By Kenneth Aaron, Staff Reporter
It wasn't long ago that, to some New York Rangers, the Bronx was just a place they drove through on their way to practice.
No more. The Rangers, along with Nike and the National Hockey League, are trying to bring the game to places where it hasn't been visible before. And after lending time, coaching skills, and $50,000 worth of equipment, they are trying to mold another Grant Fuhr -- one of just a handful of minority players currently playing professionally.
"When you turn on MSG and see it, you used to just turn the channel," said Derek Martinez, 11, one of the Street Rangers at the Kips Bay Boys & Girls club in Parkchester. "But it's pretty fun to watch -- and play."
Martinez, a floor hockey veteran, clambered onto the hardwood with his black stick and started shooting.
The Rangers, fresh off of their first Stanley Cup championship since 1940, have newfound popularity across the city. And they eagerly await applications from neighborhood groups that want a piece of the program. The sticks and pucks -- as well as nets and goalie pads, gloves, and masks -- came from NHL and Nike grants of up to $2,000 for each squad of Street Rangers. In the borough, those include Castle Hill's Pathways for Youth, the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club, the YMCA, and Kips Bay. With budget cuts for nearly every city agency looming, privately supported programs like this are becoming increasingly important to city-sponsored facilities.
"If you want to introduce something new, or enhance something that is, it's got to come from somewhere," said a grateful Neil Berger, Castle Hill's executive director.
Bronx hockey is not a new idea -- of the different sites, only the YMCA has never had any involvement with floor hockey. But with the Rangers' name attached, hockey is earning more respect than ever. Across the city, over 3,000 potential Mark Messiers have signed onto the Street Rangers, with 2,000 more expected by the end of the year.
"Hockey is looked on as a Caucasian sport and it's not just a Caucasian sport," said Ed Roldan, the director of social recreation at Kips Bay.
"The potential is there," said Ranger spokesman Jim Pfeifer, who acknowledged that most of the team's community involvement prior to this venture consisted of on-ice training and visits to rinks by players. "It's a chance to get kids out there and give them another opportunity."
About ten other NHL teams are also running their own programs now; the San Jose Sharks were the first, with their "Sharks for Parks" operation. The NHL hopes to have programs up in each of the 26 league cities before long.
At Kips Bay, a dozen kids in the stands waved hands at Roldan to attract his attention. "Eddie, I can play!" yelled 10-year-old Johnny Torres. He turned and said, "When I told my friends I was going to play hockey, they told me I was too short. They started teasing me."
Now, they're playing with him.