Ontario Reign, thank Wayne Gretzky.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Wayne Gretzky’s trade from Edmonton to Los Angeles, and in the opinion of the Great One himself, there would be no Ontario Reign without the royal lineage that Gretzky brought to the Kings.

From http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=245714:

“I remember the first weekend I was in L.A.,” he told TSN. “I was going by these tennis courts and I stopped the car and told my friend, ‘If we were in Canada, people would be playing inline and ball hockey here.’ A year later there was a sign on the fence that read, ‘No Inline Hockey Allowed.’ It’s come a long way; there are minor hockey teams in California now and in Arizona that can compete with the top teams in Canada and they’re very good. There aren’t as many, but we are getting to that point.”

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About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.