Sport Seems to Have Reached Local Time

It was meant to be, that Noah Clarke would make his NHL debut on a night the Kings wore their throwback uniforms, the ones with the crown on the front. The ones they wore every night when Clarke, 24, became enthralled with hockey and set out on a historic path.

“I was hard-core when it was purple and gold,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief after recording an assist in the Kings’ 4-2 victory over Edmonton on Tuesday. “To wear that uniform is unbelievable.”

Clarke, a ninth-round pick and 250th overall by the Kings in the 1999 entry draft, is the first Southern California native to play for the team. He won’t be the last.

“I think California is a hockey hotbed,” Coach Andy Murray said. “There’s going to be a lot more Noah Clarkes coming out of here in the next few years. There’s absolutely no question in my mind that the minor hockey in California is as good as any place in the U.S. right now.”

The grandson of the founder of the Alta Dena dairy, Clarke grew up in La Verne. He can’t remember his first King game but can remember his favorites were Corey Millen, the small but skillful center, and goalie Mark Fitzpatrick. He adopted as a role model Richard Park of Brea, now with the Minnesota Wild, the first California-bred player to play in the NHL.

“When I was little, Richard Park was a big name,” Clarke said. “He was the first one to make it and I definitely think there will be more.”

Clarke’s parents, Boyd and Donna, had King season tickets, “until Gretzky’s first year and the prices went [up],” Clarke said, pointing his thumb skyward. And by then he was playing hockey and they were too busy driving him to rinks to keep their season tickets. “My parents definitely put in a lot of time and a lot of mileage,” he said.

He began playing at a rink in Ontario, half an hour from home, but games and tournaments soon took him to Bay Harbor and Marina Cities and far-flung points. When he was 19, he left home to play for Des Moines of the U.S. Hockey League, where he scored 31 goals and 63 points in 52 games, and then got a scholarship to Colorado College. In four seasons there, he scored 63 goals and 176 points, including a breakout senior season in which he scored 21 goals and 70 points.

When Clarke attended the Kings’ summer camps, Murray initially thought of him as a curiosity. Murray quickly appreciated the left wing’s speed and energy.

“He’s been a special kid to our organization,” Murray said. “I can remember four years ago, he was at our first camp, a ninth-round pick, a local guy, and he was a pretty good player. Just how he’s developed as a player and getting to here, it’s like I’ve coached him for five years now. It’s like he’s been part of things for five years.”

Before Clarke’s senior year in college, Murray advised him to be grittier, to play less on the perimeter and plunge into things.

“He had a great year,” Murray said, “and that carried over.”

Clarke will play again tonight when the Kings face Phoenix at Staples Center, more inspiration for other local kids who’d love to play in the NHL. And there are many positioned to follow him.

Brett Sterling of Pasadena and Colorado College was selected for the U.S. team for the World Junior Championships later this month in Finland, and David Inman of San Diego and John Kemp of Arcadia -- alumni of the Junior Kings program -- are members of the U.S. under-17 national team. The U.S. women’s national team also has two Californians, Angela Ruggiero of Simi Valley and Chanda Gunn of Huntington Beach.

In the pro ranks, there’s defenseman Garrett Stafford of Los Angeles, who played at the University of New Hampshire and signed with the San Jose Sharks last week, after piling up an impressive number of points during a tryout with their Cleveland farm team.

In college, there are Gabe Gauthier of Buena Park, a sophomore at the University of Denver; Brian Salcido of Hermosa Beach, who played prep hockey at Shattuck in Minnesota and is a freshman at Colorado College, and Robbie Earl, who honed his skills in USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program and is a freshman at Wisconsin. Travis Ramsey of Long Beach plays for the Salmon Arm Silver Backs of the British Columbia Hockey League, a junior team co-owned by Murray.

NHL rosters have long been dominated by kids from Moose Jaw and Red Deer, Quebec and Toronto, with an influx in recent years from Sweden, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the northeastern U.S.

But more kids could soon shatter that California surfer-dude stereotype and provide the NHL with a much-needed infusion of talent and enthusiasm, as Clarke did Tuesday.

“I saw a couple of familiar faces, kids I used to play with, old coaches,” he said, smiling. “It was nice. It was an unbelievable feeling.”