Before Brett Berard ever laced up skates, the family kitchen in East Greenwich, Rhode Island was his first rink. As a toddler, alphabet blocks became pucks, the floor his sheet of ice, and a Toronto Maple Leafs mini-net — a gift from his dad on a recruiting trip — was the target. The future New York Rangers forward went block by block, stickhandling the length of the floor and firing each one home, reloading and repeating until hours passed.
“Really right from the time he could walk, he seemed to have a passion for hockey,” recalled his father, longtime college hockey coach David Berard.