Kaidan Mbereko: The Stretch Run with Colorado College
On the back of Kaidan Mbereko’s helmet is a decal of the Kool-Aid Man. An interesting choice considering the Kool-Aid Man breaks through walls, while Mbereko himself is a brick wall.
"It's kind of counterintuitive," Mbereko says. "I'm just trying to stick to being a goalie and not letting anything go bad."
Mbereko won the first game he ever played at Colorado College against Alaska Anchorage. Since then, he’s been the NCHC goaltender of the year, a finalist for national goalie of the year, and a perennial member of the All-Academic team. But at some point this season, he’ll play his last game at Colorado College.
"It's like i blinked and I'm already here," Mbereko says. "It's senior year. It was an incredible journey. Obviously it's not over, but I'm just super grateful for the previous three years and, everything that we've been able to accomplish and, everything we've been able to build here."
Mbereko is as good as anyone at staying in the moment, and not looking too far ahead. It won’t be long before college ends, and soon after, the NHL will come calling.
"As a kid, I dreamed I'd be playing in the NHL. That's... the main goal, but you always want to try and dream as big as possible. Playing mini sticks and winning the Stanley Cup. Yeah, it was kind of just like one of those dreams that you have as a kid and, try and dream big too right now."
And that dream seems closer than ever.
"I think the greatest, biggest example is Noah Laba. Just how how quick his life changed. and he literally could have been here right now. Instead he's in a New York Rangers jersey. So, it's like incredibly inspiring. Just because he's in my class and i got to live with him for the three years when he was here, and see his work ethic, and see how much he cared, and obviously how much he put into the game. And now that he's there, it seems it feels like you can do it too. And it's so attainable. There's so many guys that are drafted now and like, you get to see it all the time. So I'm just super, super grateful to be in this environment and have the guys previously obviously, like Noah, kind of lead the way. And i'm just super excited for the future too.
