Editor’s Note: Throughout the 2014-15 NHL season, USA Hockey Magazine will periodically highlight American-born players. In our most recent discussion we talk with Los Angeles Kings center Trevor Lewis.
After being drafted 17th overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the Kings, Trevor Lewis has been a staple in the core of LA’s roster. Lewis won the USHL’s Curt Hammer Award and Dave Tyler Junior Player of the Year in 2006 as a member of the Des Moines Buccaneers before stints in the OHL and AHL. Since then, he has been a consistent skater for LA and clutch in the postseason, where he has hoisted the Stanley Cup twice.
When did you start playing hockey in Utah?
I started skating when I was 2 at a rink across the street from me, and I started playing hockey when I was 5.
Did you play other sports in grade school or middle school, and when did you decide to commit to hockey full time?
Soccer, baseball and football, I played them all. Growing up in Utah at that time there wasn’t much hockey there. To stick with hockey you kind of had to move away. I think it was just before high school when I made the decision to just focus on hockey.
When the Olympic Games were held in Salt Lake City in 2002, did that help inspire you at all in becoming the best you could be in hockey? And what impact do you think that had on hockey and kids in the state.
For sure, people got to see a lot of hockey there. [Now] there’s a lot more rinks being built, when you go back there is a ton of kids playing. So it’s good to see kids playing.
Which one or two players did you idolize or use as role models growing up?
I always like Steve Yzerman growing up. I was a big fan of his and I always tried to play as hard as I could like him.
You spent time playing in the USHL, OHL and AHL. How did playing at each level help mold you into the player that you are today?
Des Moines was my first couple years in Juniors, it was a lot of fun. The second year we won it all, so it was a big experience for me. From there I got drafted and headed up to the Owen Sound for a year in the OHL against some great players. Then I started off in Manchester, which was a good learning experience on how to be a pro.
You also represented the U.S. in the 2007 World Junior Championships. How did it feel representing your country in the sport of hockey at such a young age?
It’s always fun to represent your country and put on the colors. We had a good tournament, we lost to Canada in the shootout, but we still got the bronze medal out of it.
Game 6 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, you had two goals to help the team hoist the Cup. What was that like being on a championship team not just then, but also in 2014?
We’ve had this core group of guys for a while now. There are lifelong memories when you dream about winning the Stanley Cup when you are a kid. Not only to do it once, but twice, it’s unreal. You build lifelong friendships here; it’s been a lot of fun.