Now in the midst of his senior season at Michigan State University, Mitchell Lewandowski’s hockey journey started out on the ponds of Clarkston, Michigan.

“I think I was four, my dad’s side of the family was a big hockey family, so that’s just what I was born into. My dad had me on skates on the ponds, in the backyard, I think my parents still have those skates laying around somewhere, but growing up, I always played hockey, and it led me to here.”

Growing up, Lewandowski played in some of Michigan’s top youth programs.

“Little Caesars wasn’t really a team back then, I was playing a year up back then when I was eight or nine or ten. Then we formed this 1998 Little Caesars team, we were so young and we didn’t even realize it. Then it grew and I was on Little Caesars for, I think, eight years. That was obviously before Honeybaked. In our U14 year, we made the switch over to Honeybaked, and obviously, that team was pretty loaded. The Pastujov’s came in from Florida, Patty came in from California, probably half our team wasn’t even Michigan guys.

Little Caesars, especially, was a dream come true. “Little Caesars was cool. Playing at the Joe Louis was obviously, at that age, the coolest thing I could do, and, obviously, we went to Red Wings games all the time, playoff games were always awesome to go to, but Caesars was great.”

Growing up a Red Wings fan and idolizing players like Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Nicklas Lidstrom, he was able to go to a ton of games. Despite being in the nosebleeds, his favorite games to go to were playoff games and watching his favorite team make a Stanley Cup run in 2007-08. “Those are memories I’ll always have.”

Mitchell Lewandowski’s Honeybaked team has developed a multitude of players that are currently playing professional hockey or playing in the NCAA, including the aforementioned Nick and Michael Pastujov, Max Jones, Patrick Khodorenko, Sean Day, Sasha Chmelevski, Collin Adams, Dylan St. Cyr, Cole Gallant, Ben Gleason, Mitch Eliot, and Jack Kopacka.

“Mitch Eliot was unreal, and still is. Nick (Pastujov) and Patty (Khodorenko) were real dominant back then. It was fun to be a part of, especially looking back now, me and Cole Gallant are really good friends, and my mom and his mom are like best friends, so just watching him at Western Michigan University, we haven’t got to play each other, but it’s just cool to watch your friends.”

Eliot, now a member of the Utica Comets, played with Lewandowski at Honeybaked and with the Spartans for a year and a half before going to the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League.

“We became good friends right away when we were on Honeybaked, we played against each other for a year prior, so we were just buddies right away. We played roller hockey together in the summers, we just hung out in the summertime too. Coming in together, like Patty (Khodorenko) we played together for that chunk of time, a couple years, then we did our own things, then coming back in together at school was cool. My first visit to Michigan State was with our Honeybaked team, just going and looking around the rooms, we went to a game because we had a tournament up there. It was cool because I had a guy coming in like Eliot so it made me more comfortable.”

Rangers forward Patrick Khodorenko was another former teammate of Mitchell Lewandowski growing up. They started together on Honeybaked 14U after he moved to Michigan from California, and played for two years before splitting off for a few years before meeting back up at MSU, Lewandowski to the USHL, and Khodorenko to the USNTDP.

“Patty didn’t commit to State until later, so we didn’t know we were going to go to school together until the very end (of the recruiting process). When he came we just hit it off right away. Cole Gallant was on our like for two years. There was never a moment where it was a question to switch lines, we were on the power-play together, we played five-on-five together, we did everything together. That was two years, then we’re playing against each other, obviously him on USA, so that was weird and different, playing against all the ’98’s that I knew, so it was always weird playing against the NTDP team. When he decided to come to State, I was pumped because I hoped I was going to come in and play with him, so when I came in, DC (Head Coach Danton Cole) was pretty quick to tell me that he was going to try that out. From there, with Taro (Hirose) too, it just all clicked. I think it helped that Patty and Taro had a year to play together, it helped them out, and it all just worked out.”

When Mitchell Lewandowski went off to the USHL, he had a quick two-game stint with the Des Moines Buccaneers before being traded to the Chicago Steel, where he was able to play with John Lethemon.

“When I first got traded to Chicago, we were going to Russia for the 2015 Junior Club World Cup, so I had two weeks to get a passport and go. When I got to the airport, the first person I saw was John Lethemon. I didn’t know who he was, so he brought me in with open arms, he was super nice to me, made me feel really comfortable, we spent the next 24 hours together traveling, so we were good buddies right away, too. He was committed to State, they even called me to tell me that Lethemon was a great guy, and if you had any questions, you can ask him, he’ll have my back. We were both committed, so it was nice to know I’d play college with him a few years down the line. We had a Michigan guy on our team, too, so we’d always go back and forth, it was pretty fun.”

