The Anaheim Ducks made a little bit of history on Thursday when they announced the signing of Ryan Lasch to a two-year contract. In signing with Anaheim, Lasch became the first Orange County born-and-bred player to join the organization. Aside from being a momentous occasion for Ryan Lasch and his family, this is a huge deal for not only the Anaheim organization, but also Southern California hockey at large – not so much because it’s rare for a Southern Californian hockey player to have this kind of opportunity (it’s growing more and more common, in fact), but more so because, if he can crack the line-up, he’ll prove to be a marketer’s dream.

A native of Lake Forest who attended Trabuco Hills High School, Lasch is a highly skilled, if undersized scoring winger who was a stand-out at St. Cloud State in Minnesota. Over the course of his four years at St. Cloud, Lasch became the school’s all-time leading scorer, finishing his collegiate career with 79 goals and 104 assists for 183 points in 161 games. A Hobey Baker Award finalist in 2007-08, Lasch was never drafted and never offered a contract by an NHL club, and so as many diminutive but skilled players opt to do, Lasch decamped for Europe. After spending the 2010-11 season with Sodertalje SK of the Swedish Elite League, Lasch packed his bags once again, moving to Finland to play in SM-liiga (the Finnish Elite League), for the Lahti Pelicans. (You may recognize the Pelicans from some of their ridiculously awesome commercials.)

As a Pelican, all Lasch did was lead the league in points during the regular season with 62, lead the league in points in the playoffs with 16, and help land the Pelicans a spot in the league championship before ultimately falling to JYP Jyvaskyla. For his troubles, Lasch was honored as a SM-liiga first team All-Star (along with Duck prospect Sami Vatanen), as well as becoming the recipient of a rare non-NHLer invite to the World Championships in Helsinki, where he suited up for Team USA along with Bobby Ryan, Cam Fowler, and Kyle Palmieri (who all three, no doubt, put in a good word to Bob Murray). So it’s been a bit of a whirlwind year for the SoCal Kid, but his work is far from finished. With the Ducks facing major questions on their 2nd line and in desperate need for some secondary scoring, Lasch just might, with a strong training camp in September (or whenever the new CBA is ratified [knock wood]), have a chance to do what no other Orange County native has ever done – suit up for the hometown Anaheim Ducks. So, what does this say about the state of youth hockey in Southern California, and in Orange County specifically?

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