Former Orchard Lake captain Cooper Anstett pursuing music career; EP cracks iTunes Top 20 in first day

By Josh Paulisin –

Most sports fans are familiar with the clichés that athletes love to recite during interviews.

“We’re taking it one game at a time.”

“It was a great team effort.”

“You have to give credit to [insert team], they’re a great team.”

Another word that players like to sprinkle into a conversation is “adversity.”

“We overcame a lot of adversity” is the standard quote athletes say when they go through a tough situation and come up on top.

However, not many people have faced the type of adversity that struck Cooper Anstett.

Anstett was a fixture in the lineup at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s as he made the varsity hockey team during his freshman year in 2009-2010. After completing his junior year, Anstett, a native of Bloomfield Hills, moved to Maine to play junior hockey.

While in Maine during the summer of 2012, Anstett, who was 17 years old at the time, went to a tryout that would change his career path forever.

“I was just standing on the ice and I don’t know what tripped me, but I fell and shattered my ankle,” Anstett said. “I had to have surgery and was out for the entire summer and pretty much the entire school year.”

Anstett’s broken ankle needed to be repaired with a titanium plate and it forced him to take time away from the game he loved.

Unfortunately, a devastating injury wasn’t the only instance where adversity hit Anstett. Back home, his mother had been diagnosed with cancer. As a result, Anstett moved back to Bloomfield Hills at the beginning of his senior year to be closer to his family.

Enduring one difficult situation is a challenge in and of itself, but two of them at the same time can take an overwhelming toll on someone both mentally and emotionally.

Instead of allowing the sky to fall around him, Anstett turned to another passion in his life – music.

Music had always been one of Anstett’s hobbies growing up. He enjoyed the likes of Jack Johnson, Van Morrison and Cat Stevens. He even started writing his own songs as a freshman in high school and began performing during his sophomore year.

Without hockey occupying his free time during his recovery, Anstett used his love for music to keep his spirits up. Soon, music became much more than just a hobby for Anstett.

“During that time I was hurt, I was able to create two acoustic demo CDs,” Anstett said. “Those are the ones that ultimately got me noticed (by record labels) down in Nashville.”

Anstett was able to fully recover from his injury and finish his senior year at St. Mary’s, but the wheels were already in motion for an alternative career path that differed from hockey.

A music career.

During the summer of 2013 before he joined the hockey team at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., Anstett was selected to be the opening act for Donovan Frankenreiter at a concert in Oceancity, Md.

“He (Frankenreiter) is one of my favorite artists,” Anstett said. “To be able to play in front of 2,000 people at an ocean-side venue was unbelievable. It gave me so much more fire to keep working toward my goals.”

After one season of college hockey at St. Olaf College, Anstett chose to focus solely on his blossoming music career. He scored a deal with Digitally Sound Records, a record label part of Straight 8 Entertainment that noticed Anstett’s demo CDs. The deal allowed Anstett to create his first professionally developed EP, a collection of songs more than a single but less than a full-length album, this past summer.

That EP – titled “For a Reason” – was released last week on Sept. 30 and has been a resounding success as it took less than 24 hours to soar up the charts.

“The guy over at the record label emailed me saying it was No. 16 in the Singer/Songwriter genre on iTunes,” Anstett said the day after his EP was released. “I was totally shocked. I really didn’t expect that.”

With the help of professional hockey players such as Steven Oleksy (Washington Capitals), Jeff Petry (Edmonton Oilers) and Dan Milan (Tampa Bay Lightning), Anstett’s musical talent is making waves throughout the hockey community.

“It feels great to get guys like that at the highest level in the hockey community to promote my music,” Anstett said. “It feels like they’re kind of confirming that I’m doing the right thing and that I’m going to be successful.”

Despite just releasing “For a Reason,” Anstett is continuously working toward his goal of completing a full-length album next year. He also plans on booking a national tour in the near future as well.

Anstett, 20, now attends the University of Michigan, majoring in Science in Information. By returning home, he is closer to his mother, who is doing well despite bouts of cancer.

Even though he encountered extremely painful and tough times that tested his mettle along the way, Anstett believes everything happens ‘for a reason.’

“At the time of the injury and my mom’s illness, it was tough to think everything happens for a reason. I was pretty negative then, but you just have to keep your head up and look on the bright side. Everything really does happen for a reason. If something prevents you from following your dreams, it may lead you on a completely different path and a path that you’re going to love.”

Check out “For a Reason” on iTunes by clicking here.