Andon Cerbone experienced a lot throughout his United States Hockey League career, but the Stamford, Conn., native will never forget how that part of his hockey journey ended.
The 5-foot-9 center, who played on three teams in his USHL tenure, scored the game-winning goal 24 seconds into the third period of Game 3 of the best-of-five Clark Cup finals against the Fargo Force on May 19, helping the Youngstown Phantoms to a 1-0 series-clinching win. It was the Phantoms’ first Clark Cup in program history.
“That is the best ending that you could ask for,” said Cerbone, who will play Division 1 hockey in the fall at Quinnipiac University. “It doesn’t get better than that. I was really excited about how my time with the USHL ended.”
Cerbone had a knack for scoring in big spots, as it was his third game-winning goal of the playoffs. He also recorded a team-high seven game-winning goals during the regular season to help Youngstown finish second in the Eastern Conference with a 38-19-4-1 record.
“I just remember the puck being on my stick right around the top of the circle and I had a clear lane to the net and fired it in there,” said Cerbone, who finished the regular season with 24 goals and 39 assists for 63 points.
The assists and points were team highs, and the 63 points ranked 13th overall in the league.
Cerbone added five goals and four assists in the Phantoms’ postseason run, including game-winners in overtime in Game 1 in the opening round against Cedar Rapids and Fargo in Game 2 of the Clark Cup finals.
“All of his goals he scored in the playoffs were huge,” Phantoms coach Ryan Ward said. “He just has a knack for big moments, and he came up big down the stretch.”
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Cerbone is a two-time Clark Cup champion, also winning his first year in the league with the Chicago Steel in 2020-21. He played a minor role that season, finishing with two goals and five assists in 30 games.
Cerbone, who also played travel hockey with the Mid Fairfield Rangers, said he should have been playing prep school hockey in 2020-21 with Brunswick, whom he had played for as a freshman and sophomore, but due to the pandemic, there were not many games scheduled. Cerbone contacted Ryan Hardy, then general manager of the Steel, to see if he could come out and play for them, which he agreed to, and Cerbone moved to Chicago in January 2021.
“That sounded like a good deal because that would be more games than I would have played if I stayed home and played for my prep school,” said Cerbone.
Cerbone played the entire 2021-22 season with the Steel, tallying 11 goals and 27 assists for 38 points.
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In July 2022, Cerbone was traded to the Omaha Lancers as part of a transaction where he fulfilled the “future considerations” portion of a deal from February. Cerbone played the first 21 games of the 2022-23 season with Omaha, tallying six goals and eight assists, but was moved to Youngstown before the trade deadline. Cerbone thanked Omaha coach/general manager David Wilkie for moving him, as the Lancers were rebuilding.
“He told me I was better off going to play for Youngstown so he could rebuild his team for the following year, so it all ended up working out,” Cerbone said.
Ward said Youngstown wanted to acquire a veteran center and knew Cerbone could play the style the team wanted.
“From the moment Andon got to Youngstown, it was a perfect fit,” Ward said. “He appreciated the change in scenery and knew that he could flourish in our team’s system. From the get-go, his stability and veteran presence that he provided was something that we needed in a young locker room. Getting Andon was a turning point in our season. It allowed things to fall in place from a lineup and depth standpoint.”
Ward said Cerbone is an “extremely smart player” and his hockey IQ is “off the charts.”
“All the details in his game and the way he sees it is very special,” Ward said. “Obviously, he’s not the biggest kid, but the way he plays with so much passion and energy, and his ability to see things on the ice that other people don’t, is what is going to let him play the game for a long time. He’s an unbelievable kid, super coachable and a great teammate. He’s someone I certainly loved to have around the locker room and someone who I will be connected to forever. I can’t wait to see him have success.”
Cerbone is grateful for his time in the league and thanked all three organizations for everything they did for him, including the coaches he played for and the teammates he played with, who all taught him something different and helped mold him into the player he has become.
“The guys on the team made it so easy for you to walk into the locker room and feel comfortable,” Cerbone said. “The same with the coaching staff.”
Cerbone thinks he has become a more complete player over the past three years.
“During my high school career, I was less well-rounded as a player and was more all offense,” he said. “I knew the other four guys on the ice would pick up the slack in the defensive zone, but I learned very quickly that doesn’t work at the higher level. I learned to round out my game a lot better. Now I feel like I’m more of a complete player. I definitely feel like everything leading up to this past year has helped shape my game and ultimately helped me succeed the way I did.”
Cerbone also said he has become more mature on and off the ice. Cerbone lived with three separate billet families in his USHL career and does not have any complaints with any of them.
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“I was 16 years old when I moved away to go live in Chicago,” he said. “You get put with a billet family that you meet as soon as you walk in the door, and you live with them for the rest of the year, so it forces you to grow up quick, but it’s a good thing because now I feel like I am more independent and can do things by myself.”
Cerbone’s love for hockey began due to his older brother, A.J.. Andon remembers “wanting to do exactly what he did,” skating at age 2 and playing two years up on his older brother’s house team. The Cerbones played together until Andon left Brunswick for the USHL.
Cerbone initially committed to the University of Michigan, but due to coaching staff changes, looked at other places and committed to Quinnipiac, located in Hamden, Conn., which seemed kind of fitting for him because it was close to home after being away for three years.
“Quinnipiac is a great program,” Cerbone said. “I feel like I got along with the coaching staff right away there.”
Playing in the NHL is Cerbone’s ultimate dream. Six Youngstown players were selected in the 2023 NHL draft — Martin Misiak (Chicago Blackhawks), William Whitelaw and Andre Strathmann (Columbus Blue Jackets), Jacob Fowler (Montreal Canadiens), Brandon Svoboda (San Jose Sharks) and Matthew Perkins (Vancouver Canucks) — but Cerbone was not one of them. He admitted he was disappointed when he was not selected and has made him that much hungrier to play well at Quinnipiac.
“I had a pretty successful year, so I was honestly thinking I was going to be drafted at some point,” Cerbone said. “I was a little disappointed when it didn’t happen. Obviously, the dream is to play in the NHL, so not getting drafted adds some fuel to the fire and pushes me to have another successful year.”
“Andon is going to play pro hockey for a long time,” Ward said. “If I know him like I think I do, Andon is going to prove a lot of people wrong in the next few years.”
To prepare for the next level, Cerbone has been working out at Quinnipiac’s gym, having started classes on July 8. While outside of school, he improved his skating with his skills coach, Chris Gragnano from Total Hockey Development.
“He’s awesome at what he does,” Cerbone said of Gragnano. “All the pros, college kids and junior kids in the area skate with him over the summer. He does all sorts of skills with us, basically any skill that you could think of that you could implement into your game he works on it with you.”
Quinnipiac’s season opener is a home game against Boston College on Oct. 7.
