A 15-year-old Long Island hockey player says he was “hurt pretty bad” in a vicious on-ice attack by an opponent’s father – and his own dad vows to sue the assailant, who already faces criminal charges.
Andrew McAvoy, a wing on the Cold Spring Harbor Seahawks team, was allegedly attacked Friday night as his team was just seconds away from notching a 7-2 win against an Oceanside youth team at a Syosset ice rink.
An Oceanside player had been checked hard by a Cold Spring Harbor skater, and play stopped as referees moved to separate the two, while Andrew exchanged words with some of the other team’s skaters.
“I was just near the incident, and they were saying stuff to me,” Andrew told The Post.
Then, without warning, 47-year-old Robert Schmitt, whose son plays for Oceanside but who was not involved in the on-ice dispute, opened a rink gate and walked onto the ice from the spectators’ area, according to witnesses.
Andrew felt a hand grab him from behind, pulling back on his face mask while Schmitt’s right arm went around his throat.
“The dad just came out and put me in a choke hold,” Andrew said. “I was sort of scared at first. I thought it was a player.”
“I could feel it, yeah,” Andrew said of the stranglehold. “It did hurt pretty bad.”
Schmitt let Andrew go and tackled game official Randy Levine to the ice, said Levine. Andrew’s father, not yet aware his son had been attacked, helped pull Schmitt off Levine, and Schmitt fled the rink.
“I was . . . in shock,” said Andrew, a soft-spoken high-school sophomore who plays three other organized sports.
His parents, Mark and Laura McAvoy, were appalled by the attack, which left Andrew with bruises on his neck.
“Some nut job is out on the ice trying to kill my son?” said Laura McAvoy.
Schmitt “should go to jail,” said Mark McAvoy, who also blasted Oceanside coaches and parents who refused to identify Schmitt after police arrived at the rink.
“I’m gonna sue him,” Mark McAvoy said.
Police arrested Schmitt, a contractor, Sunday on misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault and assault with intent to injure.
Andrew said he thinks Schmitt should get jail time.