backs. It was ridiculous.

Again, I agree, we had A LOT of talent last season. I really enjoyed having those guys here, they were fun to watch. They were the reason I was a season ticket holder.

However, sometimes talent ISN'T the most important thing...sometimes its hard work. Sometimes it isn't about the guy who can hit a 2inch square target on every shot, it's the guy who crashes the net and gets the dirty goal.

I very much respect last year's team. However (although there have only been two games) I have not seen the current team sit down and give up for more than ONE SHIFT yet. Will that change? Maybe, but I like how much drive these guys have. I think last year we knew how much talent we had and everyone (including Mr. Mancini) expected to win. When we didn't, no one was prepared to deal with it (which is why Mancini is no longer here). This year no one expects us to do it. We're the underdogs. That might suit us. It looks like it will make these kids work harder.

[donjohnson]

what are some of you talking about...this thread is about Ryan Berard, not last year's team. Start your own thread if you want to discuss something else or PM each other.

[spiritfan8]

(Quote--datch)"edit:
*under advisement by donjohnson to stay in topic... Bad Berard!!!(quote)

LOL!!!!!!! Great post. datch!!

Sorry dj--since I have absolutely no idea what is going on w/ Berard and the others, I'll sign off this post!! My apologies.......!!

[eric8199]

Will we ever hear any actual details regarding this incident? I'm being careful what I ask because I know the last thread was deleted and i don't want to get into trouble. :-P I guess it doesn't really matter what was done, just curiousity makes me want to know.

[midlandpucks]

Call me out if you want, Mr. Admin - or if you feel like banning me go ahead. Opinions are like you-know-whats. Sue me. I don't think Edwards is going to work out. But I'm judging him professionally, I've never spoken to him personally.

Mancini was far from perfect, but if I'm the only one not buying into the "hard work every night" and "way more physical" spins from the TOP, I can live with that. Some of you have bought in. Great. It doesn't make you any more a fan than me. I pay to get in. I buy the beers. I buy the hot dogs. But I'm skeptical. According to our moderator, fans should blindly cheer and pull like crazy otherwise we'll lose the team. He's probably never been to a Lions game, where skepticism is a way of life. I thought they could win the OHL title last year and look where my positivity got me!

But no one named names of guys who didn't work their tails off last year. Very telling. I feel awful a kid like Ryan Berard was lied to about getting a trade before the season started and his Saginaw career ended like this. He has to be accountable for his actions, but it's real unfortunate. Hard to argue it couldn't have been avoided.


This team's not going to work any more or less hard than last year's. But they won't do nearly as well because they're far less talented.

That's my story, I'll stick to it. And GensFan, you and your smugness can laugh at me because I'll have been wrong. Since you called me out, and I did nothing to you personally, have it your way. Be a bully. Dump the thread. Ban me. Whatever floats your boat, big boy.

[midlandpucks]

Datch,

Love the 3 games of examples where they showed no heart. That made my day. Well thought-out. I'm sure there'll be none of those the next 66 games....LOL.

[SaginawGensFan]

midlandpucks said:

He's probably never been to a Lions game, where skepticism is a way of life. I thought they could win the OHL title last year and look where my positivity got me!

You are right - I have never been to a Lions game (whatever that has to do with the Saginaw Spirit. But your positivity may be misconstrued as stupidity, because I think you are the only one who thought the Lions would win the OHL title last year.

[spiritfan8]

(quote)"How about 9/27/06 5-1 loss to Plymouth, 11-22-06 6-3 loss to SSM, 1/28/07 5-9 loss to Windsor and the list goes on." (quote)

You know, some nights the other team is just better. Ask the Wings, Tigers, Pistons, or Lions.
On second thought, skip the Lions..................

[SaginawGensFan]

midlandpucks said:

Call me out if you want, Mr. Admin - or if you feel like banning me go ahead. Opinions are like you-know-whats. Sue me. I don't think Edwards is going to work out. But I'm judging him professionally, I've never spoken to him personally.

