Was the Gretzky trade to Los Angeles in 1988 really that big of a deal? Did he really save hockey in California? I spent 2 years in California (1981-1984) playing youth hockey for the Conejo Valley Hockey Club and while hockey wasn’t hugely popular, there were quite a number of kids who played. We didn’t have to travel too far to play either. Hockey definitely had more fans in California in the early 80s than the Southeast had when I moved there in the mid 80s.

A number of rinks in California were in malls, which was really odd for me.I played in the North East and most rinks were lucky to have 4 walls. We’d play in Berlin, NH in the middle of winter and freeze. Kids would come off the ice crying about how their feet hurt (pussies). The town smelled horrid. There was a huge paper mill in the area and it made the town smell like death dipped in cowshit and burnt hair. In California, I’d go to the rink in shorts and get to go get ice cream after each game. Hockey might not have been the #1 sport, but it certainly wasn’t under the radar by any stretch of the imagination. Attendance to Kings games jumped just 60,000 people overall from the year before the trade.

We went to a few Los Angeles Kings games. At one game we saw, the then hugely popular, Rick James. He wasn’t in a luxury box, but in the area between the benches. Now we get Pierre Maguire in that spot during NHL broadcasts on Versus giving us great insight such as, “Sidney Crosby just came off the ice after that long shift and looks tired” or “I think the Bruins are talking about trying to get more shots.” Gee, thanks for the awesome insight there Pierre.

The Kings were drawing decent crowds in the early 80’s. They had Marcel Dionne and a few other decent players. Coin collector Bruce McNall purchased the team in 1987 and he immediately got Gretzky in a trade and changed the colors from baby poo yellow and purple to silver and black. Gretzky went on to play 539 games for the Kings before being traded to the St. Louis Blues.

I’m not downplaying the influence Gretzky had on hockey in the US, but you could argue that the Mighty Ducks movie franchise, and subsequent Anaheim franchise, added just as many young fans. Look at David Beckham coming to the MLS last season. The news media went nuts, but how many people know that Beckham is still here and playing? Not many outside of the hardcore soccer fans.

My story of “where were you when you heard the news” is rather disturbing. The trade was still a shock to most hockey fans. With no Internet and 150 websites dedicated just to hockey trades, no real information came out prior to the deal. I was living in Virginia Beach and was watching ESPN when I heard the news. I ran upstairs and banged on my Dad’s door and yelled, “hey dad, Gretzky got traded. Gretzky got traded!” He kind of, what best can be described as “huffed” back to me, “unggh, tell me in the morning. Unggh.” Yeah, I think dad was getting some action.

And people wonder why I spent a few years in therapy.

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