MARCH 28 • 2024 | 63
“CLUB HOCKEY HAS THE RIGHT
BALANCE OF SERIOUSNESS
AND THE FUN OF PLAYING THE
SPORT YOU LOVE. ALSO, MY
TEAM AT INDIANA IS A FAMILY.
THE BEST HOCKEY FAMILY I’VE
EVER BEEN A PART OF.”
— RYAN BERKE
The teams in the national
title game play their fifth
game in five days.
Indiana made it into
the Final Four with a 2-1
record in pool play. The
Hoosiers’ final pool win was
a 7-3 victory March 13 over
Michigan State. Indiana beat
Lindenwood 3-1 on March
14 in the national semifinals.
While he was thrilled to
carry the Radakovich Cup
on the ice at the Centene
Community Ice Center in
Maryland Heights, Mo., just
outside of St. Louis, after
Indiana won the national
title, Berke said he felt better
for his older teammates.
“I was so happy for them
because they lost in dou-
ble-overtime to Iowa in the
national semifinals last year,”
he said. “Like I said, this
team is a family.”
Indiana finished 31-7 this
season.
After winning back-to-
back championships in the
Tri-State Collegiate Hockey
Conference, the Hoosiers
were knocked out in the
first round of the conference
playoffs by Michigan.
Indiana and Miami are
conference rivals. Miami
beat Indiana 2-1 and 5-1
in their two regular-season
conference games. That
made the Hoosiers’ national
championship win over the
RedHawks even sweeter.
Berke first learned about
the Indiana team from his
Detroit-area trainer, Brad
Lutsch, who played for the
Hoosiers.
The team and university
seemed like a good fit for
Berke from the get-go.
“The club team is the
hockey team at Indiana,” he
said. “There isn’t an NCAA
team. And the Kelley School
of Business there is excellent.
I’m thinking about a career
in construction manage-
ment.”
The Indiana team is very
involved with youth hockey
in the Bloomington, Ind.,
area, including running
summer camps.
And it draws good-sized
crowds to its home games at
the historic Frank Southern
Ice Arena in Bloomington.
The arena was built in 1967
but not enclosed until 1988.
It received $300,000 worth of
renovations in 2000.
Some 400-500 fans attend
Indiana home games in the
200-seat arena.
Berke graduated from
North Farmington High
School. His parents are Mark
and Alisa Berke. His sister
Lindsay, 19, is a sophomore
at Michigan State.
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