Coach Wheeler is entering his 6th season as a coach in the Arvada Hockey Association. The past two years he has also coached the 98 Ice Cats spring team that competed in the Minnesota Meltdown AAA Tournament. Jeff is currently serving on the AHA Board of Directors for the second time as the 8 & Under Division Director. Jeff is the founder of TryHockey!, which now in its 3rd year has provided an introduction to hockey with free equipment, ice time, and instruction to over 150 boys and girls. Coach Wheeler has a Level 3 Certification from the USA Hockey Coaching Education Program. Jeff has coached hockey, football, and baseball combining for almost 20 seasons, mostly as a head coach.
Jeff is a native of New England born in Massachusetts and raised mostly in Vermont where he played his youth hockey in Essex Junction as well as spending many hours playing on frozen ponds, rivers, lakes, and backyard rinks. Jeff played competitive football, baseball, hockey, basketball, and wrestling and played in three Division I (large division) Vermont State High School Championship Games. Jeff was named to the Vermont senior all-star football team that plays in the annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl against the New Hampshire all-stars and went on to play NCAA Division I-AA football at The University of Connecticut (UConn).
Jeff’s graduate school research in orthopedic biomechanics at UCLA was partially funded by a US Olympic Committee Science and Technology Grant and involved working with the US Cycling team. Currently, Jeff occasionally competes in local age group bicycle races. Jeff is the Founder and President of a forensic engineering firm that specializes in reconstructing complex accidents. His professional specialty is musculoskeletal injury biomechanics. Jeff's injury biomechanics research and consulting has included several projects for the National Hockey League (NHL). Jeff recently participated in the International Symposium on Safety in Ice Hockey.
Jeff and his wife Suzanne have three boys who play in the Arvada Hockey Association. Coach Wheeler looks forward to this Squirt A season as an opportunity to work with a group of committed players on their journey toward developing as better hockey players, better teammates, and better young men both on and off the ice.
Pictured at top left:
Arvada Hockey Director John McKibbon and Jeff Wheeler on the outdoor hockey rink atop Alpe d’Huez on July 23rd after witnessing this famous mountain stage at the 2008 Tour de France.
