With the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers, the 2017 World Series marks a matchup of two of the nation’s four biggest sports markets. While both cities are located in warmer climates, there are still a number of significant Houston-Los Angeles hockey connections.
Los Angeles has had an NHL team since the 1967 expansion. Houston does not currently have a professional team, but had a team in the WHA from 1972 to 1978, then the IHL and AHL from 1994 to 2013.
Over the years, there are a number of players that made an impact for hockey teams in both cities. These include two players who represented both the Kings and Aeros in their respective inaugural seasons of 1967-68 and 1972-73. A later Kings connection was the AHL rookie of the year in Houston. A goalie was the WHA’s best for two straight seasons in Houston.
Following the precedent set on this site in the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Final, and NBA Final, here are the top 10 hockey players to have played for both cities of this year’s World Series teams.
10. Rob Valicevic
Valicevic spent three years with the Aeros in the IHL. His 129 points in 187 games in a Houston uniform rank fifth in team history. His last two years there were his best, after which he made the NHL.
After parts of three seasons with Nashville, Valicevic played 17 games during one season with the Kings, tallying two points.
9. Sandy Moger
Moger played 104 games with the Kings, tallying a total of 29 points. The bulk of that output came in 1997-98, during which he scored 11 goals and 13 assists in 62 games. This was the second-best single-season point total of his five-year NHL career.
After one more season in L.A., Moger spent two with the Aeros of the IHL. He scored 65 points in 108 games for the team to finish the North American phase of his playing career.
8. Darcy Kuemper
Kuemper is the only active NHL player on this list. He appeared in 43 games over three seasons with the AHL Aeros as he established himself as a professional goalie in Minnesota’s farm system. His best season came in 2012-13, during which he went 13-8-0 with a 1.88 goals-against average and .934 save percentage.
Aside from two short stints in the AHL after that season, Kuemper has been an NHL mainstay ever since. After five seasons with the Wild, he joined the Kings prior to this season. He has appeared in just one game so far, which he won.
Kuemper’s Kings chapter is just beginning, but his NHL track record earns him a spot on this list, as he will presumably be a solid backup to Jonathan Quick.
7. Morris Lukowich
Lukowich began his North American professional career with the WHA’s Aeros, and ended it with the Kings. In Houston, he scored 120 points in 148 games over two seasons. This included 75 in the 1977-78 season, his second with the team, which ranked second on the team in points.
He also spent two seasons in Los Angeles, tallying 25 goals and 30 assists in 115 games.
6. Terry Ruskowski
Ruskowski began his pro career with four seasons in Houston during its WHA days. The pass-first player had 63 goals and 188 assists for 251 points in 294 games between 1974 and 1978. This ranks eighth all-time in WHA-Aeros’ history.
He later spent three seasons with the Kings, appearing in a total of 226 games and tallying 125 points. As a bonus connection, he spent two seasons as the head coach of the IHL’s Aeros from 1994 to 1996.
Darcy Kuemper, who started his professional career with the AHL’s Aeros, is now looking like a solid choice of backup for the Kings’ Jonathan Quick. (Photo by Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
5. Ron Grahame
Grahame was an outstanding goalie for the Aeros from 1973 to 1977. He won the WHA’s best-goalie award twice, and was the 1975 playoff MVP. In total, he played in 143 WHA games, winning 102 with a .900 save percentage and goals-against average under three.
He later spent three seasons in L.A. between 1978 and 1981. Over this time he played in 66 games, winning 23 of them. More than half of his NHL games came as a member of the Kings.
4. Wayne Rutledge
Rutledge, a goaltender, played all of his career NHL games with Los Angeles and all of his WHA games with Houston. He was a member of the inaugural Kings, winning 20 games for that squad. In total, he played in 82 games for the Kings.
He spent six years in Houston, his first being the inaugural season for the Aeros. He appeared in 176 games between 1972 and 1978, which makes him the WHA Aeros’ all-time leader in games played by a goalie. Among his achievements were leading the team to the 1974 Avco Cup title.
3. Gord Labossiere
Of his 215 career games played in the NHL, a majority (161) came as a member of the Kings. He had 34 goals and 55 assists for 89 points during that time. This included a career-best 40 points in 68 games in the Kings’ inaugural season in 1967-68.
Labossiere ended his professional career with four solid seasons for the Aeros of the WHA. He scored 101 goals and 162 assists, for a total of 263 points in 301 games between 1972 and 1976. This included a standout season in 1972-73, again with Rutledge between the pipes, during which he led the team with 96 points in 78 games.
2. John Tonelli
Tonelli began his professional career with the Aeros in the WHA. He played three seasons for the team from 1975-1978, appearing in 224 games. During this time he produced 64 goals and 86 assists for 150 points.
After touring through various cities, including New York during the Islanders’ dynasty, Tonelli moved to L.A., appearing in three seasons for the franchise from 1988 to 1991. Over his 221 games, he had 76 goals and 86 assists for 162 points.
1. Patrick O’Sullivan
O’Sullivan had a phenomenal first professional season with the AHL’s Aeros in 2005-06, scoring 47 goals with 46 assists for 93 points in 78 games. This earned him a spot in the AHL All-Star Classic and a spot on the end-of-season all-rookie team.
O’Sullivan led the AHL in rookie scoring, and was unsurprisingly named the league’s freshman of the year. Houston’s parent club in Minnesota subsequently traded his rights to the Kings for Pavol Demitra in the offseason.
O’Sullivan eventually made his NHL debut in L.A. on opening night of the 2006-07 campaign. He ultimately scored a solid 109 points in 188 games over three seasons with the Kings. His second season in the The Show was his best, as he dressed for all 82 games and notched 53 points, good for fourth on the team.
He would return to Houston at the tail end of his career, and played like he did during his first stint there, tallying 48 points in 36 games. He ranks sixth in AHL Aeros all-time scoring, but first in points per game among players with at least 100 games played.
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