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Phil Berger
Phil Berger
Born	December 3, 1966 (age 57); 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.^[1]

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.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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	^[5]
AHCA West Second-Team All-American	1987–88	^[1]
All-WCHA Second team	1988–89	^[5]
WCHA All-Tournament Team	1989	^[6]
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

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