Ontario Reign: Goaltender John Lethemon Looks to Capitalize at Rookie Camp

Among those attending LA Kings Rookie Camp this week will be goaltender John Lethemon, who hopes to join the Ontario Reign in 2021-22.

As the LA Kings prepare for the start of rookie camp later this week, they will have a few unfamiliar names participating. One of those names will be goaltender John Lethemon, who is one of two invitees with an Ontario Reign contract.

Despite signing with the Reign just prior to the start of the 2020-21 campaign, John Lethemon didn’t play at all for the Reign last season. Instead, the 25-year-old suited up for the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits for 25 games, going 13-5-5 with a 2.71 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. Now, with his first taste of professional hockey under his belt, Lethemon will hope to graduate to the AHL in a battle for a Reign roster spot between the pipes with fellow camp attendees Lukas Parik and Jacob Ingham.

Prior to his season in the ECHL, Lethemon played four seasons at Michigan State under a coaching staff that includes USNTDP veteran Joe Exter, whom I recently spoke with about the former Spartan netminder. We began by discussing the coach’s first impressions of Lethemon went he arrived in East Lansing as a freshman in 2016.

“First impression is that he was a worker who was a detailed person both on and off the ice,” Exter said. “He carried himself like a professional at a young age, even in college, and I think that is why he was able to reach the level that he was able to reach while here, and then after when he left and went in the [ECHL] and then onto Ontario.”

In his four seasons at Michigan State, Lethemon’s numbers gradually improved.

In his freshman campaign, the Northville, MI, native accumulated a lackluster 2-10-1 record with less-than-stellar GAA and save percentage with 3.59 and .873, respectively. To the goaltender’s credit, though, not only was he unfazed by these numbers, but he was extremely determined to make his sophomore season worth remembering. Yet, while his 12-19-2 record looked unimpressive on paper, Lethemon’s 2017-18 year was leaps and bounds better, especially thanks to a 2.88 GAA.

En route to Lethemon’s turnaround season, though, the netminder learned to capitalize on his 6’2″ frame, immensely piquing the interest of his coaching staff.

“His biggest improvement on the ice was with his stance and presentation in the net that allowed him to use his athleticism and his play in puck tracking,” Exter observed. “It’s always good to coach players that want to get better, are willing to change in order to get better, and I think John was both of them. He came in here with a work ethic, and he had it for his whole time here. He was constantly looking for ways to improve and get better.

But that wasn’t all.

“The biggest improvement was his off-ice game,” Exter added. “He got stronger, he got bigger, and with those two things, he was able to get faster.”