Lewandowski and the current senior class was in an interesting spot, as they were the final class recruited by former Head Coach Tom Anastos, and current Head Coach Danton Cole’s first class to come in with. One of the main aspects highlighted in the coaching switch was the culture change in the room.

“As much as we talked to the previous coaches, when you don’t play for them, you don’t see the other side, you don’t get the whole mojo. Coming in with Coach Cole, I didn’t know anything besides he was the NTDP coach, so listening to what he had to say. He knew Patty and he knew Tommy Miller, I heard good things about him, too, so when we came in, there was a lot of talk about the culture change. The year before we came, (they had) six wins. We knew what we were stepping into and we had a lot of guys that won, so we knew we were going to have a lot of leaders. That was one thing we talked about right away, so the fact we’ve come full circle, we changed the culture in a good way, and it’s only going to get better.”

Coming in with a deep class including Tommy Apap, Tommy Miller, Austin Kamer, Gianluca Esteves, Brody Stevens, and Jake Smith, helped Mitchell Lewandowski adjust to being a Spartan very quickly.

“Coming in as a freshman, there were eight of us, and we wouldn’t go anywhere without eight of us, so we rolled together all the time and it just turned into this thing when other classes came in, they would look at us and think it’s cool that they are tight so that bond brought us together translated into the locker room and listening to guys. I think we’re all likable guys and I think we’ve done a good job taking the younger guys in.”

Mitchell Lewandowski, Patrick Khodoreko, and Taro Hirose made up the famous “KHL Line” in college hockey as the Spartans’ first, and most dominant, line.

“I had an idea I was going to play with Patty, so the other person was Taro. Right away in practice, it was perfect. We played the same way, a lot more possession and finding each other out there. Obviously, it helped I had a good connection with Patty so we clicked right away, and Taro and I were good with it, I would sit there and take one-timers, I had the best life ever, so I was just privileged to come in as a freshman and now that I’m a senior to look back at that it’s pretty cool that I was able to come in my first two years to come in and play with those guys.”

Mitchell Lewandowski is nearing a personal milestone as he is at 96 career points as a Spartan, and reaching 100 would make him the 71st Michigan State hockey player in the program’s storied history to reach triple digits. “It means a lot. The trust the coaching staff has in me has taken my game a long way and has helped me with confidence and being able to say something to another guy, be able to make a comment. Playing on the power-play, that’s where a lot of points come from, you’ve got to be really sharp. A lot of the game is penalties, so special teams can win you the game.”

Becoming a leader in the locker room and wearing an “A” on his jersey this year has meant a lot to Mitchell Lewandowski. “All those guys (Tommy Miller, Tommy Apap, Sam Saliba), even Carson Gatt my freshman year, he wasn’t our captain but was in a sense, learning from all those guys. I felt like a captain last year, so wearing a letter this year is awesome. I don’t think you need to wear a letter to be a leader. I wore one with Caesars, Honeybaked, and Chicago in my second year, so I really wanted it this year, I enjoy it, I love it, I want to represent the team. I think the younger guys can watch me and watch me practice, I think is helpful rather than not talking or watching. I always liked to watch the older guys when I was a freshman, there is a right way and a wrong way to do stuff sometimes.”

With the two other members of the “KHL Line” now under contract in the NHL, Mitchell Lewandowski has focused on two aspects of his game to help finish off the line’s dream of playing in the NHL. “Just skating. Once you take USHL to college, the speed gets faster level to level, so keeping up to pace. Also, getting stronger, putting meat on my bones, beefing up a little bit.”

As Mitchell Lewandowski has progressed through his hockey journey, now to Michigan State, there is one piece of advice that he’s received that sticks out to him.

“The one thing I picked up on really quick is to not rush and do anything. It’s really important the years I was on Honeybaked that I shouldn’t have ever thought about tendering. It just helped me make sure I was ready to take the next step instead of reaching forward to see if it would work. Take that extra year, take the extra two years because, with hockey, you can do that. Coming into college, you don’t want to show up and not play until your senior year, so I think no rush, and everyone’s path is different.”

He also had some advice for people who want to take the same path he has, trying to play professional hockey.

“I would just say stick to your path. Some guys have to go overseas, some guys have to go to Canada, some Michigan guys are fortunate enough to play for Muskegon, everyone’s going to have a bit of a different path. I was told just stick on your path and it’ll work itself out always.”

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