PACOIMA : At-Risk Youths Skating Away From Gangs

Nine months ago they were the Bad News Bears of the hockey world, a team that had never seen the inside of ice skating rink, much less laced up a pair of skates or picked up a hockey stick.

But a lot has changed since December. Just ask Kings star Luc Robitaille.

“It was incredible--they couldn’t even stand up,” the Kings’ left winger said of the fledgling team that had just formed under the Los Angeles Police Department’s Jeopardy gang-diversion program. “But now they’re really good.”

As participants in the program, which is run by two officers from the Police Department’s Pacoima-based Foothill Division, the youngsters are encouraged to get involved in team sports and other activities as a way to avoid gangs.

Showing off their newly learned slap shots at the Iceoplex in North Hills on Thursday, the at-risk youths ranging in age from 12 to 15 said goodby to Robitaille, who leaves for the Kings’ training camp later this month.

“He’s a pretty cool guy,” said Kelly Scott, one of two females on the 12-member crew. “He’s normal, just like a regular person. That’s what I like most about him.” Besides skating with the kids over the past few months, Robitaille secured uniforms for the youngsters with a well-placed call to his supplier.

Yolanda Chavez said the after-school games got her son, Cruz Perez, to “open up” and have more interest in other things. “He never misses practice,” Chavez said. “This is really good for my son. It help keeps him off the street.”

Robitaille, who lives in Hidden Hills, said the program offers a chance to promote the game he loves.

“Hockey is a great game,” said the lanky Canadian native, who last year scored a record number of goals for his left-wing position. “And it will teach these kids something, because it’s a game you can’t play without friends. It’s a game you can’t play alone.”