Hurricane Sandy Hits Home for Nick Fotiu

Not much has ever scared Nick Fotiu.

It’s hard to shake someone driven enough to find his way from the Berry Houses in Dongan Hills to the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, and a career that included facing down one NHL tough guy after another as one of the Rangers’ all-time fan favorites.

But once the 60-year-old Fotiu had gotten as far as Hylan Boulevard and Midland Avenue a couple of days after Sandy’s visit to Staten Island, the tough-as-nails winger, who used to spar heavyweight contender Renaldo Snipes for the pure fun of it, really didn’t want to get any closer to the beaches he used to call home.

“I was afraid of what I was going to see next,” admitted Fotiu, who had driven down from his Falmouth, Mass., home, a load of emergency clothing in the back of a pickup.