Interview with Former LA King Steve McKenna

Originally 3 smaller towns existed of Galt, Preston and Hespeler in the Southern region of the province of Ontario but in 1973 it was decided to merge the 3 towns and create the bigger “city”of Cambridge.  Like any other town or city in Canada, hockey was the sport most loved and participated in.  Downtown on Shade Street is the old Galt Arena Gardens, known as the oldest operating hockey arena in the entire world, built in 1921 and which housed such hockey legends throughout the ages such as Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk and Walter Gretzky.

Often ignored due to its geographical location in between the larger cities of Kitchener/Waterloo and Guelph, (as well as being beside the smaller but better known in the hockey and communications world of Brantford, ON), there is only a small list of hockey players from Cambridge that did end up playing in the NHL.  One of them was Steve McKenna, who was a personal idol of mine by reaching the rare and unique achievement of being from Cambridge and playing for not only the local OHA Junior B Cambridge Winter-Hawks team (which I did and still follow and love) but he got to play in the NHL for the team I love the most, the Los Angeles Kings.  The pride I felt that a boy from my hometown of Cambridge got to play for my beloved Kings was something I held in very high esteem and still do to this day.

I first remember Steve back in 1991 when I was in the eighth grade and was given permission to go see my first (real) LIVE hockey game in person to see a Winter-Hawks game against the rival (and hated) Kitchener Dutchmen. Steve was this GIANT of a defenseman (he’s 6’8′) amongst the other puny players that seemed to get into a lot of fights, (I mean ALOTTT of fights!) but what I noticed and liked about him right off the bat was the fact he would take the time to high-five us fans whether inside or outside the arena.  Because of that I kept track of his career and was completely blown away when Steve signed a contract with the LA Kings organization in the late ’90s which only made me like him even more.

Recently I was walking around the Cambridge Centre Mall where the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame is and I was looking around at all the inductees (instead of Christmas shopping) and I found Steve’s picture and plaque there.  This got me to thinking if I could find a way to interview him for CaliSports News (and to be honest, it also got me thinking that maybe I’ll be big enough as a writer/sports journalist that maybe, just maybe one day, I’ll be in that Hall of Fame myself??? WELL IF YOU’RE GOING TO THINK THEN YOU MIGHT AS WELL THINK BIG!!!).  I did my research and found out that after years of playing and coaching overseas, Steve had returned to the region to become a police officer.  With that I contacted the local Waterloo Region Police Services, and was guided by some very helpful and kind people (such as Staff Sergeant Morrison) who all pointed me to Steve’s direction. I contacted Steve and was fortunate enough to interview him about his life, career in hockey and time as a player for the Los Angeles Kings.  I was pleased to find out that this giant of a defenseman that played for the Winter-Hawks and gave me a high-five back in 1991 and went on to play for my Kings was every much the gentleman I remembered him to be, as well as very funny and kind, all of these years later when I got to interview him for this site.  As a bonus, I surprisingly found out that one of my closest friends Colin, went to high school with Steve and they used to play basketball together, as well as hang out every Friday night at the old Hespeler arena back in the day (of course this was before Colin and I knew each other), as big as this world is, it always amazes me how small it can sometimes be.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you … hailing from Cambridge, Ontario, Canada! Former Los Angeles King, the one and only Steve McKenna!