Gretzky's influence

[Postman]

As a fan of USA hockey, I'm always looking for info on any US prospects I can find. I checked out usahockey.com a few days ago to find the results of the recent Select 16 tournament for USA regional teams. Very young players, mostly 16 years old (1988's), but it was interesting to see a lot of players from California. The Pacific team didn't do too bad, going 3-3, but they are producing some good talent with 2 of the top 10 scorers in the tourney coming out of California.

There are more and more players coming out of Southern California, and other places like the southeast that didn't produce hockey players before. Guys like Ray Macias (Kamloops-WHL), Jack Combs (Kitchener-OHL), Rhett Rakhshani (committed to USNTDP for next year), Billy Blase (USNTDP), Cameron Cepek (Portland-WHL), and Jason Reese (Vancouver-WHL, 1st rounder in 2003) all out of California.

Just goes to show how great Gretzky's impact was when he was with the Kings, as that was about the time most of these kids were born until they were about 5-6 years old.

Click to read more...

 

[Legionnaire]

Very true Posty. Every year, I see more and more player that hail from the southwest. Gretzky has had a huge effect. Couple that in the the creation of rollerblades and hockey is the number one growing youth sport in So Cal.

Noah Clarke(who's from my hometown) is playing for the Kings in the AHL, and was called up for a few games last year, and shows a lot of promised

Garret Stafford is from Pasadena(I think) and looked great for the Barons last year before taking that knockout blow.

 

[cazzy]

Just to add a couple of names to your list:
Gabe Gauthier from the Denver University Pioneers (scored the game-winning goal to win the NCAA championship. But I’m not bias or anything)

Brett Sterling from Colorado College and property of the Thrashers

I’ve seen two different “home town†listings for Robbie Earl from the Badgers but I believe he grew up in California too.