Three Adrian College student-athletes from the Bulldogs’ American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division I women’s program and Head Coach Brett Berger have been selected to represent the U.S. National University Team for the World University Games.
Berger played high school hockey in New Jersey at Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield, where he became the school’s all-time leader in point-scoring and assists. In his first year with the team, Berger was named the Star-Ledger Rookie of the Year. He served as the team captain during his junior and senior years, helping lead the Bulldogs to their first-ever conference championship by winning the Kelly Cup. He also claimed all-conference honors.
USA Hockey recently announced the complete ACHA roster for the Games that are taking place Jan. 28 – Feb. 6 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The 21-player team heading to the Games was picked from an initial roster of 28 following an evaluation camp, held in Woodridge, Ill., and Wentzville, Mo., from Dec. 28-30.
The U.S. National University team will be coached by Shelley Looney, a 1998 Olympic gold medalist. Her assistant coaches include Scott Hicks (Miami University of Ohio) and Berger, who has piloted the Bulldogs to a current No. 2
ACHA national ranking and 15-2 overall record through the Ohio State series–sweeping the Buckeyes in two games by the same 6-0 score in Berger’s last games before heading off to Kazakhstan.
Top 10 schools in the Nation ranked behind Berger’s Adrian College Bulldogs include Michigan State, Minnesota, Colorado, UMass, Rhode Island and Michigan.
Following a Wednesday, Jan. 25 departure, Team USA opens up play in Group B against Russia, the tournament’s defending gold medal winners, at 1:30 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday, Jan. 28. The following game comes against Japan on Tuesday, Jan. 31, at 9 a.m. Eastern time. Games beyond that are to be determined. LiveSport will stream the tournament and will include a webcast schedule.
The Universiade – an international multi-sport event which is organized for university athletes – is held under the auspices of the International University Sports Federation (FISU). Students of all levels graduating the year before the Universiade and who are between the ages of 17 and 28 can take part in the competitions.
Kazakhstan has been participating in the Universiade since 1993. More than 700 participants have attended, with 125 medals having been won so far.
On Nov. 29, 2011, FISU announced that Almaty was going to be the city hosting the 28th Winter Universiade in 2017. Kazakhstan is the first among CIS
(Commonwealth of Independent States) countries to host the Winter Universiade.
More than 2,000 athletes from more than 55 countries are expected to take part in the Winter Universiade competitions in Almaty. Approximately 3000 volunteers will be involved, including foreigners and representatives of regions. In addition, over 30,000 guests and tourists are expected to attend the festivities.
It is estimated that the number of TV viewers will reach 1 billion, with broadcasting being available in 80 countries. In addition to ice hockey, the sports that will be played at the World Games include Biathlon,Alpine,skiing,Curling,Speedskating,Nordic combined,Cross-country Skijumping,Snowboarding,Figureskating,Freestyleskiing and Short track.
With the 2016-17 campaign, Brett Berger is in his third full-season at the helm of the Bulldogs American Collegiate Hockey Association Women’s Division 1 squad.
Berger took over the program in the middle of the 2013-14 season and promptly guided the team to its first ACHA tournament appearance and runner-up finish in the Central Collegiate Women’s Hockey Association (CCWHA) Championship. Berger’s record with the program is 56-23-12 for a .681 winning percentage. Last season, the Bulldogs reached new heights by winding up in the ACHA Semifinals where they lost a hard-fought 2-1 contest to Grand Valley State. Other highlights included a 1-0 upset of top-ranked Miami-Ohio on Oct. 18, 2016. Berger has also served as the ACHA Men’s Division 3 Gold head coach at Adrian, winning the school’s first national championship in any sport in 2012. Berger spent time as a men’s assistant coach at Neumann University for the NCAA Division 3 program between his stints at Adrian College.