From young german prospect to the minors the story of Mark Gebauer [1/2]

[Sova 53]

 

 

 

MARK GEBAUER

(Mark during his first team Germany tryout camp)

 

Struggles in his youth

Mark Gebauer was born in Munich to an American father and a German mother. His father was stationed there for the US Airforce and therefore was not so around so much. Marks father introduced him to ice hockey at a young age, since he wanted his son to play a Nothern American sport.

His mother meanwhile was working as a teacher for physics and geography and it for her it was really important that Mark gets an excellent education. Mark never excelled in school., the monotony of sitting in the classroom and having to be at home studying just was too much for him. While he was in class he would be daydreaming about the Ice hockey games his father secretly allowed to watch at night and his mind would wander thinking about his next time at the rink. Most of his days Mark spend stuck behind textbooks until the afternoon when his mom would reluctantly take him to the rink since his father promised to him he can play as much as he wants as long as he practices hard. So Marks youth went by really quickly only studying and playing ice hockey while doing not much else.

(A picture of Mark during one of his many training games, most of his time would be spent like this on the Ice at his local rink)

 

Finding his passion

Marks grade became worse and worse with time while he was focusing more and more on ice hockey. His mother became concerned mark might fail his A levels and lose his chance on higher education and therefore wanted to send him to a boarding school. The Adler Mannheim offered him a spot of one of their youth teams and promised his mother to take care of his education. This offer made his parents agree easily and so he moved to Mannheim.

Mark had a very tight schedule between private lessons to improves his grades and the many training sessions with the youth team. Those training sessions were paying off and he quickly became one of the best players on the team which made him practice more and more in the little bit of free time he had. Mark lost the contact to his parents during this time since they both moved outside of Munich to retire and Marks schedule just did not allow to visit them often.

All the stress that has been building up in mark needed to be expressed somewhere besides on the ice, this made him seek out the Nightlife and he often was out partying even on school nights. His tutors were trying hard to make him pass the exams but his interest in the topics taught at school was marginal at best and so he had a hard time preparing himself for his finals.

In the end, he barely passed the exams and his grades were far below average which would be a problem if he wanted to pursue any higher education in Germany. His mother and father were trying to find a place for him in multiple universities but Mark passed up offer after offer and was just drifting for some time after he graduated focusing completely on hockey and partying. He just was not ready to leave playing ice hockey behind in favour of pursuing higher education.

(Marks team, the Jungadler, after winning the Cup)

 

Committing to his dream

At this time Marks agent was able to get him 2 offers for a small contract in the DEL, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to maybe be able to make his dream of playing ice hockey for a living come true. The DEL is a competitive league but far behind some other regional leagues and Mark knew that he would have to impress wherever he decides to play to be able to gain future contract offers or maybe even get the attention of an American team. It was a hard decision by now Mark has started feeling at home and made great friends on his teams over the year. He has been developing well under the coaching staff in Mannheim but the offer from Munich was just too good and Mannheim was not able to match it. So mark headed back to his hometown.

In his first season in the DEL, he saw very little time on the ice injuries and coaching decisions made his beginning in the pros more than rough. His time at Red Bull was an important experience for Mark since he got to play with former American pros and they taught the new young guy a lot on and off the ice. Mark always dreamed of one day playing in the VHL and he knew that just being an average player in the DEL is not quite cutting it and so he decided to look for opportunities elsewhere.

(His time in Munich was a tumultuous one on and off the ice) 

 

Going over the pond

Quickly the Ottawa Lynx expressed interest in the young German center and offered him a nice contract and ice time to go along with it. The decision was easy and so Mark packed his bags and headed to Ottawa with dreams of one day playing in the VHL. The connection with his parents has loosened over the years and because of moving so often and frequently Mark has been forced to become very independent from a very young age on. This allowed him to settle in quickly in Ottawa while not really missing his hometown of Munich too much. His time in Ottawa has been great so far and he feels just like at home there already and the contract he is on allows him a comfortable lifestyle. The biggest question just is what is lying ahead of him. Will he make it to the majors? Will he stay in Ottawa for a longer period?

 

Looking onward

In marks eyes, the clear goal is the VHL, no doubt about it. In the past, Mark Gebauer has expressed his thoughts on the VHL teams and there are 2 clear favourites.

 

 New York Americans: Mark has said in the past that he would be really happy to be heading to new york, the heart of America. He has expressed interest in his father's culture on many occasions and therefore this would be ideal. On the other hand, the Americans have been struggling in the past season, to say the least, but Mark is willing to be part of a rebuild.

 

 

 Riga Reign: Riga would allow him to be closer to his home but he does not feel too strongly about this but on the ice, they definitely have some very great players Mark would love to play with in the future to be able to learn from them so that he develops the best. In essence winning and learning from the greats while being closer to his home is a huge selling point but one thing to keep in mind is that their roster is pretty stacked and Mark does not want to be a player only coming off the bench for a couple of minutes per game so depending on the coaching staffs evaluation of him and his further performance Riga probably won't be a valid option.

 

No matter what the future holds for Mark he is determined to make an impact with his current team and then move on from there. His dream of one day playing in the VHL seems to be drawing closer and closer as he has been improving at quite the impressive rate and even if he is not able to make it to one of his favourite teams that is sure no big problem for him since just playing in the majors is good enough being in one of those teams would just be the cherry on top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2018 by Sova

[StamkosFan 72]

Review: It was a cool idea for his father to be military and stationed in Germany, gives him North American ties. I wouldn’t really call hockey an American sport though, it’s played all over the world! I can definitely see a player who was a bit nonchalant regarding classes and just wanted to play hockey, pretty realistic storyline. So many guys from Europe talk about the SHL, KHL, or Liiga, so glad to see you picked the league of his country, the DEL. A few grammatical errors but nothing major. Well done!

Edited November 4, 2018 by StamkosFan