Behind the Bench: Jeff Zehr

This edition of Behind The Bench will focus on second year London GM/Coach and former NHL player Jeff Zehr. Zehr who joined the Lakers prior to last season, has a passion for the game that has been repeatedly acknowledged by his peers and is regarded as one of the most experienced hockey minds league wide.

As someone who played has played over 300 games professionally (Spending time between the NHL, AHL, and ECHL among other professional leagues) he has had exposure to many different leagues in terms of operation and although he had previously not had information about the GMHL Zehr had nothing but good things to say, " I am a proud owner of a great program in the GMHL. I feel that the league is good, and that if we continue to work together and make subtle changes and keep improving the league yearly, the GMHL and other top programs, like 54 Hockey Inc's London Lakers,  will be sought after by players around the world."

The 1978 born Zehr, as Head Coach and GM, is instrumental in the development of these young hockey players and recognizes that role as he revealed his philosophies on hockey and life, " Everyday you need to get something out of Life, everyday you should want to get better, become a better person, become a better athlete, etc. If not and you don't have that within, if you're not discipline, if you don't want to be challenged, if you don't hold yourself accountable, I don't want to help or work with you." He continued by talking about his own personal journey, "I came from almost nothing, and yes I had a god given gift, hockey skills. But I had to work my butt off, I had to sacrifice, I was determined, I was dedicated. I made it. I stumbled a few times along the way, but every time I got knocked down, I came back harder and wanting more." 

Zehr then spoke on what the Lakers organization had to offer as a whole, "We have lots to offer in our program from nutritionist , sports psychologist, assistant coaches, personal trainers, and much more , we as a whole and every year aim to get better. We want to have the BEST Jr program."

This season the Lakers saw a 7 game win increase, seeing them go from 19 a year ago to 26 wins this season and a 5th place finish in the South Division for London, when asked about the improvement from the inaugural season to now Zehr had this to say, " Our recruiting was much better this offseason, our record could have been better, our main goal is playoff success, so we will see here in a few short weeks."

Zehr, as a player, was drafted in the 1st Round (13th Overall) into the OHL by the Windsor Spitfires in 1995 and quickly became a star player over his years with the Spitfires, Erie Otters, and Sarnia Sting averaging over a point per game with 210 and accumulating 578 PIM in 207 Major junior games. As someone who was a consistent producer Zehr recognized the importance of finding a player do the same for his team and he couldn't of found someone better than Regan Yew. Yew the Saskatchewan native led the league in goals with 60 and finished second in points with 117 in 42 games. When asked about the offensive dynamo Yew Zehr gave a gleaming review, " Regan is a Specimen. Bright future ahead for him. He opens up the ice that's for sure. Gives our other 2 scoring lines ice to play too. We are proud of his accomplishments in regular season, and we challenge him to take off now in playoffs. If you know Regan , he'll be up to that challenge. We have good depth going into playoffs, and we gain a couple guys back by the end of first round, start of second round if we advance.  We have a plan in place for our first round opponent, and we will have 2 weeks of prep going into series vs. them. With a week of rest off to re coup and get mentally prepared."

With playoffs so close we asked Zehr his thoughts and expectations for the postseason, " Win 1 game at a time! And grow that Playoff Beard, Day by Day. If the Team follows our Gameplan, We will see March hockey. If We don't, it will be a disappointment."

As We approached the end of our conversation the Lakers GM and Head Coach had one last thing to add, "Congrats to All players and Teams, another successful regular season! May the Best, Team, Win!"