Phantoms captain Berkle commits

Special to The Vindicator

YOUNGSTOWN

With a member of the Youngstown Phantoms’ past preparing to play hockey for Northeastern University, a key part of the team’s future also has decided to join the Huskies’ cause.

Forward Adam Berkle, already named next season’s team captain by Phantoms coach Curtis Carr, will join former Phantoms defenseman Luke Eibler at Northeastern’s Boston campus in the fall of 2011.

Eibler, who played for the Phantoms in the 2009-10 season, will report to school for the upcoming semester in August.

“[Northeastern has] been talking to me for a couple of years now and I always felt like that was where I wanted to go,” Berkle said. “I kind of had my mind made up to go to Northeastern before [Eibler] committed, but it’ll be nice to have someone I know there.”

Berkle, a 6-foot-4 winger from the Philadelphia suburb of Collegeville, Pa., proved to be one of Youngstown’s most reliable offensive contributors in his rookie USHL season.

One of only three Phantoms to play in all 60 regular season games, Berkle tied for the team lead in goals with 17 and placed fifth overall on the squad with 26 points.

“The guys from Northeastern said they liked my aggressiveness, my scoring ability and my size,” Berkle said. “[Having the commitment] definitely makes it easier to just go out and play in my last [USHL] season.”

Other Phantoms will college commitments are Tom Serratore (University of Minnesota), Scott Mayfield (University of Denver), Dave Donnellan (Western Michigan University), Cody Strang (University of Wisconsin), Jefferson Dahl (University of Wisconsin), Stuart Higgins (University of Maine), Brett Gensler (Bentley University), Taylor Holstrom (Mercyhurst College) and Andrej Sustr (University of Nebraska-Omaha).