By George Damos (@KingDamos):
The job is to take a beating, all the while with a smile on your face.
For the last four years, senior Edward Berlin has been the starting goaltender for the Spartans.
“I started off as a kid in high school and I saw some commercials for them [SJSU hockey club] trying to go to nationals,” Berlin said. “I thought it would be pretty awesome, so I did everything I could to get in.”
But Berlin’s love for hockey didn’t start on the ice.
He was actually into roller hockey for the first part of his life, but it’s what Berlin saw on the ice that prompted the change in sports.
“I started off playing roller hockey when I was in the fifth grade,” Berlin said. “I came out here and still had the intent to play, but I was looking for something more.”
He said he wanted to find a team where the players bought into the idea of a club and had a real passion to make it thrive.
One of those people is his mentee, freshman backup goalie Evan Sutherland.
“He helps me with all the things that I need to know and do,” Sutherland said. “It’s my first year and it’s his fourth, so it’s definitely great to have someone like that to introduce you to everything.”
Berlin said Sutherland is a great kid with a lot of enthusiasm for the position and he will be a great goalie once he has a little more time under his belt.
Another person Berlin has built a relationship with is senior defenseman John Rivard.
Rivard feels that Berlin is the is one of the main reasons the team is doing as well as it has been.
“He’s great,” Rivard said. “He’s been playing really well. He’s been keeping us in though games and making sure we have the chance to win.”
Someone else that feels Berlin has really made an impact on is freshman defenseman Ryan Ellis.
“Eddie is a superstar as a goaltender,” Ellis said. “He’s definitely someone I can rely on.”
One of the best moments for Berlin was last year when the team brought home the 2017 Adams Cup.
“We had an up and down season for sure, lost some players and fought through adversity,” Berlin said. “It was really awesome to take the group up to Tahoe and come home with a few wins and take home that Adams Cup.”
Being this is his senior year, Berlin will be leaving SJSU at the end of the season and would love to end it on a high note.
“I want to end the season with the roster that we started with,” Berlin said. “Past that, we would love to go to regionals then go to national.”
To date, Berlin has played 2,508 minutes for the Spartans with a career record of 20 wins, 17 loses and five ties.
This year, he has a save percentage of .900 and has allowed 25 shots to slip past him of the 252 that have come his way.
Stacked against the 39 other goalies that have come through the program, Berlin’s record stands as the 10th best in the clubs history.
His tenure with the team has been marked with ups and downs, but one thing is for sure, it will be a sad day for SJSU when Berlin plays his final minutes.