Skate for LA Strong charity game helps community come together for wildfire recovery

LOS ANGELES -- Teams come together in different ways, as Skate for LA Strong showed with first responders, celebrities and NHL alumni taking the ice at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday to support relief efforts for the wildfires that devastated greater Los Angeles last month.

Fittingly, sports have been at the forefront of helping the region address the disaster, starting on Jan. 13, when 12 professional teams, including the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks, came together to pledge more than $8 million in donations. Additional efforts have included raising funds through charity auctions and the sale of special merchandise, staging relief drives, and recognizing first responders.

“Sports are like the common denominator that always bring people together,” said Matt Leinart, the 2004 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at USC who is now a college football analyst. “You know, they bring communities together, whether it’s hockey, football, basketball. I probably speak for a lot of people, we knew a lot of people impacted by the fires, friends, family. And so just for the Kings to put this day on with the first responders and just show their support and try to raise money for a great cause … just to be a part of this with such a great organization is awesome to be a part of.”

Leinart played on Team White as part of the four-team mini-tournament, memorably whiffing on a one-timer to give actor Noah LaLonde a breakaway the other way in the first semifinal. LaLonde, who played Tier 1 youth hockey growing up, scored.

A two-time national champion with the Trojans, it wasn’t Leinart’s finest moment in a competitive setting. But it probably gave those in the arena or watching elsewhere a momentary break from the unimaginable scope and scale of the fires, which killed at least 29 people and destroyed more than 10,000 homes.

Andrew Whitworth, an offensive lineman who played 16 seasons in the NFL and won Super Bowl LVI with the Los Angeles Rams in February 2022, said athletes relish the chance to offer that break from the real world for even a few minutes.

“Hurricane Katrina was my senior (year at LSU) in Baton Rouge, and obviously the devastation in New Orleans and that surrounding area impacted that area still today,” said Whitworth, who was one of the celebrity coaches for Team White. “People would come up to you and say, ‘Hey, I lost everything, but I still have my LSU season tickets. So, please, you guys go win on Saturdays.’ Just that reprieve, to get away for a minute and think about something else and be inspired. And so, as athletes, I think it’s one of the greatest obligations we have.”

For Roger Sackaroff of the Los Angeles City Fire Department, his respite came as a member of Team Blue, where six-time Stanley Cup winner Mark Messier, actor Michael Rosenbaum, and famed hockey tough guy Theo Fleury formed an unlikely first line to advance to the championship game.

It was only the second-best team Sackaroff was a part over the past seven weeks, behind the group of local, national and international fire fighters who worked to save lives and property.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the job that all the firefighters did. Our guys were obviously there the first day, but over the course of time, it was a rainbow of fire engines,” Sackaroff said.

“I’m just super proud. It’s like a hockey team, it’s like the 4 Nations. Everybody comes together from different teams to get the job done and try to do the best they can.”