Color of Hockey: Kings bring game to Mexico with youth camp

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog for the past nine years. Douglas joined NHL.com in March 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles efforts by the Los Angeles Kings to grow hockey in Mexico.

Francisco X. Rivera had one thought when the Los Angeles Kings held a youth hockey camp in Mexico City Nov. 12-14: Finally.

The Mexico City Jr. Kings camp marked the Kings' return to Mexico's capital city since they hosted their first youth hockey camp there in October 2018.

Logistical issues and then the coronavirus pandemic forced the Kings to put their Mexico plans on hold three times since that first visit.

"We had been waiting for so long, but we finally made it," said Rivera, the Kings Spanish-language play-by-play announcer, a team consultant and NHL.com/es independent correspondent. "For me, growing the game or helping to grow the game in my native country was just so important."

Los Angeles made up for lost time with former Kings forwards Derek Armstrong and Brad Smyth, and Rivera putting nearly 45 players ages 5-16 through their paces at Mexico City's Centro Comercial Santa Fe rink.

Smyth, a team ambassador, scored 28 points (15 goals, 13 assists) in 88 games for the Kings, Florida Panthers, New York Rangers, Nashville Predators and Ottawa Senators from 1993-03. Armstrong, the Kings director of community and hockey development, scored 221 points (72 goals, 149 assists) in 477 games for the New York Islanders, Rangers, Kings and St. Louis Blues.

"The kids were fantastic, just their willingness to learn, their enthusiasm for actually getting on the ice," Smyth said. "Their talent level would be similar to a lower-end competitive or higher-end house-league ability at this point. You can see there's a certain percentage of the kids that have been on the ice a lot more than the others and they're way further ahead."

The Kings said they hope to close that gap through their grassroots efforts in Mexico. They expanded their Jr. Kings program to Mexico City last year, keeping players and Kings coaches connected via Zoom.

Eighteen members of the Mexico City Jr. Kings program participated in the Kings summer camp in August at the Kings practice facility in El Segundo, California. They also met Marcela Celorio, consul general of Mexico in Los Angeles.

The Kings aren't alone in trying to expand hockey in Mexico and increase the Hispanic fan base on each side of the border.

The Dallas Stars held Learn to Play clinics in Mexico City in February and March of 2019 and had planned on returning before the pandemic.

The Stars and Arizona Coyotes played in the 2020 Kraft Hockeyville USA preseason game on Oct. 3 in El Paso, Texas, a city along the Texas border with a large Hispanic community.

Officials from each team said they hope that the game at the El Paso County Coliseum Events Center will prompt the NHL to play a game in Mexico in the future.

"I've said publicly we want to be Mexico's team," Stars CEO Brad Alberts said in September.

Rivera said hopes the Kings can assume that title through their ongoing efforts.

"We're hoping that this is a breaking point for hockey in Mexico where people are going to be even more tied to the game there," he said of the Kings camp. "They are going to be, like, 'Oh, an NHL franchise wants to come to Mexico and help us grow the game.' For us, it's going to be having coaches come to the U.S. as well getting trained. It's going to be a grassroots effort and at the same time it needs to be a consistent effort."

Kings president Luc Robitaille said their presence in Mexico reflects the country's passion for the game and its love for the team.

"We think it's important because we love the game of hockey so to have the opportunity to go there, there are a lot of kids playing hockey, and to share our passion for the game with them," Robitaille said. "At the same time, we're aware the L.A. Kings are popular down there, so I think it was kind of one of those situations where we couldn't pass it up."

Mexico has a hockey history. It has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since 1985 and has more than 3,000 registered players and 18 indoor ice rinks.

The country's women's national team is ranked 26th in the world by the IIHF and the men's team is ranked 37th internationally.

Luisa Wilson became the first Mexico-born player to win a medal in a Winter Olympics sport when she won gold playing 3-on-3 hockey at the 2020 Youth Winter Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Claudia Tellez became the first Mexico-born player to work her way onto a Canadian Women's Hockey League roster as a reserve with Calgary in 2016.

Armstrong said he can't wait to return to Mexico City to help build on the legacy.

"I'd love to do a four-day, a weeklong camp there, for sure," Armstrong said. "It was a really cool experience. Hockey has come so far…It's been great to be a part of."