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Phil Berger (ice hockey)

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American ice hockey player Ice hockey player
Phil Berger
Born (1966-12-03) December 3, 1966 (age 58)
Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Right wing
Shot Right
Played for Northern Michigan
Fort Wayne Komets
Greensboro Monarchs
Halifax Citadels
Muskegon Fury
Cornwall Aces
Detroit Falcons
Schalker Sharks
Charlotte Checkers
El Paso Buzzards
San Antonio Dragons
Raleigh IceCaps
Hampton Roads Admirals
Greensboro Generals
NHL draft 1988 NHL Supplemental Draft
Quebec Nordiques
Playing career 1985–2000

Philip Berger (born December 3, 1966) is an American former professional ice hockey right wing and coach who was an All-American for Northern Michigan and a member of the ECHL Hall of Fame.

Career

Berger began playing for the Northern Michigan Wildcats in 1985 but found it difficult to get into games. In his first two seasons, Berger played in only about half of NMU's contests but did show some improvement as a sophomore. In his junior season, Berger finally played most of the games and his scoring production skyrocketed. He nearly quadrupled his career scoring totals and finished in the top 10 in the nation. He was named an All-American and scored almost a quarter of Northern Michigan's goals for the season. Unfortunately, the wildcats weren't very good and knocked out in the conference quarterfinals. Berger's late blooming caused the Quebec Nordiques to take a flyer on him with the 3rd selection in the 1988 Supplemental Draft.

Though Berger's offensive numbers dipped in his senior season, he was again top-10 in the country and led the Wildcats to a renaissance. The Wildcats finished second in the WCHA and won their first WCHA Championship. Northern Michigan returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 8 years but were knocked out of the first round 1–2.

The following season, Berger began his professional career in the IHL but soon found himself demoted to the ECHL. He soon grew accustomed to the league and led the Greensboro Monarchs in scoring despite missing 14 games. He led the team on a run through the playoffs with 11 goals, 6 more than the next highest Monarch, and captured the Riley Cup as league champions. Berger got a brief promotion to the AHL the following year but spent the bulk of the year back in Greensboro. His scoring dropped for the regular season but his playoff performance was even more impressive, finishing 3rd overall despite Greensboro losing the championship.

In 1992, Berger Put together a spectacular season, averaging a goal per game as he played the entire year in Greensboro and led the league in scoring. He was named the ECHL MVP and led the Monarchs to the East Conference Championship. He was a force in the postseason again, leading his team in goals, assists and points, but Greensboro fell in the conference finals. He finished out the year with the Fort Wayne Komets, adding 6 points in 4 IHL postseason games. The massive amount of scoring he had done in 1992 led Berger receiving a promotion to the IHL in 1993 but, despite producing 7 points in 8 games, he eventually found himself back with the Monarchs. Even though he missed almost a third of the team's games he still finished second in scoring for Greensboro.

Berger had another monster season in 1994, leading the ECHL in scoring even with a brief callup to the AHL. The next season he split between Greenboro, Detroit and Schalker but a knee injury limited his effectiveness during the season. He returned in force for the postseason, again pacing the Monarchs as they marched to the Finals. In 1996, Berger briefly halted his playing career to take over as the head coach for the West Palm Beach Barracudas. He did so in part to give his knee a chance to recover and because the Barracudas' regular head coach, Bill Nyrop, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He surrendered the reigns midseason and returned to the ECHL, however, because the Monarchs franchise had been promoted to the AHL, Berger joined the Charlotte Checkers. He played well at the end of the regular season but, as was his want, he turned up his scoring in the playoffs. He led all players with 10 goals and 27 points, helping the Checkers run through the postseason without a loss and capture the Riley Trophy.

The following year, Berger ended up playing for five different teams in three different leagues, ending up on the El Paso Buzzards. He won the inaugural WPHL championship, again as a major contributor in the playoffs, and retired after the season. Berger returned two years later when the ECHL returned to Greensboro in the form of the Generals. He lasted just 5 scoreless games before retiring for good as the league's all-time leading scorer in the postseason. He was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame in 2011.

