When OBrien brought up the topic of "Gretzkys Office,"

Before the hockey town that Wayne Gretzky built hosted its first outdoor game at Dodger Stadium, The Great One made a rare Hollywood move by going on "Conan" to promote it. In an 11-minute interview on the late-night show with host Conan OBrien, Gretzky reflected on his trade from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings, his guest appearance on "Saturday Night Live" and several aspects of his on-ice playing career. Beyond all his records and his place in hockey history, Gretzkys Hollywood persona wouldnt have been as pronounced if it were not for that trade 25 1/2 years ago. "It was hard for especially people in Edmonton because they werent just fans, they were friends of mine. A lot of the people that go to all the games, I knew from all the years of being in Edmonton," Gretzky said of the deal. "So it was difficult for everyone. But you look back at it now and everything happens for a reason and we love it here in L.A. and the NHL is thriving here and everyone seems to be doing OK." The Oilers won their fifth Stanley Cup in 1990 without Gretzky and made it to the final in 2006 before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes. The Kings made it to the final in 1993 with Gretzky before losing to the Montreal Canadiens, then won their first title in franchise history in 2012. Edmonton hasnt made the playoffs since 2006 and is still in a rebuilding stage. Just now is a new downtown arena under construction. But Gretzky was on "Conan" for the NHLs Stadium Series debut, which is Saturday between the Kings and the league-leading Anaheim Ducks. He called the game happening at Dodger Stadium a "real big dream." Even before this promotional tour, the "Great One" said he was an advocate of outdoor hockey in Los Angeles. "Id love to see an outdoor game in L.A. because we see the Winter Classic and the Heritage Classic with the snow and thats all wonderful. But a big part of our game, too, now and the success of the National Hockey League is California and places like that," Gretzky said before the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony in November. "Its going to be wonderful to see people sitting at Dodger Stadium when its 65 degrees (F) and theyre sitting there in shorts and T-shirts and enjoying a National Hockey League game. I think its going to be wonderful for our sport." It should be roughly 19 C (66 F) when the puck drops around 6:30 Pacific time Saturday night. When Gretzky and the Kings faced the New York Rangers in an exhibition game in Las Vegas in 1991, temperatures ranged between 29 and 35 C. Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said after a California heat wave last week he was looking forward to cooler temperatures for this game. "I think its going to be completely unique and its going to be tremendous playing in 60-degree weather outside under the stars," Boudreau said. "I think a lot of people will be real interested to see how that works." Ice technology has improved drastically in the 22-plus years since that Las Vegas game. As Gretzky acknowledged during his appearance on "Conan," so has the NHL, in general. OBrien asked Gretzky about a so-called unwritten rule that opponents wouldnt hit him, which the former Kings captain refuted. "I didnt get hit as much as people probably wanted me to get hit, especially on the opposing teams," Gretzky said. "I knew it was time to retire when I was playing my last year and people I was playing against before they would hit me, they would scream my name or say, Hey, heads up or, Wayne, get out of the way, or Here we are. I remember thinking, Wow, somethings not right about this." Gretzky then told a story about going to a game with his wife and two sons and sitting in the front row when one of them said to their mother: "Be really honest, did dad really play in this league?" When Gretzky did play in the NHL, he set career records with 894 goals, 1,963 assists and 2,857 points and single-season ones along the way, including 92 goals in 1981-82. OBrien asked if Gretzky thought "some punk kid" was going to come along and score 93 in a season. "Records are made to be broken," Gretzky said. "When I grew up my idol was Gordie Howe, and he couldnt have been any nicer, couldnt have been any better. He was just a really good man. When I broke his records, he was always the first guy there. "So if anybody ever breaks my records, Ill be the first guy to shake his hand. The players are good today, theres a lot of good players. Nevers a long time." Gretzky went on to say his record he believes will be the hardest to break is 50 goals in 39 games, "because 50 goals in 38 games is a lot of goals." "Yes," OBrien responded. "Thats pretty good. Well see." Gretzky said that being the smallest but never the fastest or toughest player at any point of his hockey-playing career made him consistent in his style. When OBrien brought up the topic of "Gretzkys Office," and his penchant to control the flow of play from behind the net, Gretzky credited Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke. "I had a coach when I was 14 years old that said: Go watch this guy Bobby Clarke play and watch how he plays. Hes not very big, hes smart, he passes the puck and he plays sort of from the corner and a little bit behind the net," Gretzky recalled. "So at the age of 14 I started watching him day in and day out. "He probably had the most influence on my career as far as learning how to play the game and the style of game that I played. I learned to play behind the net, and when I started doing that, it was so unique. Nobody had ever tried to defend that. And so I was able to really master it and become really good at it, and that was sort of my forte." Hockey sense, Gretzky said, was also a strength. Singing, not so much. OBrien mentioned that the first time he met Gretzky came in 1989 on the set of "Saturday Night Live." Although Gretzky originally turned down the appearance, his wife, Janet, accepted for him. On the show, Gretzky had to sing a song called "Waikiki Hockey," despite being, in his words, "tone deaf." "The funny part of the scene was they had this little piece of meat and I was sort of supposed to hit it," Gretzky said. "And I hit it right into a garbage can. I think everybody was shocked that I put it in the garbage can. It was just completely by accident." OBrien, who served as an extra in that scene 25 years ago, joked that "Everyone thought, He is the great one, he can fire meat at will." But that was acting, which Gretzky wasnt trying to be great at after going to Los Angeles. "Athletes come here and they want to be actors