Ronning played minor hockey in Burnaby. He led his midget team to the 1982 Air Canada Cup, where they won the gold medal. Ronning was named Most Valuable player and led the tournament in scoring. Prior to being drafted, he played in the Western Hockey League for the New Westminster Bruins, displaying the same excellent scoring touch. In 1983–84, Ronning\'s draft year, he posted 136 points in 71 games, earning the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as the league\'s rookie of the year. Due to his small stature (Ronning was 5\'8"), he was not drafted until the seventh round, when the St. Louis Blues picked him 134th overall. The next season, he returned to New Westminster and accumulated an astonishing 197 points, establishing a WHL record (he was later surpassed by Rob Brown\'s 212-point season in 1986–87). Accordingly, Ronning earned the WHL Most Valuable Player Award and the Bob Clarke Trophy as the league\'s leading scorer. Recording just 20 penalty minutes, he was also named the Most Sportsmanlike Player.\n', '

After Ronning\'s record setting season, he joined the Canadian National Team, with whom he played for one and a half seasons. During this stint, Ronning made his first appearance in the NHL with the Blues, playing five games in the 1986 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Ronning began the next season with the National Team again before joining the Blues for the remainder of 1986–87.\n', '

Ronning did not, however, find his full stride in St. Louis. He spent part of 1988–89 with the Blues\' International Hockey League affiliate, the Peoria Rivermen, and played the entirety of the following season in Italy with HC Asiago. When he returned to the Blues in 1990–91, he was traded to his hometown team, the Vancouver Canucks in a five-player deal that sent him with Geoff Courtnall, Robert Dirk, Sergio Momesso and a fifth round draft pick (Brian Loney) in exchange for Garth Butcher and Dan Quinn.\n', '

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