FLORIDA EVERBLADES BERG RETIRES

If you have ever spent any time around the Southwest Florida area and have been to a hockey game at Germain Arena to watch the Florida Everblades, you know the name Reggie Berg. Reggie Berg hung up his skates today, announcing his retirement.

As an off-ice official for the ECHL, the premier AA professional hockey league, I had the pleasure of watching Reggie play over a seven year span. The Everblades all-time leading scorer and captain was one of the most unselfish hockey players that I have ever seen play the game. Often playing hurt, he still managed to be a factor on the ice, scoring critical goals when the team needed them the most. As irony would have it, his last career game was in this year’s first round playoffs away from home in Texas against the Texas Wildcatters. In that fourth game loss, playing with a sports hernia which had aggravated him all season long, Reggie scored the Everblades first goal of the game.

Today Reggie said, “I’ll always miss the game, and I don’t think that will ever go away, but I think now is probably the right time to step away,” Berg said. “I’ve given it all I had for a long time now and I just think it’s the right thing to do, to step back and maybe let the organization go in a different direction, and it’s time for me to put my family first.”

“I’ve known Craig (Brush, Everblades General Manager) since I was 16 years old and he’s always treated me like gold,” Berg said. “I’ve always had a lot of respect for him and a lot of gratitude for what he’s done for me and my family in terms of allowing me to play out my career with one team; when you look at minor league sports that’s pretty rare.”

“What I’m most proud of is just the fact that I think I gave a great effort every night I was out there, played through some injuries until I couldn’t any longer, and another thing is that as long as I was there I kept my nose clean away from the rink. Of course I would have liked to have won a championship, and we had a couple of good runs, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Reggie certainly will miss the game, but the Everblades fans will miss him even more!