John Sleeman Biography Early Life and Playing Career
Early Life John Sleeman born in Guelph, Ontario on April 23 1998. John was born into the Sleeman empire which owns the Sleeman Brewery in Ontario. He is named after his great grandfather who moved to Canada from England in the late 1800s. Though John is recognized today as having many scholastic achievements he once had learning difficulties he had to overcome in order to maintain his grades so he could continue playing hockey. These including hearing and sight difficulties which made he often a disruption in class and he found himself often in detention after school. After several hearing tests and eye sight tests it was determined that Sleeman's hearing issues were something he would grow out of, and the latter was simply him needing glasses. After changes were made to his education he was able to turn his grades around which would allow him to play hockey throughout primary and high school.
John's father James was a big influence for his son's love of the game and taught him how to skate at a very early age. James played defense throughout high school and college. So it was only natural that, that would be John's position of choice. James was a more physical player and although John wanted to emulate his father he has progressed into more of a smooth skating offensive defenseman.
On December 21st 2010 John's father James was driving home from work when his vehicle was struck by a semi that had crossed the center line. James died at the scene of the accident. This was especially hard on John as he would now have to grow up without a father. Fortunately his mother was a strong woman who was able to balance her work and her son's life. Unfortunately this left little time for her own affairs, John has since dedicated his playing career to his mom and dad in hopes of making them proud and giving his mom the life she deserves. John wears the number 5 because his father wore number 5 when he played hockey in college.
High School John attended College Heights Secondary School in Guelph, Ontario. John would maintain a 3.5 GPA while attending College Heights. He played defense for the College Heights Huskies, he still holds the record from most assists and penalty minutes in a season. In his freshman season his coach was impressed with John's skating but found his height and strength left something to be desired especially for a defenseman. Fortunately for John he hit his growth spurt in his sophomore season and was able to fill out his frame. He began to attract scouts from the OHL. The Sarnia Sting were the team that showed the most interest as their blue line had suffered various injuries.
At the age of 17 John signed a try out contract with the Sarnia Sting to play the rest of the 2014-15 Season. He would dress in 20 regular season games with the club recording 3 goals and 15 assists. Sarnia would enter the post season sitting 3rd in the Western Conference. Sarnia would oust Brampton in the first round four games to one. In the second round John Sleeman's sting ran into the Erie Otters and Connor McDavid who swept the Sting. Sleeman would end his post season recording 8 points in 9 games. Sleeman was recognized as Scholastic Player of the Year for the Sting during the 2014-15 Season. He also received valedictorian at College Heights after finish his senior year with a 4 GPA.
On May 23rd 2015 John and four other seniors were arrested outside a Guelph bar after an altercation with five other individuals. The charges were later dropped, but Sleeman's character and maturity were called into question. This may be the sole reason that no NHL teams have shown interest in Sleeman.
VHLM
Fortunately for John Sleeman the Bratislava Watchmen of the VHLM saw some potential in him and signed him to a contract for Season 46. He would put up 64 points in 44 games played. His coach Dean McKenzie said this of John "He's got quick feet and his excellent at getting the puck out of our end with easy whether that be with his skating or his first pass. I can't tell you how many times he's made a pass out of our end that resulted in a break away. If John continues his development I could see him being a number 1 defenseman on any VHL team." John Sleeman was traded to Brampton before the VHLM trade deadline but has yet to fit in with their system. Sleeman projects to go in the 1st round of the Season 47 VHL draft, right now he has the highest practice hours of any player in the draft.
Future
John Sleeman projects to go first overall in the Season 47 VHL Draft in most media outlets mock drafts. Sleeman is described by most scouts to be a smooth skating defenseman who does everything in the game extremely well. One facet of his game that scouts question is his strength and willingness to play the body. "If he truly wants to be the franchise defenseman that he projects to be he'll have to improve in that area." one VHL scout said of John. At this moment the Stockholm Vikings, Cologne Express, Seattle Bears and Quebec City Meute all hold lottery picks but only one will have a shot at drafting Sleeman. Sleeman's agent Frank Chadwick has already stated that he will gladly play for whichever team drafts him. But there have been reports that he's most interested in playing for the Davos Dynamo. Davos has a very good chance of selecting Sleeman as they hold the Cologne Express 1st round pick in Season 47. Cologne also has a history of winning the draft lottery when they don't finish in last place, most recently selecting Thomas O'Malley 1st overall in Season 40. Whoever selects Sleeman will be happy to know that he plans on showing loyalty to whichever team selects him, at least that's what he told reporters of the Hockey News recently.
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