Column: Marina del Rey’s Gabe Levin is part of Southland presence at Frozen Four

Gabe Levin of Marina del Rey began watching hockey as a toddler, when his grandparents had season tickets to Kings games. Inspired by Wayne Gretzky, he became passionate about the sport and suited up for the L.A. Junior Kings, the Southern California Titans in Simi Valley, and for Fairbanks (Alaska) of the North American Hockey League for two years before he enrolled at the University of Denver.

He’s a senior now, and with law school beckoning he will reach the end of his hockey career this weekend in the NCAA Frozen Four at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. Denver (25-9-6) will face No. 3 North Dakota (32-6-4) in a semifinal game Thursday at 5:30 p.m. PDT, after Boston College (28-7-5) faces No. 1 Quinnipiac (31-3-7). The winners will face off Saturday for the championship.

“Hockey has really given me everything. Everything that I’ve done has revolved around if for pretty much my entire life, every decision that I’ve made,” Levin said in a phone interview.

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“It brought me to Alaska. It brought me to Denver. Every experience I’ve had, positive or negative, but mostly positive, has been because of hockey, and I’m very thankful for all the places that the game has taken me. It’s sad that it’s coming to end but hopefully we can go out with a bang here.”

Gretzky’s influence is visible on the Frozen Four rosters. One of Levin’s teammates, junior forward Trevor Moore, is from Thousand Oaks. Quinnipiac, located in Hamden, Conn., has senior captain Soren Jonzzon of Mountain View and defenseman Alex Miner-Barron of Glendora. Boston College goaltender Thatcher Demko of San Diego, who played for the Junior Gulls and Junior Kings, is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey and the Mike Richter Award as the top goalie. He was chosen by Vancouver in the second round of the 2014 entry draft. Boston College also has junior defenseman Scott Savage of San Clemente.

That should silence anyone skeptical about hockey’s foothold in California.

“It’s definitely growing,” said Levin, an alternate captain of the Pioneers. “A lot of people haven’t quite realized it yet so you still get the jokes, ‘Oh, you’re from California?’ But that’s kind of rare now.”

Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen