Elias Sobeck Bio [1/2]

[Boragina 89]

EARLY LIFE

 

If you had asked his parents, Elias Sobeck would never be a hockey player. Born into an extremely intellectual family, Sobeck was supposed to be groomed into a scientist just like his parents. He spent much of his early years being force fed a steady diet of math and science, which he eagerly devoured. His desire to learn was borderline obsessive and that was perfectly fine so long as that desire stayed on the intellectual side of things. This desire shifted extremely quickly one day whilst at a relatives house over the holidays.

 

Taking some rare time off, Sobeck and his family traveled to visit family in Minnesota. A young Elias spent most of this trip with his head buried in the various scientific papers that he had brought along with him. His uncle was flipping through the channels when he happened to flip over a hockey game - the hometown Minnesota Wild facing off against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Upon hearing a cry coming from the TV, Sobeck looked up to see what had disturbed the quiet in the house. There was some pushing and shoving in front of the Minnesota net, nothing more than a slight scrum over a covered puck. It was a nothing play to a hockey fan, but it had grabbed the full attention of Sobeck. For the first time ever, he ignored his readings and moved in front of the TV completely enamoured with the game of hockey. This was the moment that his desire to learn quickly shifted to hockey.

 

Upon returning home, Sobeck quickly replaced all of the time he would normally spend reading and learning the sciences to soaking in everything hockey. He was watching YouTube clips, reading about great historical moments in the game and watching as many games as he possibly could. He focused mainly on Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby clips as they were dubbed some of the smartest players to ever player the game. He particularly focused on their plays without the puck, as that really showcased how well they thought the game.

 

It wasn’t long before he was begging his parents to play. Though scared that playing such a violent sport would hurt their son and concussions would ruin his chances at becoming a prominent voice in the scientific community, his parents knew there was no stopping his obsession and enrolled him in the local house league. He practiced and played at every single oppurtunity and soon quickly became a star in the low level of hockey. He continued to work on his skills every winking moment and soon became the star player for Carson High.

 

HIGH SCHOOL - CARSON HIGH SCHOOL

 

Sobeck received many offers to play for a variety of schools but he elected to stay at home and attend his local high school. Out of loyalty to the friends that he had made throughout his house league career, he stayed and played for Carson High. He put up points at an extremely rapid pace and his dedication to the sport was second to none on the team. He was named captain of varsity team mid way through his freshman season, which is the first time ever that a freshman had received the honor.

 

He remained the captain throughout all four years of playing, while leading the team in goals, assists and points in all four seasons, rewriting almost every single records for hockey for the school. He won multiple awards for hockey from the state as well, and that's when the offers started to pour in from all the elite hockey schools in the country. Instead of attending one of these colleges and continuing his development, Sobeck thought that he was ready and able to make an impact at the NHL level. His point totals and awards from his years in high school would surely grab the attention of some NHL team, so at just 18 years old, he declared himself available to the NHL draft.

 

NHL DRAFT

 

Sobeck waited patiently, his eyes darting back and forth between his phone sitting on the desk beside his keyboard and the feed that was showing the draft on his monitor. Round one came and went, which was fine for Sobeck. Being a first round pick would have been nice, but there was no way he was scouted more than some of these top prospects playing overseas in other various pro leagues, the CHL or at the collegiate level. The next day was spent frantically hitting the refresh key on the site tracking the second through seventh round selections. His name never appeared on the chart, and his phone never buzzed. He had been passed over 210 times. His dream of playing in the NHL was slowly fading, so Sobeck quickly started calling teams asking teams to even come out as a walk on during the summer camps. After garnering little to no interest from the NHL clubs, Sobeck started wondering if he had wasted his life becoming a hockey player and if he should have studied science as his parents had intended. And that’s when his phone rang.

 

VHL Career - Oslo Storm and the VHL Draft.

 

The general manager for the Oslo Storm @Fire Hakstol barely had the words ‘contract offer’ out of his mouth before Sobeck was already agreeing to the deal. He realized that he would have to wait a year before he could try again for the NHL draft and needed somewhere to play this in-between season. Things started out slow for Sobeck in the VHLM, but he eventuall found his rythm and ended up having a decent season for the Storm. Sobeck scored 13 goals and added 32 helpers for a total of 45 points, but did end the season with a -8 rating. His vision really came into effect during the powerplay, where Sobeck would finish with 16 assists, half his assist total. After finishing the season first overall in the VHLM, it was playoff time for the Storm. Despite the regular season success, the Storm struggled in the first round against the Yukon Rush, but managed to win the series in 7 games. Playing the second best team in the league in the Ottawa Lynx, it was expected to be quite the series for the Founders Cup. Instead, the Storm would sweep the series and Sobeck would become a champion. He had a strong playoff performance with no goals, but 8 assists in 11 games played and a much better +4 rating. 

 

Sobeck warming up during the playoffs.

 

 With the completion of the season, Sobeck was now faced with a difficult decision. Declare himself again for the NHL draft or elect to declare for the VHL draft instead. Considering he had still not created a ton of interest amongts the NHL ranks, Sobeck ultimately decided to declare for the VHL. Sobeck was drafted 6th overall by the Davos Dynamo, which is far better than he would have fared had he stayed his original course to try again for the NHL. Still needing a bit of training before he is completely ready for the tough rigors of the pro game, Sobeck was assigned back to the VHLM to continue his development. He and the Oslo Storm will look to repeat as Founder Cup champions.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2017 by Boragina
Formatting

[HellBillyXIII 61]

REVIEW

Nice rags to riches story, congrats on #6 overall! Well put together bio, made for an interesting read.