Throwback Thursdays - Interview w/ Noah Clarke

While hockey may still be Canada's game, U.S. born players were the media darlings of the recent NHL Draft in Los Angeles. In fact, there were a record number (11) of Americans taken in the first round, including the Kings' Derek Forbort.

A few picks later, two Southern California players were taken - Gardena's Beau Bennett at #19 and Emerson Etem, of Long Beach, at #20. However, long before they were supposedly putting California hockey on the map, Noah Clarke played for the Los Angeles Kings.

Born in 1979, he had already been playing for a few years when Gretzky was traded to LA in the summer of '88. His hometown of La Verne - about an hour east of the old Forum - wasn't exactly what you would call a 'hockey hotbed.' In fact, the city didn't even have an ice rink. Nonetheless, Noah honed his craft in several different places and was eventually drafted by the Kings in 1999.

After spending time with both Manchester and Los Angeles, he's been playing in Europe the last few seasons.  And just this week he left for Germany to get started with his newest team, the Augsburger Panther.  Before heading to LAX with his passport and hockey sticks though, he sat down with The Mayor for a reflective conversation - including his thoughts on several current Kings players (Brown, Kopitar and Doughty), a future player (Kevin Westgarth), a former player (George Parros) and even a rumored player (Ryan Malone).

He also talks about life in Europe, why he left North America and tells a story about one of the funnier pranks you'll hear that went down during his playing days with the Monarchs.

MayorsManor presents an exclusive interview with the original California King, Noah Clarke...

Looking back, what impact did Gretzky coming to the Kings have on you as a kid?

DRAFT 2010: Interiew with Taylor Aronson

It only seems appropriate that the draft be held in Los Angeles this year. While the NHL's signature event is usually reserved for cities in the northeast, the league has spent the better part of two decades tyring to establish a strong footprint in the southwest.

It seems to be working - with kids from Arizona, Texas and Nevada expected to be drafted this weekend. Even more impressive is the strong representation of players with ties to Southern California - including forwards Emerson Etem (Long Beach), Beau Bennett (Gardena), Jason Zucker (LA Selects) and Jake Fallon (former LAHC player). There's also a pair of defenseman Brandon Underwood (San Diego) and Taylor Aronson (Placentia) among others.

Yesterday we posted an interview with Underwood (available here). Today we're back to share a conversation between The Mayor and Taylor Aronson.

He's a kid that's ranked #88 by NHL Central Scouting, not bad for a player from California - where some people say the hockey choices are limited for youngsters.

Aronson has found no shortage of opportunities to date though, including being a first round selection in the USHL junior hockey draft last year.  He ultimately passed on that opportunity, as well as U.S. college hockey, to head north and play for the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL.

That's an important part of his story, as he played this past season on a 'Hawks team that was the darling of many scouts and media, due to having five players ranked in this draft's top-100.  One could even argue that perhaps he'd be getting more attention if it weren't for the stellar play of his teammates Nino Niederreiter and Ryan Johansen - who are both expected to be long gone by the time the Kings pick at #19 in the first round.

Taylor will probably go a few rounds later.  Yet, whichever team gets him can thank the Kings, in small part, for helping...he says the Kings and Wayne Gretzky inspired him to start playing when he was younger.  See what else he has to say...

Talk about growing up playing hockey in California. What are some of the challenges in playing a non-traditional SoCal sport? And what motivated you to keep playing when most of your classmates were probably playing baseball or football?