This is the biography for Jeff Lewis, a young player eager to leave a mark on the hockey world. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada - his parents were a construction worker and secretary. From a young age his dad had little mini sticks for him to play with and they would often play together in the house when Jeff first learned how to walk. Not long after he found his way by foot, his dad would bring him out to the local outdoor ice rink and start getting him used to skates.
By two, he was able to skate and skate well and spent a lot of time on the weekends with his dad playing out in the cold. He was then enrolled in the Canskate program that teaches people to skate and he would continue to develop his skating before he could join an organized league.
The family would then move out to Mississauga and Jeff was enrolled in Timbits hockey at around five years of age. He quickly excelled due to his early skating lessons and was often the best player on the ice skating around the other players with ease. His dad was a huge fan of Wendel Clark of the Toronto Maple Leafs, loved his style of play where he could score some nice goals and drop the gloves when he needed to but his dad didn't want to see him fighting and would rather he do his talking with his goal scoring so focused on helping him improve those skills.
It didn't take long for Jeff to be picked up by select groups and play with stronger players and as the years progressed he was playing in advanced leagues often touring the province and heading to the US to face other groups in various friendship tournaments. Jeff was often among the top scorers of these tournaments and would win several ESSO medals given annually to minor league hockey players.
They would spend several years in the Mississauga area until they would move out to a tiny town near Guelph which is where Jeff would attend high school. There was no high school hockey team for his school so he never got to experience that but instead was still playing in rep leagues in Guelph often traveling to Kitchener and Waterloo for tournaments and training. These were some his more formative years as he finally started to grow into his body and really take charge on the ice. It was also unfortunately where he almost took a step back, often getting into fights on the ice and spending too much time in the penalty box and also getting suspended on a couple of occasions.
After reigning this in, the focus was back on his play and putting the puck in the back of the net. As he started to mature he started training harder at the school gym and started going on more tournaments. Spending time in places like Pittsburgh and Minnesota he started to draw more interest in his play. By this time he was a very strong scoring threat but still a little rough around the edges. His skating had long been a strong suit for him and he continued to make strides in this area but was really working on his shot and puck handling.
As part of this interest in him he received an invite to play for an under 16 group representing Canada in a tournament over in Europe. He was playing teams from all the top European countries in the hockey world and it was a fantastic challenge and one he passed with flying colours. While Canada did not win this tournament, Jeff led the tournament in scoring, leading all forwards in goals, and was fifth in points. This tournament opened many doors for Jeff as more invites began to pour in.
What really solidified his development was a tournament in Canada of under 16 years old players where the European countries came and he really shone during the tournament placing well ahead in the goals scored leaders leading Canada to a tournament victory.
Jeff continues to train to this day and has his eyes set on the VHL. It's a hard league to break into considering it's the best in the world but he believes in himself and believes he can ultimately help a team down the road. Currently working on his skating with world renown Barb Underhill, he also receives high level training in some of the Canadian programs put on by Hockey Canada. He is just entering his sixteenth year of life and is already mature for his age and puts a strong focus on training and trying to be the best player he can be. He is disciplined and hopes one day his dream of the VHL will come true. For now, he hopes to hear from a VHLM team and continue his learning under a fantastic team with structure.
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