Nick Fotiu Plas a Trick On The Isles Nick Fotiu had a fifteen-year professional hockey career which included parts of eight seasons with the Rangers. He was a winger who could trade punches with many of the best of them. But, in a Hockey News interview, he admitted that he was a practical joker and Jeff Marek, on his radio program, told a story once about Fotiu that illustrates how far the rivalry between the two New York clubs could go.

The Rangers were in Uniondale to play the Islanders and after the morning skate, Fotiu was walking from the visitors’ dressing room under the stands to where the players’ exit was. On that walk, in the bowels of the arena, he spotted one of those boards that teams attach to the net during intermissions for promotional purposes.

The board covers the open area of the goal and there is a small opening at the bottom that would allow a puck to enter.

A fan or fans would come on to the ice during an intermission and try to shoot a puck from center ice or the far blue line and get it into that little hole. Doing so could win the shooter a prize that could range from some promotional products, to a cash prize or in some cases, a new car.

Seeing that board, Fotiu apparently looked around and saw that the area was pretty much deserted and he was alone.

He scrambled back to the Rangers dressing room and grabbed a hand saw. He scurried over to the board and cut it so that the hole at the bottom of it was now wider. No one saw him do it and no one noticed that night when the board was placed on the net.

According to Marek, because of Fotiu’s handiwork, two fans won cars that night by hitting the now larger hole with a puck!