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Coachella Valley Firebirds |
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Growing up in
Southern California, the sports most kids played were
baseball, football, basketball, golf, volleyball, or
soccer. Having professional sports franchises in
baseball, football, and basketball drove the interest to
play these sports. Hockey was not an option. Sure, there
was the Los Angeles Kings, but they were a novelty act
for north-east transplants. Hockey was a sport played by
kids in the north or north east where winter brings
snow. For me, snow was something you can see up on the
mountains and visit it for a day if you like. All this
change in August 1988, when Wayne Gretzky was trading to
the Los Angeles Kings. It was also the year cable
television was made available in my neighborhood. Once a
novelty act, the Kings became a hot ticket, and in 1993
the Kings made it to the Stanley Cup finals. They lost
to the Montreal Canadiens, which is the last time a team
from Canada won the Stanley Cup. Almost 3 decades since
the trade, Southern California now has 2 NHL teams, 3
AHL teams, several ice rinks setup by the Kings and
Anaheim Ducks, and now there is high school hockey. For more
information on the Firebirds, please visit the website:
https://cvfirebirds.com/ For more
information on the AHL, please visit the website: https://theahl.com/
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