sport murray kennett
The Indianapolis Racers were a major league ___MASK57___ team in the World ___MASK57___ Association from 1974 to 1978 . They competed in four full seasons before folding 25 games into the 1978  79 season . They played at Market Square Arena . They are often best known for being the first major league team to secure the services of Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier . Murray Kennett ( born June 28 , 1952 in Kamloops , British Columbia ) is a former World ___MASK57___ Association player . He played for the Indianapolis Racers and Edmonton Oilers . Mark Douglas Messier ( born January 18 , 1961 ) is a Canadian former professional ___MASK28___ center of the National Hockey League and former special assistant to the president and general manager of the New York Rangers . He played a quarter of a century in the NHL ( 1979  2004 ) with the Edmonton Oilers , New York Rangers , and Vancouver Canucks . He also played professionally with the World Hockey Association ( WHA )' s Indianapolis Racers and Cincinnati Stingers . He was the last former WHA player to be active in professional hockey , and the last active player who had played in the NHL in the 1970s . The Western ___MASK57___ League was a minor pro ___MASK28___ league that operated from 1952 to 1974 . Managed for most of its history by Al Leader , it was created out of the merger of the Pacific Coast ___MASK57___ League and the Western Canada Senior ___MASK57___ League . During the 1960s , the WHL moved into a number of large west coast markets including Los Angeles and San Francisco . There was speculation that Western ___MASK57___ League could grow into a major league capable of rivaling even the long - entrenched National ___MASK57___ League . The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ___MASK28___ team based in Edmonton , Alberta . They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ( NHL ). Kamloops is a city in south central British Columbia in Canada at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson River near Kamloops Lake . It is the largest community in the Thompson - Nicola Regional District and the location of the regional district ' s offices . The surrounding region is more commonly referred to as the Thompson Country . It is ranked 37th on the list of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada and represents the 44th largest census agglomeration nationwide , with 85 , 678 residents in 2011 . Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( born January 26 , 1961 ) is a Canadian former professional ___MASK28___ player and former head coach . He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League ( NHL ) for four teams from 1979 to 1999 . Nicknamed " The Great One ", he has been called " the greatest hockey player ever " by many sportswriters , players , and the NHL itself . He is the leading scorer in NHL history , with more goals and assists than any other player . He scored more assists than any other player scored total points , and is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season  a feat he accomplished four times . In addition , he tallied over 100 points in 16 professional seasons , 14 of them consecutive . At the time of his retirement in 1999 , he held 61 NHL records : 40 regular - season records , 15 playoff records , and six All - Star records . As of 2014 , he still holds 60 NHL records . The National ___MASK57___ League ( NHL ) is a professional ___MASK28___ league currently composed of 31 member clubs . Of the 30 clubs currently playing , 23 are in the United States and 7 in Canada . Headquartered in New York City , the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ___MASK28___ league in the world , and one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada . The Stanley Cup , the oldest professional sports trophy in North America , is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season . The Thompson River is the largest tributary of the Fraser River , flowing through the south - central portion of British Columbia , Canada . The Thompson River has two main branches , the South Thompson River and the North Thompson River . The river is home to several varieties of Pacific salmon and trout . The area ' s geological history was heavily influenced by glaciation , and the several large glacial lakes have filled the river valley over the last 12 , 000 years . Archaeological evidence shows human habitation in the watershed dating back to at least 8300 years . The Thompson was named by Fraser River explorer , Simon Fraser , in honour of his friend , Columbia Basin explorer David Thompson . Recreational use of the river includes whitewater ___MASK68___ and angling . Market Square Arena was an indoor arena located in Indianapolis . Completed in 1974 , at a cost of $ 23 million , it seated 16 , 530 for ___MASK76___ and 15 , 993 for ___MASK28___ . Seating capacity for concerts and other events was adjusted by the use of large curtains which sealed off the upper rows . The World ___MASK57___ Association was a professional ___MASK28___ major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979 . It was the first major league to compete with the National ___MASK57___ League ( NHL ) since the collapse of the Western ___MASK57___ League ( 1952  74 ). Although the WHA was not the first league since that time to attempt to challenge the NHL ' s supremacy , it was by far the most successful in the modern era . ___MASK28___ is a contact team sport played on ice , usually in a rink , in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponent ' s net to score points . ___MASK28___ teams usually consist of six players each : one goaltender , and five players who skate up and down the ice trying to take the puck and score a goal against the opposing team .