Put it over the radio: New York\u2019s Bravest and Finest will light the lamps on the ice this weekend.<\/p>\n
The annual NYPD and FDNY hockey game \u2014 a grudge match filled with flying fists, punishing hits and high-octane play from the departments\u2019 heroes \u2014 is a day circled on every first responder\u2019s calendar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is basically our Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final,\u201d firefighter and goalie Nick Battaglia told The Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first two minutes of that game, everyone wants to kill each other. Nobody\u2019s worried about the puck,\u201d added NYPD general manager and former captain Charlie Venticinque. \u201cIf you have the puck, you\u2019re getting tanked.\u201d<\/p>\n
The game sells out NHL arenas year after year, and this time at UBS Arena at 1:30 p.m. Sunday will be no different. Fans and family come ready to roar and even bring banners and signs for their kin to make it feel like the real deal.<\/p>\n
Months on end, teammates in their mid-20s to late-40s have been doing whatever it takes to be in game, or rather fighting, shape.<\/p>\n
They want to put on a show in the 52nd annual head-to-head meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys are missing work, missing overtime, missing things with their family, switching their tours around,\u201d said newly anointed NYPD captain and defenseman George Antzoulis. \u201cGuys are staying at work for three days straight, going from hockey back to work, sleeping in the office, sleeping in chairs, sleeping in their cars in the parking lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a labor of love, pride, and brotherhood, as tugging on that jersey \u2014 Antzoulis knows stepping on the ice with the \u201cC\u201d on his chest will be an emotional moment \u2014 represents something much larger than the individual athlete. <\/p>\n
They\u2019re always reminded of that in the locker room on game day.<\/p>\n
DNY goalie Nick Battaglia says the annual game against the NYPD is \u201cbasically our Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.\u201d Heather Khalifa for New York Post<\/p>\n
Families of members lost in the line of duty have come in to inspire the players, as have the brass of both departments.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get chills,\u201d said NYPD center and alternate captain Dan O\u2019Donoghue, who was in Islanders rookie camp in 2010.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing the stands fill up, then you do the 9\/11 remembrance, the bagpipes, and the national anthem \u2026 you try to take it all in. It goes really fast.\u201d <\/p>\n
Extra motivation to play through each whistle is hardly necessary \u2014 especially when the archrivals start chirping one another with cop and firefighter jokes.<\/p>\n
When bone-crushing, open-ice hits mix in \u2014 O\u2019Donoghue added that he\u2019s \u201cusually limping around the house a week or so after\u201d \u2014 the gloves \u201corganically\u201d come off, said FDNY right wing Stephen Kelly.<\/p>\n
Dan O\u2019Donoghue of the NYPD played several AHL seasons and attended Islanders rookie camp in 2010 NYPD hockey team<\/p>\n
\u201cThat passion runs through you. \u2026 We stand up for each other, we look out for each other,\u201d he added, recalling a few past brawls that went viral online in the wild game for charity. \u201cIt\u2019s just like your family at home. You\u2019re going to defend them \u2026 whether you\u2019re at work or on the hockey rink. That\u2019s the fire department brotherhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
The temporary adversaries, many of whom grew up playing with or against one another, remember they\u2019re all on the same team where it counts after the final buzzer. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, everybody knows it\u2019s a hockey game,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n
The teams are now celebrities in the hockey world from their remarkable style of lambasting physical play \u2014 it gets the rowdy crowd going like an Islanders-Rangers game \u2014 as they travel across the country to face other teams and organizations.<\/p>\n
NYPD captain George Antzoulis gets into a scrap with an FDNY player during a previous game between the two rivals. NYPD hockey team<\/p>\n
The NYPD recently took on the Boston PD, and the FDNY typically lands in an Ontario firefighter hockey tournament, where the opposition is in a league of its own.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose departments, they recruit hockey players to be firemen,\u201d firefighter forward Derek Kern said of the Canadians. \u201cThey have draft picks, they have guys that played in the NHL.\u201d<\/p>\n
FDNY\u2019s high level of competition has paid off, as red hasn\u2019t lost to blue in a decade.<\/p>\n
They also hold a 31-18-2 all-time record against the NYPD, dating back to the first game at Madison Square Garden in 1974.<\/p>\n
But the cops want to read \u2019em their rights this time around.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re due. Man, we need one \u2026 it\u2019s something I\u2019m dying for,\u201d Antzoulis said.<\/p>\n
But if not, the captain is content having an unforgettable day with his brothers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are 33,000 cops in the NYPD, and there are only 30 of us,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re the luckiest 30 in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Put it over the radio: New York\u2019s Bravest and Finest will light the lamps on the ice this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[23581,23580,23582,307,223],"class_list":{"0":"post-40411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ubs","8":"tag-fdny","9":"tag-long-island","10":"tag-nypd","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-ubs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116306860281274630","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}