Frank King’s grandson chasing NHL dream on WinSport ice

A rookie with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers, Carter King is often thinking of his late grandfather as he arrives for practices at WinSport.

As he puts it, “It’s hard not to.”

Frank King was one of visionaries and driving forces behind the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games, serving as the chairman of the Calgary Olympic Development Association and Calgary Organizing Committee.

WinSport is born from the legacy of that international sporting spectacle. It’s now also the official practice home of the Wranglers, the top affiliate for the Calgary Flames.

For Carter King, who at 24 is living the double dream of playing professional hockey in the same city where he was raised, Frank’s impact is frequently on his mind whenever the up-and-coming forward is at the rink or even admiring the view as he drives into Canada Olympic Park.

Frank passed in 2018 at the age of 81.

“My grandpa was awesome,” Carter said. “If there’s one thing he wanted, it was just being able to have everyone have fun and enjoy themselves. He was the happiest person ever. So, when you see a place like this, where you have people going down on tubes, skiing, snowboarding, all that kind of stuff, you know he’d be happy with how things are here.”

Before Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics in 2010, Frank King was invited to run a leg in the torch relay. He brought his extended family along.

At the age of eight, Carter remembers passing the torch back and forth with his siblings and cousins and thinking to himself that his grandfather “must have done something pretty big.” That is certainly backed up by Frank’s long list of accolades and awards — Olympic Order in Gold, Order of Canada, Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame and on and on. 

“Honestly, you look back and you almost wish it hit you a little earlier,” Carter said. “Because growing up, he was just my grandpa. I didn’t have the perspective or the context for what he was able to do and the impact he had on the community. He was just my grandpa, and that’s how things were.

“But growing up and learning more and more and especially looking back now, just to realize the magnitude of the impact he had on the community and what he did, it’s really cool.”

‘Really cool’ might be how Frank would describe what his grandson is doing these days.

Some of the Flames’ best players, including top scoring threat Matt Coronato and star netminder Dustin Wolf, honed their skills with the Wranglers, who have made WinSport their home practice base since moving to Calgary in 2022 and have their own dedicated locker-room and coaching offices. Hunter Brzustewicz, Devin Cooley, Matvei Gridin, Adam Klapka, Yan Kuznetsov, Martin Pospisil and Connor Zary are also on that alumni list.

While the Wranglers are just one step below the NHL, Carter and his teammates are not the only WinSport users chasing big dreams on these four rinks.

There were 13,318 ice bookings in 2025. Those span a wide range from discover or development and learn-to-skate camps to figure skating, minor hockey, ringette and sledge hockey games and non-contact, rec action in the WinSport Hockey Calgary League (WHCL).

The Flames host their annual summer development camp at WinSport. Canada’s Para ice hockey team gathered here for a six-day training camp in November, part of their preparation for a silver-medal finish at the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, while the Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres of the Professional Women’s Hockey League will stop by for practices and an autograph session when the Takeover Tour comes to Calgary on March 31-April 1. The Sceptres had six players on Canada’s roster at the 2026 Winter Olympics, while the Charge had three.

The SAIT Trojans are also playing their home games at WinSport. Their men’s squad just captured the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference title with a sweep of the championship series.

According to his grandson, Frank King “loved watching hockey.” Frank was a Flames fan — and would undoubtedly be a Wranglers fan — but for the chairman of the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games, it wasn’t only about pursuing sport at the high-performance level.

“He was huge into sports for kids, being able to get everyone involved and just having those spaces where kids get to exercise, be a part of a team, all that kind of stuff,” Carter said. “That was just his nature — bringing people together, bringing a team together and making sure everyone was having fun.

“It was just all about ensuring that everyone was enjoying it.”