Zizing ‘Em Up: Utah native Lewis is excited to play with the Kings against the new franchise

NHL.com contributor Mike Zeisberger has been covering the NHL regularly since 1999. Every Monday, he will tap into his extensive network of hockey contacts for his weekly notes column, “Zizing ‘Em Up.”

TORONTO – Trevor Lewis admits it will be “surreal”.

This Saturday, the Los Angeles Kings forward will look at his opponents and realize how big this moment will be.

The 37-year-old is from Salt Lake City and is the only Utah-born player in the NHL.

He’ll soon face his hometown team in a regular-season game for the first time when the Utah Hockey Club visits the Kings at Crypto.com Arena (4 p.m. ET: Utah16, BSW, SN).

It will be one of those pinch-me-so-I-know-this-is-real experiences in life, he admitted.

“It definitely will be,” Lewis told NHL.com in a one-on-one interview. “You know, just looking and seeing UTAH on the front of their sweaters, it’s honestly something I never thought would happen when I was a kid playing hockey there.”

When Lewis was a boy in Salt Lake City, arenas were hard to find. That also applied to the players.

“There weren’t a lot of rinks when I was growing up,” he said. “It was hard to find ice age.”

And also children to play with.

“We had about 10 or 12 people we traveled around with,” he recalled. “We often played in different tournaments, for example in Dallas and California, all the way to Wyoming, and the other teams were always more advanced than us. So we had a lot of work ahead of us.

“Still, it was good for our development to play against these guys. They would get a lot of ice time. It was fun. And you were out there with kids you’d known your whole life, so it was cool.”

Then the 2002 Winter Olympics took place in Salt Lake City. Everything has changed.

“I was fortunate enough to attend some of those hockey games at the Olympics,” he said. “It really pushed me.

“After that, there were suddenly more ice rinks. And now, when I come back in the summer, you see more and more players who are in their junior and college years. It’s really cool. There are even gyms there where hockey players can train.”

Lewis was 14 when he watched the Olympic hockey competition, where Canada won the gold medal for the first time in 50 years. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Colorado Springs, where he could develop better and play against more and better competition. He calls it the best thing he’s ever done.

“A year before, a couple of my best friends were there before me to play at Pike’s Peak and they ended up really enjoying it,” he said. “It really helped me on my path to the NHL.”

Lewis was selected by Los Angeles in the first round (No. 17) of the 2006 NHL Draft and went on to play 980 NHL games for the Kings, Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets. He has 227 points (99 goals, 128 assists) and won the Stanley Cup twice with Los Angeles (2012, 2014).

He briefly had the chance to play for the Utah Grizzlies (ECHL) during the 2012-13 season, when he scored nine points (three goals, six assists) in six games.

These days, he says, kids don’t have to leave Utah to play and develop. How things have changed.

“I go back every summer,” he said. “Now you go to the gym and there are 30 kids playing hockey. There are all kinds of hockey players coming up through the minor hockey system.

“It’s so cool to see compared to what happened when I was growing up and only had two or three kids. And with the NHL team there, it’s only going to get better.

“It’s definitely grown a lot.”

All of those thoughts, he said, will run through his mind when he sees the UTAH jersey in front of him.

“Just cool,” he said, smiling broadly. “Very cool.”