Nikolas Koberstein has decided it is time to turn the page and look to other opportunities outside of hockey.
That is what the 23-year-old Barrhead native told the Barrhead Leader during a brief break in between running drills at Pro North Hockey summer development camp on Aug. 20.
For the last four years, the 6’2” defenceman has been playing for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks on scholarship while he pursued a degree in business administration.
In 2014, Koberstein was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the fifth round, 124th overall.
After graduating and the Nanooks season ended, Koberstein played for the Kansas City Mavericks in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). The Mavericks are affiliated with the Calgary Flames.
“I signed back with them and I was going to go to [training] camp but I decided to retire from hockey and do some farming,” he said.
Koberstein’s parents Brian and Monica operate Koberstein Family Farm, a mixed-operation which primarily focuses on raising cattle, but grows feed for themselves and other producers.
In the future, Koberstein plans to go back to school to become a veterinarian or a chartered public accountant.
And although he has put his goal of becoming a professional hockey player to rest, Koberstein isn’t hanging up his skates for good.
“I’m going to try to help out in the community wherever I can, whether it is here at a hockey school, or with other teams and young kids that is what I’m going to do.”
Koberstein started his hockey career when he was very young, learning to skate when he was three years old with the help of his parents and uncle. By the time, he was five he was taking power skating lessons from his aunt, Christine Driessen, the owner and lead instructor of Pro North Hockey.
He then played for various Barrhead Minor Hockey Association (BMHA) teams until Peewee before playing Bantam in Spruce Grove as there were no ‘AAA’ Bantam teams in Barrhead.
The next year, Koberstein played for three different Midget teams in Spruce Grove, St. Albert and Olds, respectively.
After his midget career, he graduated to the Junior A ranks playing first with the Olds Grizzlys, where he led his team in scoring for defencemen in his rookie season.
In 2011, Koberstein was drafted by the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League. Most hockey experts believe the two best routes to the NHL and a professional hockey career is by either playing in a major junior league, such as the WHL or by going to a university.
In a 2015 Barrhead Leader interview, Koberstein noted his goal playing hockey was a means to an end, that is getting a University degree, so he opted to play for Sioux Falls and Bloomington in United States Hockey League (the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey), where his chances of being noticed by a college and university team were greater.
