Bettman, Mayer, Robitaille Hiller talk Skate for LA Strong, which takes place today at 3 PM

The Skate For LA Strong will take place this afternoon at Crypto.com Arena, featuring celebrities, NHL Hall of Famers, Kings alumni and first responders from around Los Angeles.

Headlining the player participants will be Justin Bieber and Steve Carell, as well as former NHL greats and Hockey Hall of Fame members Rob Blake, Cammi Granato, Mark Messier, and Jeremy Roenick. Joining the four teams as honorary coaches will be Danny DeVito, Snoop Dogg, Will Ferrell, Al Michaels, Cobie Smulders, Hannah Stocking, Vince Vaughn and Andrew Whitworth. All four teams’ rosters are shown below.

Also here in Los Angeles is NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who took in last night’s game versus Utah and will be here again today for the games in Los Angeles.

“We like to view hockey and sports as an opportunity to bring people together,” Bettman said. “We’ve always made it one of our values that if we can make a difference in the lives of the people that are in the communities in which we server and have franchises, we should be doing that. That’s what we try to do……coming here was important.”

Also speaking on the game yesterday was NHL Presider, Content & Events Steve Mayer and Kings Head Coach Jim Hiller. Both spoke in-depthly about the game today and the importance that today will bring to the community.

Steve Mayer – NHL President, Content & Events
What happened here was horrific and affected not only the people of Los Angeles, but everywhere. Back in New York, we immediately talked about, what can we do. We made a call to Luc Robitaille and Luc had already thought of the exact same idea and when great minds think alike, we said let’s do this. We put our teams together and we’ve been working for the last month or so together. It’s been quite an experience to get to this point. There’s going to be quite a list. I think we released a new list today, quite a group of celebrities who are really into this, not only because it’s going to be fun and they’re going to get to hockey at Crypto.com [Arena] but because they’re giving to a great cause. We think we’re going to raise a lot of money. The crowd here is made up of firefighters, first responders, displaced families. We announced some pretty big names who literally can’t wait till tomorrow. We got one call from a guy named Bieber who is really looking forward to it and that’s what this is all about. It’s the people that are out there are true hockey lovers and and this is their way to give back. So it’s really cool.

Jim Hiller – LA Kings Head Coach
It’s really good. I think what happens is we all went through it in our own way and then life happens, life goes on and everybody moves on to these other things. I think it’s great that we have the opportunity to go back, thank, respect, think back to what happened and how bad it was and at least just show, in another way, show some support, raise some funds for sure. Of course, we’ve got a terrific lineup of players, celebrities coming in. I think it’s going to be a great day. It’s going to be a great hockey day and obviously the funds that are going to be raised are going to the right people.

Luc Robitaille – LA Kings President
We are overwhelmed by the support we have received from the NHL and our Broadcasting Family at Fan Duel Sports Network, The Walt Disney Company, Sportsnet, truTV, KCAL, Pluto TV and Samsung, and by the willingness of so many friends, industry colleagues and so many throughout the NHL family who are eagerly joining us to create this platform to help those who have been decimated by this tragedy. We have seen so much being done to help but the work doesn’t stop. We all believe we must keep doing everything in our power to help these victims and displaced families recover and rebuild their lives. We expect this to be a celebration of our city and an opportunity for us to continue to do all we can to bring some joy and light back into the lives of so many who have lost so much.

The teams will play in a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. Each team will play one game in the semifinals with two, ten-minute halves and the winners will advance to the final. Expecting actual game play to start around 3:20 PM today, with the broadcast kicking off at 3 PM. Skate For LA Strong will be broadcast live on multiple national and local media platforms including ESPN2, ESPN+, Disney+, Hulu, truTV, Sportsnet, FanDuel Sports Network, KCAL-TV, Pluto TV and Samsung TV Plus beginning at 3 p.m. (PT).

From the team’s release yesterday –

Taking place at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. (PT), the exhibition hockey game will feature four teams playing in a single elimination format. Each team’s roster includes a mix of celebrities, NHL Alumni and hockey dignitaries as well as local first responders from LAFD, LAcoFD and LAPD.

Skate For LA Strong will be broadcast live on multiple national and local media platforms including ESPN2, ESPN+, Disney+, Hulu, truTV, Sportsnet, FanDuel Sports Network, KCAL-TV, Pluto TV and Samsung TV Plus beginning at 3 p.m. (PT).

The event will also feature musical performances Producer and DJ, Kaskade, award-winning, multi-platinum singer/songwriter Jordan Davis and critically-acclaimed, multi-platinum songstress Lauren Spencer-Smith.

The event is supported by generous contributions from Mercury Insurance, Delta Air Lines, Iron Bow Technologies, Blue Shield of California, DICK’s Sporting Goods, ABM, Yaamava’ Resort & Casino, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation, Big Bear Mountain Resort, Venbrook, Lucas Oil, Vivid Seats, First Round’s On Me, Toshiba and SoCalGas.