sometimes," Gretzky said. "But I never wanted to act, I wanted to be a hockey player." Follow (at)SWhyno on Twitter. Its a real big dream for me. hockeys come a long way. Wayne Chrebet Jersey . Virtanen opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first period, then gave Canada a two-goal lead with a power-play goal 1:03 into the second. Sweden cut the lead in half when Daniel Muzito Bagenda scored a power-play goal at 10:57 of the second. Wholesale Jets Jerseys . This weeks topics include his take on the Kevin Pillar incident, All-Star snubs, the firing of Padres general manager Josh Byrnes and more. http://www.cheapnewyorkjetsjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-joe-namath-jersey . Dancevic won his singles match on Friday, defeating Go Soeda 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-1, to even the best-of-five series at a game apiece. World No. 18 Kei Nishikori defeated Peter Polansky in the opening match, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Curtis Martin Jersey . - Diego Fagundez scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season in the 76th minute to lift the Revolution to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Crew on Saturday night that kept New Englands playoff hopes alive. Jachai Polite Jersey . Future Hall of Famer Ricky Ray is in his prime and back for a third season in double blue. The 34-year old was magnificent in 2013, throwing for just under 2,900 yards despite missing eight games, tossing an impressive 21 touchdowns against just two interceptions, completing 66 per cent of his passes in the process.ST. LOUIS -- Jhonny Peralta went deep twice, ending the St. Louis Cardinals 366 at-bat homerless drought. The first would have been plenty for Adam Wainwright. Wainwright became the majors first five-game winner and Peralta had two home runs and four RBIs in a 7-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. "Im really having more fun pitching right now than I ever have," Wainwright said. "Its just such a chess match. "I feel Im right where I want to be and so Im going to work extra hard to stay there and not get complacent." Matt Holliday, Allen Craig and Yadier Molina also had RBIs for the Cardinals, who totalled five runs in their previous four games. St. Louis took two of three from the Pirates, shutting them out in both wins. "We got some big hits today, gave him a little bit of room to breathe," manager Mike Matheny said. "Even though weve got all the faith in the world in Waino, you just hate to have to be on the edge all the time." Edinson Volquez (1-2) gave up six runs in 5 2-3 innings for Pittsburgh, which has dropped five of six. His day unraveled after the Pirates appeal of a potential double-play ball was denied and first baseman Ike Davis foot was ruled off the bag in the sixth inning. Davis was on the dirt stretching for the relay and was adamant replay got it wrong, contending he had contact with the base for "at least a half-second" after gloving the relay from second baseman Neil Walker. "I knew I was on the bag. You can look at the video yourself and you would think I was on the bag, too," Davis said after the game. "But I guess it wasnt a close enough view." Craigs two-out bloop single made it 2-0 the next at-bat, his first RBI in eight games. Peralta followed with a three-run homer on a full count for a 5-0 lead that chased Volquez, whos 3-6 with a 5.66 ERA in 12 career starts against St. Louis. Manager Clint Hurdle said if the umpires had called it a double play, he didnt think Matheny would have prevailed in a challenge. "You saw how it changed the complexion of the game," Hurdle said. "I dont think it does anything mentally, youvee got to play through it.dddddddddddd "Weve been playing through calls we didnt like for 128 years, so that part of it is not going to change." Peralta also homered leading off the fifth, the Cardinals first since Craig on April 16 at Milwaukee. He has six homers, the most ever by a Cardinals shortstop in the opening month of the season and one more than Edgar Renteria hit in 2000. "The first one, I knew it was gone for sure," Peralta said. "The second home run, I didnt know for sure if was gone. He threw me a pretty good change-up." Wainwright (5-1) allowed three hits in eight scoreless innings and hasnt allowed a run in 25 consecutive innings. He stayed on turn after tweaking his right knee trying to cover first in his last start at New York and had seven strikeouts with two walks. Wainwrights only loss came April 6 at Pittsburgh when he allowed two runs in seven innings but lost 2-1 in another matchup with Volquez, with the win going to reliever Tony Watson. On Sunday, Wainwright retired nine straight before hitting Jose Tabata with a breaking ball with one out in the sixth. Pedro Alvarez singled with two outs, but Wainwright got Neil Walker on a called third strike. Hes the fourth St. Louis pitcher to win five games in the opening month, joining Darryl Kile (2000), Bob Tewksbury (1994) and John Denny (1977). "You cannot make a lot of mistakes," Volquez said. "Hes unbelievable. Hes a superstar." Matt Adams tripled off Jeanmar Gomez in the eighth and scored on Molinas sacrifice fly. NOTES: The Pirates have lost five consecutive series. ... Michael Wacha (2-2, 2.10) opposes Yovani Gallardo (2-0, 1.42) Monday in the opener of a three-game series between the Cardinals and Brewers. ... The Pirates have a day off before opening a two-game series at Baltimore with Charlie Morton (0-3, 4.35) opposing Chris Tillman (3-1, 3.38). ... Matt Carpenter and Yadier Molina received Silver Slugger awards in a pregame ceremony. ... Peralta has eight career multihomer games, the previous on July 29, 2012, at Toronto. ... Holliday had an RBI in all three games of the series. Wholesale MLB Orioles Jerseys Red Sox Jerseys From China Discount Yankees Jerseys Online Rays Jerseys For Sale Blue Jays Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB White Sox Jerseys Indians Jerseys For Sale Tigers Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB Astros Jerseys Cheap Baseball Angels Jerseys Athletics Jerseys From China Mariners Jerseys For Sale Cheap Baseball Rangers Jerseys Braves Jerseys For Sale Discount Marlins Jerseys Online Discount Mets Jerseys Online Phillies Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB Nationals Jerseys Cubs Jerseys From China Discount Reds Jerseys Online Brewers Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB Pirates Jerseys Wholesale MLB Cardinals Jerseys Diamondbacks Jerseys For Sale Rockies Jerseys For Sale Discount Dodgers Jerseys Online Discount Padres Jerseys Online Giants Jerseys For Sale ' ' '