Statistics

Regular season and playoffs

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1982–83 Paddock Pool Saints GLJHL 45 29 44 73 52 — — — — —
1983–84 Stratford Cullitons MWJHL 38 55 55 110 101 — — — — —
1984–85 Stratford Cullitons MWJHL 37 43 52 95 102 — — — — —
1985–86 Northern Michigan WCHA 21 5 2 7 20 — — — — —
1986–87 Northern Michigan WCHA 24 11 10 21 6 — — — — —
1987–88 Northern Michigan WCHA 38 40 32 72 22 — — — — —
1988–89 Northern Michigan WCHA 44 30 33 63 24 — — — — —
1989–90 Fort Wayne Komets IHL 3 2 2 4 2 — — — — —
1989–90 Greensboro Monarchs ECHL 46 38 44 82 119 10 11 3 14 32
1990–91 Halifax Citadels AHL 4 1 0 1 0 — — — — —
1990–91 Greensboro Monarchs ECHL 44 22 34 56 112 13 11 11 22 17
1991–92 Greensboro Monarchs ECHL 60 60 70 130 158 11 8 13 21 56
1991–92 Fort Wayne Komets IHL — — — — — 4 3 3 6 0
1992–93 Muskegon Fury CoHL 4 4 7 11 2 — — — — —
1992–93 Fort Wayne Komets IHL 8 2 5 7 14 — — — — —
1992–93 Greensboro Monarchs ECHL 45 33 42 75 135 1 1 1 2 26
1993–94 Cornwall Aces AHL 2 2 1 3 0 — — — — —
1993–94 Greensboro Monarchs ECHL 68 56 83 139 118 8 3 5 8 12
1994–95 Detroit Falcons CoHL 15 11 15 26 29 — — — — —
1994–95 Schalker Haie 87 Germany2 2 0 1 1 2 — — — — —
1994–95 Greensboro Monarchs ECHL 40 23 27 50 114 17 6 17 23 46
1995–96 Charlotte Checkers ECHL 23 10 14 24 80 16 10 17 27 32
1996–97 San Antonio Dragons IHL 4 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
1996–97 Charlotte Checkers ECHL 12 5 13 18 24 — — — — —
1996–97 Raleigh IceCaps ECHL 20 3 19 22 20 — — — — —
1996–97 Hampton Roads Admirals ECHL 2 1 2 3 2 — — — — —
1996–97 El Paso Buzzards WPHL 4 4 5 9 6 9 8 7 15 18
1999–00 Greensboro Generals ECHL 5 0 0 0 10 — — — — —
ECHL totals 365 251 348 599 892 76 50 67 117 221
CoHL totals 19 15 22 37 31 — — — — —
IHL totals 15 4 7 11 16 4 3 3 6 0

Awards and honors

Award Year
All-WCHA First Team 1987–88
AHCA West Second-Team All-American 1987–88
All-WCHA Second team 1988–89
WCHA All-Tournament Team 1989
ECHL Riley Cup 1990
ECHL Second Team All-Star 1991–92
ECHL First Team All-Star 1993–94
ECHL Riley Cup 1996
WPHL President's Cup 1997

References

  1. ^ "Men's Ice Hockey Award Winners" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  2. "Northern Michigan Wildcats Men's Ice Hockey Record Book" (PDF). Northern Michigan Wildcats. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  3. "BERGER TRADES SKATES FOR SUITS". Greensboro News & Record. November 9, 1995. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  4. "Phil Berger". ECHL. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  5. ^ "WCHA All-Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  6. "WCHA Tourney History". WCHA. Archived from the original on 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-06-26.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded byStan Drulia ECHL Most Valuable Player
1991–92 		Succeeded byTrevor Jobe
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