Renovated Crenshaw Family YMCA unveiled

LOS ANGELES -- Jeff Carter, the newly minted father, was getting a small glimpse into his future.
"There's five across and five down," Carter said as he pointed to a computer screen.
"Twenty-five," a child answered.
"Oh, right. Five times five is 25," another child said.
"I was right!" the first child said.

This was a fun test run for Carter, the Los Angeles Kings center who became a father in November and likely will be working on multiplication skills with his son, Caden Jeffrey, in the not-so-distant future.
OK, in a few years.
Carter was sitting at a table with six youngsters in the STEAM Lab (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) on Friday at the newly renovated Crenshaw Family YMCA, a joint effort by the NHL and the Kings. The renovated indoor and outdoor spaces were unveiled as part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Legacy Project.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, AEG president and CEO Dan Beckerman, Kings president of business operations Luc Robitaille, Carter and Arizona Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith attended the event.
"In the course of the last few years we made a particular commitment as a League of giving back to the communities where we play and around a special event, whether it's an outdoor game, the All-Star Game or draft," Commissioner Bettman said.

"We're going to be proud of the fact when this All-Star weekend is over and the celebration is done and the players come back to their teams and our guests go back to their cities, we will have left something behind in Los Angeles that has made a difference in people's lives."
Commissioner Bettman spoke about the enduring presence of the project.
"It's more than getting new fans," he said. "It's about using sports to teach the lessons of our game."

Robitaille agreed that the impact will go well beyond the All-Star weekend.
"We've committed a million dollars," Robitaille said. "We're going to get all the kids sticks. We're going to teach them hockey and it's going to be part of the programs. To me, that's the really cool thing. I grew up doing that. Everybody thought we played on the ice, but we didn't. We played with the ball on the street.
"That's the next step for the Kings. We want to get a bunch of kids doing that."