CHECK THAT: Actor Tim Robbins is among the in-line hockey enthusiasts who are getting run out of a Village park space after two decades of a popular pickup game. (
)
The city has put a long-standing Greenwich Village hockey game on ice — outraging weekend warriors who say their scrimmages have become part of the fabric of the neighborhood.
Players recently tried to renew a permit to play at William F. Passannante Ballfield, at Sixth Avenue and Houston — only to be cross-checked by the Parks Department.
“I think it’s terrible,” said Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins, an occasional player, before the final game at the park last Saturday. “It is a cross-section of New Yorkers. There are doctors, musicians. It’s a pretty special group of people, and this is kind of what New York is all about: sharing space.”
But not everyone is as enthusiastic.
“We’ve been getting complaints about people being hit with hockey pucks,” said Parks Department spokesman Phil Abramson.
Residents also have claimed that players monopolize the park and that their games place other users at risk, Abramson added.
Some critics went so far as to videotape games with the hope of catching bad behavior, and others have faced off verbally with players, a source said.
For more than 20 years, hockey lovers have laced up their in-line skates for the Saturday and Sunday afternoon games.
About a year ago, the complaints sparked the city to inform players that they’d need a Parks-issued permit to play. Those who applied were granted a permit — but last month their renewal application was rejected. Now, the city says, it’s looking for another patch of asphalt for the players.
“We’re really trying to relocate them to an actual roller-hockey rink,” said Abramson.
Atop the list is the Tanahey Playground, at Cherry and Catherine streets, near the FDR Drive between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.
The site includes a dedicated roller-hockey rink. The problem, according to one of the Village hockey regulars, is that the suggested playground is two miles away from their beloved makeshift rink.
“What’s special about our game is it’s a neighborhood game,” said Ben Kornitzer, 32, a doctor who plays every week.
“Whatever they want, we’re willing to accommodate them. But anyone who doesn’t see that what’s been going on here for 20 years is magical is absolutely blind.”
Some of the magic involves using the games to raise money for a Harlem ice-hockey league.
“There’s no valid reason to shut this down,” said Mark Nucci, 52, of Bay Ridge, who travels from Brooklyn to play. “We all work and pay our taxes. We have as much right to be here as anyone else.”
Among those put off by the decision was Daniel Krause, 14, of the Lower East Side, who said he looks up to the older players.
“If we’re not playing here, I feel like this park is almost wasted,” Krause said. “No one’s gonna be here. And that just sucks, to know that maybe the two or three people that don’t want us to play are gonna stop maybe about 50 guys.”
Additional reporting by Dan MacLeod