Jeff Downey – The Story of a Tarnished Name [2/2]

[JeffD 648]

Jeff Downey – The Story of a Tarnished Name

 

 

- The Early Years -

 

Early photo of Jeff

 

The early years for Jeff Downey were spent in small town rural Ontario just outside the city of Barrie. He was raised on a family farm which had been in the family for four generations and was looking to continue into a fifth. He was raised as a farmer’s son with no time for sports and any time Jeff brought up interest in playing something, like hockey, his father would quickly change the subject and tell him they didn’t have the time or money to spend on such pointless activities. Jeff was bigger than all of his classmates and often got into fights at school which led to him often being suspended and disciplined at home. His parents were having trouble controlling their son who at the age of 12 was already 6 feet tall and they were desperate to find some way to deal with him.

 

- The Beginnings of a Career -

 

Jeff shared a name with his grandfather, whom he had never met, and he knew very little about. His father didn’t talk about his grandfather very much, if at all, but Jeff knew he had once lived on the farm and had left once his father was born to pursue a career in hockey and had never returned.

 

His grandfather was none other than Jeff Downey, the first ever captain of the still-running Helsinki Titans and maybe the biggest draft bust in VHL history. His grandfather had an excellent junior career and was drafted third overall in the first ever VHL dispersal draft to much fanfare. He would be the first ever captain in franchise history and that is about where the accolades end. Off-ice distractions and run-ins with the law led to his career being cut short after a couple of unproductive seasons. He retired after a short career, moved to somewhere in Southeast Asia, and left his son, the younger Jeff’s father, in the care of his mother and his own parents. He would never return back home. This history is what had soured Jeff’s father on getting his son involved in any sports at a young age for fear that he may follow in his grandfather’s footsteps.

 

- School Hockey -

 

 

Jeff playing with the Barrie North Vikings

 

It wasn’t until Jeff had hit seventh grade that his public school hockey coach, Mr. Inness, who saw his size and aggressive nature as potential positives for a struggling hockey team decided to approach Jeff about joining the team through a school program that aimed to provide less fortunate kids with equipment. Jeff had learned to skate as a kid on the frozen floodwaters around his farm so the sport wasn’t completely new to him. His parents, who felt they had run out of option to calm down their son, reluctantly agreed to let him try out hoping it would curb some of his aggressive tendencies.

 

Jeff, now 13, was a couple of inches taller than any other member of the team and managed to come in and dominate his school district’s league. While it was clear he could use his size and strength to dominate the other kids in the league it was also clear that his understanding of the intricacies of the sport were lacking. It wasn’t long until Coach Inness convinced his parents of his natural talent at the sport and began personally working with Jeff on the fundamentals to improve his chances of making a career out of the sport.

 

Once Jeff hit high school age he decided to attend a school in the nearby city of Barrie as they offered a far better chance to continue his improvement into what he hoped would be a career path going forward. Coach Inness followed suit, accepting a job as the school’s new hockey coach. Over the next couple of seasons Jeff’s skills continued to improve with the help of Coach Inness and he was starting to get noticed by junior hockey scouts. Coming into his draft eligible year scouts could be seen lining the glass for every one of his team’s games. The 6’2, 190 pound 15 year old Jeff Downey was quickly working his way to the top of many draft boards. By this point he was viewed as a smooth skating yet hard hitting defenseman with room to improve on the offensive side of the puck. Although he had only started playing hockey a few years before it was obvious that he had inherited some of his grandfather’s skillset and could develop into a top-end defenseman. He would end up being drafted 10^th overall in the OHL entry draft to the same team that his grandfather played for, his hometown Barrie Colts.

 

- Junior Hockey -

 

Jeff in action in his last season for the Barrie Colts

 

Jeff would come into the Barrie Colts program at 16 years old and while he struggled initially would quickly find his groove in the faster junior game. His smooth skating translated well into the OHL and he was still a lot bigger than a lot of his counterparts. Many expected him to play a defensive style of game but he managed to improve his offensive game tremendously. Once the first season had come to a close he had tallied 7 goals, 45 assists, 52 points and 45 penalty minutes in 59 games. The Barrie Colts were swept in the first round of the playoffs that season.

 

His second season brought further improvement to his offensive game with the coaches focusing on developing him as a power play quarterback and trying to get him to shoot more puck on net. They also tried to harness his aggressive side which had been reigned in for his first year. In 60 games for the Colts in his second season he would put up 13 goals, 40 assists, 53 points and 94 penalty minutes. He led the team with 8 fights on the season as well. The Colts would advance to the third round of the playoffs before being put out by the Oshawa Generals.

 

His third season once again got off to a hot start and he put up 29 points in the first 36 games. However in a January game against the Guelph Storm Jeff was turning in his own end to clear a puck and his skate caught a rut in the ice. He went down to the ice writhing in pain. An MRI the next day revealed that he had torn his MCL and dislocated his kneecap which would sideline him for the rest of the season.

 

In his fourth and final season of junior hockey Jeff re-tweaked his knee in a preseason game and was declared out indefinitely. With the Colts battling for the last playoff spot in the conference Jeff returned with 25 games remaining and managed to put up 9 goals, 20 assists for 29 points. He would lead the Colts into the playoffs where they would end up losing in game seven of the OHL finals to the London Knights.

OHL Career Stats

Season 1 - Barrie Colts - 59GP, 7G, 45A, 52P, 45PIM
Season 2 - Barrie Colts - 60GP, 13G, 40A, 53P, 94PIM
Season 3 - Barrie Colts - 36GP, 8G, 21A, 29P, 32PIM
Season 4 - Barrie Colts - 25GP, 9G, 20A, 29P, 27PIM

- The Future -

 

Jeff, through the years, has learned that his name does come with some baggage associated to it but once he determined that hockey was the sport for him he knew he wanted to play in the VHL. The fact that he shares both a name and history with what may be considered the biggest draft bust in the leagues history only drives him harder to succeed and bring pride back to his family name. Also unlike his grandfather he remains closely connected with his family back home and has no plans of allowing his hockey career to destroy that relationship.

[Beaviss 4,949]

Love how you tied in league history with this 10/10 would read again.

[Big Mac 310]

Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this. Even the way you wrote everything was great. It’s nice to see you take history of the VHLM and put it into a player. I hope sincerely that your player succeeds. You lined everything beautifully and the pictures where nicely place. Grammar was great. You better believe I’m doing it my first 10/10 graphic.

[Datools 7]

Review: Hahahaha I'm not super familiar with the background of this other VHLM player but you've managed to entertain me nonetheless! I love hockey superstition and jinxes and this had a good balance between being mysterious and informative. Love the inclusion of the stats. It's great that you broke down his OHL years individually, it created an easy to follow narrative but I would've love to have a summary paragraph about his time in the OHL that would tie into describing what impacts his time there had on his current game and how they've formed him into the player he is today. Very entertaining!