CO-OWNER, AGENT
Derek Bekar, a native of Burnaby, B.C., Canada, is an agent and co-owner of Higher Hockey. A 1995 draft pick of the St. Louis Blues, his 18-year career in professional hockey took off during his time with the University of New Hampshire from 1995-1998. The following season,the forward inked his first professional contract with the Blues, making his NHL debut with St. Louis during the 1999-00 season. Between 2001-2004, he also appeared in games for the Los Angeles Kings and New York Islanders.
The 2004-05 lockout forced Bekar to start his season overseas, where he spent just three games with the Dundee Stars of the BNL. Although he spent the majority of that season with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons, he quickly returned to Europe from 2005-2010 and experienced life in the NLA, NLB, DEL, EBEL, and Slovenia. Bekar made a brief return to the AHL during he 2008-09 season with Springfield before heading back to Europe for the third and final tour of his playing career. He finished out the 2008-09 season by joining the Lausanne HC of the NLB and retired at the age of 34.
Bekar teamed up with Jason Krog, who played with him at UNH, in 2014 to form Higher Hockey Management. He believes their combined experiences overseas works to the advantage of their clients.
“Our experiences abroad with both local and imported players helped us learn where the best and worst places to play are. Plus, a large group of our former teammates are now in management or coaching positions with various European teams, so we have connections that other agencies simply do not,” says Bekar. “Teams want our players to be happy as we have many quality players now that they try to recruit from us. Teams do not want to jeopardize the relationship with us in any way, which ultimately turns out to in the player’s favor.”
Bekar currently resides in New Hampshire with his wife and four sons.