Mancini was far from perfect, but if I'm the only one not buying into the "hard work every night" and "way more physical" spins from the TOP, I can live with that. Some of you have bought in. Great. It doesn't make you any more a fan than me. I pay to get in. I buy the beers. I buy the hot dogs. But I'm skeptical. According to our moderator, fans should blindly cheer and pull like crazy otherwise we'll lose the team. He's probably never been to a Lions game, where skepticism is a way of life. I thought they could win the OHL title last year and look where my positivity got me!

But no one named names of guys who didn't work their tails off last year. Very telling. I feel awful a kid like Ryan Berard was lied to about getting a trade before the season started and his Saginaw career ended like this. He has to be accountable for his actions, but it's real unfortunate. Hard to argue it couldn't have been avoided.


This team's not going to work any more or less hard than last year's. But they won't do nearly as well because they're far less talented.

That's my story, I'll stick to it. And GensFan, you and your smugness can laugh at me because I'll have been wrong. Since you called me out, and I did nothing to you personally, have it your way. Be a bully. Dump the thread. Ban me. Whatever floats your boat, big boy.

Hmm... I didn't "call you out" - I just was wondering why every post is a 'rip on Edwards' post. That was all.

What gets me is all this talk of Berard being lied to by Spirit management - THAT is what I mean by RUMORS! Can you prove this? Or are you just going to say that Berard told you that? Well I could say then that Berard told me that his favorite color is purple, doesn't mean it's true.

[datch]

midlandpucks said:

Datch,

Love the 3 games of examples where they showed no heart. That made my day. Well thought-out. I'm sure there'll be none of those the next 66 games....LOL.

I could have listed a lot more. How many does it take show a valid opposite opinion beyond your own? You haven't stated any facts or validations behind your thoughts. You speak of rumors and might have beens without validating any claims. I went to the games and saw the effort. I have no idea if you were at those games and what you saw, but that is my opinion of how they played. We were talking about heart and work ethic. The rest of this season is yet to be seen but those were prime examples from last year where the spirit could have done better. It doesn’t mean they would have won those games, because sometimes just the other team does better, again I was talking about the work ethic in those games. I’m sorry I’m not going to name names from last year’s team. If you want to go that far, again… “do your own research and follow up.” If the spirit start not giving 100% this season I'll have no problem pointing that out as well.


I don't know what happened with Berard, but he played with a great work ethic. It's a shame that this incident happened. I would have liked to see him play one more year with the spirit.

[midlandpucks]

And I'll admit I'm wrong if they give this amazing fantastic wonderful hustling effort for 68 games. Why is their finish in the 3rd period more significant to some of you than the flat and uninspired first 15 minutes against the Soo? Or the lousy start against Sarnia?

Just amazing how a few of you will swallow whatever Spirit management wants to feed you. Someone PLEASE ask Craig Goslin if Ryan Berard asked for a trade in the summer...let me know what he says.

[eric8199]

First of all, I'm basing my opinion on what I saw on Wednesday and Saturday nights. I see a team that has Sarnia pulling their hair out because they got beat by us.

I don't have the time to go back and look at all the scoresheets last season, but how many games did we have to come back from being down at least 1-0? I know there were MANY, especially during that rough period in I believe November/December that saw us fall from first in our division, possibly as low as fourth at one point if I remember correctly. I just remember thinking "there goes that playoff chance."

Monday night was more first night nerves in the first period. Saturday they played well early, just gave up the first goal.

And finally, how much BS did Mancini feed us last year? I sat in the blue-line club. I listened to him talk to Brady on Joe FM. He fed us just as much bull about not giving up etc etc. I got tired of hearing him say one thing, and not seeing the same thing on the ice. So far this year that hasn't been the case...albiet it's only been two games.

[kivpit]

Stop your petty bickering! (all of you!)