Daniel Briere
Daniel Briere was born in Gatineau, Quebec, and was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft in the first round, twenty-fourth overall. His training technique became newsworthy in 2001 when it became known that he had begun off-season strength training with Canadian World's Strongest Man competitor Hugo Girard. After moderate success on the Coyotes, including one 60-point season in 2001-2002, Briere was moved to the Buffalo Sabres in the 2002-2003 season where he would only play 14 games. Briere scored his first hat trick on December 5th, 2006, against the Tampa Bay Lightning's goaltender Marc Denis. His second hat trick came shortly after, on January 30th, 2007, in front of his home crowd at HSBC Arena. Briere was selected to his first all-star game and started in the 2007 NHL All-Star Game in Dallas with Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, where he was awarded the game's Most Valuable Player Award after recording a game-high five points (one goal, four assists). At the World Championships, Daniel Briere won gold medals with Canada in 2003 and 2004. He also won a gold medal at the 1997 World Junior Championships. Briere was recently signed by the Philadelphia Flyers during the July 2007 free agency frenzy. He'll be a valued addition to that team. Briere is another one of those smaller players, like Martin St. Louis, that finds a way to work through his size and come up with big numbers. Briere has of late been more effective than St. Louis in that department and arguably plays a more complete game. He is the sharpest offensive talent on the Sabres, which is saying a lot because of the Sabres' incredible offensive talents. Briere is also one of the best kept secrets in the league, maintaining a high level of leadership and skating to deliver the goods every night for his team.
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