Nick Fotiu became the first New York City native to play for the New York Rangers when he made his NHL debut on October 6, 1976. Out of more than 1,100 players who have played for the Rangers in their first 99 seasons, only 30 were born in New York State, and even fewer came from New York City.
Fotiu’s path to joining the Rangers was influenced by Emile Francis, a former head coach and general manager of the team. Nearly ten years before Fotiu signed with the club, Francis established the Metropolitan Junior Hockey Association and predicted that within a decade, a New York native would play for the team.
Fotiu attended his first NHL game at Madison Square Garden in February 1968. “Going to that game was very special,” Fotiu said recently. “I can still remember seeing the ice and how bright it was. There was this feeling that went right through me.”
After attending that game, Fotiu began sleeping outside Madison Square Garden to secure playoff tickets and started learning how to play hockey during that summer. He faced challenges accessing indoor rinks, traveling several hours from Staten Island to Skateland in New Hyde Park on Long Island for instruction. “It took three hours to get from Staten Island to Skateland,” Fotiu said. Sometimes he stayed with relatives in Greenwich Village to shorten his commute.
Despite skepticism from friends about starting hockey late—many NHL players begin skating as young children—Fotiu remained determined: “I said, ‘I’m going to play (for the Rangers).’ I knew I could make it, I just needed time.”
He joined the Met League created by Francis as a member of the New Hyde Park Arrows and also attended Rod Gilbert’s hockey school at Skateland. Gilbert remembered working with him: “I remember his desire,” Gilbert said shortly before Fotiu made his debut with the Rangers in 1976. “We worked on his skating. The next thing was to teach him to keep his position.”
By age 21, Fotiu started his professional career in the North American Hockey League with Cape Cod—the shared farm team of both Boston Bruins and Rangers—where he led the league in penalty minutes during one season while also contributing offensively.
Fotiu later played two seasons with the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association before returning to join the Rangers under John Ferguson’s leadership as head coach and general manager.
Before his first pre-season game at Madison Square Garden on September 23, 1976, Fotiu began throwing pucks into The Garden’s Blue Seats—a gesture intended for fans like himself who once sat farthest from ice-level action but rarely received souvenirs. This act became a tradition throughout his time playing in New York.
“That was the fun part of hockey for me,” Fotiu said recently. “I always wanted a puck when I was sitting in the Blue Seats… It was my time. I had all of Madison Square Garden to myself. I enjoyed it, throwing pucks and interacting with kids that were there.”
In that pre-season contest against Boston Bruins, Fotiu scored what turned out to be the winning goal in a high-scoring victory and received a standing ovation from fans: “I’d like to have been in the stands watching me,” Fotiu said after the game. “It was unbelievable.”
During eight seasons with New York, including helping them reach the Stanley Cup Final in 1979, Fotiu maintained close ties with fans and took pride in being both supporter and player: “I was in the stands (before), so I couldn’t let fans down (when I played),” he explained.
“I had to go out and play with 100% effort all time… You play for fans… The louder they cheered, harder I hit… The fans would go crazy because they knew something was going happen.”
“I think Madison Square Garden is my cathedral,” he added.” That is where I knew I was going play.”
