LetsGoDU

Berkhoel Leads Team In ECHL Playoffs
Picks Up League MVP Honors Along The Way

From: NHL.com
by Brian Compton

It sounds crazy, but an equipment manager’s promotion to the American Hockey League may very well be the main reason why the Dayton Bombers are in the American Conference Finals.
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Because it was Pete Bureaux -- who was the Bombers’ equipment manager for nearly a decade before landing a job with Rochester last summer -- who made a phone call to Dayton head coach Don MacAdam prior to the start of last season.

“Hey listen … there’s a lot of goalies here,” Bureaux told MacAdam.

One of those netminders happened to be DU alumnus Adam Berkhoel. MacAdam immediately phoned Buffalo Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier and convinced the latter to send Berkhoel to Dayton, where he would be penciled in as the team’s No. 1 goaltender.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Berkhoel, who was the ECHL’s Most Valuable Player this season, made 59 saves Tuesday night as the Bombers took Game 1 of the league semifinals with a thrilling 4-3, triple-overtime victory over the Florida Everblades at Germain Arena. The game ended when Bombers defenseman Brad Farynuk lit the lamp at the 1:23 mark of the sixth period.

“It was a late night,” said Berkhoel, who has three shutouts, a 2.15 GAA and a .930 save percentage in 11 playoff contests. “That was the longest game I’ve ever played. We just hung in there. We didn’t think it would take that long.”

Afterward, exhaustion favored celebration as the Bombers had just completed the ninth-longest game in ECHL playoff history at 101:23. The record belongs to the Louisiana Ice Gators and the Greenville Grrrowl, who needed 121:24 before Martin Masa won it for the latter.

“After the game, we didn’t have much left,” Berkhoel said. “We were just trying to get hydrated and get out of there so we could get some food in our bodies. The mindset around the room (Wednesday) was everyone was in a good mood and we’re really happy that we pulled that one out. We’ve got a lot of confidence.”

As they should, considering the minor miracle they pulled off after trailing 3-1 to the Cincinnati Cyclones in the best-of-seven North Division Finals. But Dayton coasted to a 6-2 win in Game 5 before Berkhoel blanked the Cyclones in Game 6. He stopped 38 of 41 shots in Game 7 as the Bombers advanced with a 5-3 victory.

They entered Game 2 of their series with the Everblades at Germain Arena last night just three wins away from a trip to the Kelly Cup Finals.

“It was through a lot of hard work, a lot of determination and a lot of focus,” MacAdam said of their remarkable comeback against the Cyclones. “Cincinnati won the season series against us. It was close all year. We just felt that game after game we hadn’t played our best game yet and we just kept striving for more. I think we might have had a little more depth. It was just a really good series.”

The plan now is to use what transpired last series as a reminder that no series is over until the final horn blows. The Bombers realize the Everblades are still very much alive and could be just one mistake away from seeing the tides turn in Florida’s favor.

“Teams can come back on anything,” Berkhoel said. “Coming back from that, it was just a huge character builder. We’d like to not get in that situation again. It took a lot out of us. We know any team’s capable of coming back. The key is to not give them life. We learned a lot from that and we’ll definitely carry that over into this series.”

That’s why MacAdam had to order Berkhoel to stay off the ice on Wednesday, literally hours after finishing the longest and most stressful game of his life. But winning means everything to the goaltender who finished with 23 victories for the Bombers during the regular season.

“If we had allowed Berkhoel to practice, he would have,” MacAdam said. “He is a perfectionist. His preparation is a huge part of his overall game. We’ve practiced days only because Adam wanted to practice. It hasn’t hurt us, by the way. He’s a workhorse … an absolute workhorse.”

One who deserves to be rewarded with a heck of a lot more time than the six games he appeared in this season for Rochester. While he’s trying not to think about it, Berkhoel understands what a playoff run such as the one he’s currently on can do for his career.

“The team comes first, but you definitely have to worry about yourself,” Berkhoel said. “(But) you can’t control that. The best thing for me right now is just to keep winning and for our team to keep winning. Whatever happens happens, and it will take care of itself. Hopefully, something good will come about this. Maybe I’ll get another chance next year with someone if we go the distance here. We’ll see where it takes us.”

MacAdam is pretty certain that he won’t have his No. 1 goaltender next season.

“Any organization would be improved by having him,” MacAdam said. “He’s an American Hockey League goaltender and he knows how the business works. He knows his opportunity is going to come, and he’s going to be prepared when it does.”