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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