Josh Schonbrun stands about 6 feet from the goal, eyes Rangers star Henrik Lundqvist guarding against a score and volleys the puck around with the tip of his stick. Then he arches back and swats the disk toward a crouching Lundqvist. Bang! It slams past No. 30 and lodges into the net.
No, Schonbrun is not some heretofore unknown NHL star. He’s actually an 18-year-old college student from Brooklyn.
The Lundqvist he shoots against is not the real thing, but a digitized, motion-sensitive version of the Rangers goalie.
It’s just one feature at RangersTown Square, a sort of clubhouse for Blueshirts fans who lack tickets to the playoff games. Action brews inside and outside of the 3,500-square-foot A-frame structure, right next to the Madison Square Garden home ice. On Saturday afternoon (and on other upcoming game days), fans can celebrate their team while watching the action on a giant video screen on West 33rd Street, just off Seventh Avenue, and indulge in face-painting, grooving to a live band and competing at Skee Puck (like skee-ball but with a stick and puck).
As for Schonbrun’s shot on goal, he tells The Post, “I love the team so much that it felt weird for me to be shooting against a Ranger goalie. But, I have to admit, it still felt good to get one past him.”
Pre-game, on Thursday night, Schonbrun mixes it up with other fanatics at RangersTown. They wear jerseys, don autograph-festooned hats and exude enthusiasm for the 91-year-old franchise that’s aiming to snag its fifth Stanley Cup.
Across from faux Lundqvist, a virtual-reality set-up puts fans in the thick of the action. Queens resident Samantha Krapukaitis, 27, dons giant goggles and enjoys VR proximity. “It was cool,” she says. “You’re in the locker room, you’re on the ice, you’re taking shots with the team. It’s as close to that experience as I am going to get.”
Her favorite player? “Mats Zuccarello. He’s little and feisty — like me!”
Those hungering for the real thing — flesh-and-blood players giving autographs and sharing opinions — gravitate to a clutch of directors’ chairs, where stars from the past rotate through RangersTown. Brian Mullen and Colton Orr are slated to be on hand Saturday. On Thursday night, Ron Greschner is among the legends. “As a former player, it’s nice to see the loyalty that these people have toward a team,” Greschner says, adding that he’s optimistic about the Rangers snagging the Cup. “I think they can go all the way. I’m in a pool and have the final as Rangers beating the Oilers, winning in six games and scoring 33 goals in the finals.”
Tamar Lowenthal, a 23-year-old speech pathologist from Staten Island, watches her husband, Reuven, pose for a shot with Greschner. “You see the camaraderie of the players and feel like you can be part of it here,” she says, adding that the Rangers actually contribute to their marriage. “They give us something to have in common. When there is a game on, it means that we will both be on the sofa, watching.”
In a room full of people who live and die with every shot on goal, one fan stands out dramatically. Whitney Theobalds, a 30-year-old receptionist from Brooklyn, wears a Rangers T-shirt, has a Rangers flag draped like Superman’s cape around her neck, shields her eyes with Rangers-logoed sunglasses and has “LGR” (Let’s Go Rangers) painted on her cheekbones. She poses for pictures in an ersatz Rangers locker room and acknowledges that her favorite thing at RangersTown is the 360-degree green screen and video rig that combine to place fans on the ice.
Co-workers will not be surprised that she is here tonight. “I line up a stack of Rangers pucks on my desk and keep a practice jersey on the back of my chair,” she says, explaining that her team obsession leads to friendly friction at the office. “I have work friends who like the Flyers and Devils. I say, ‘Your guys are playing golf right now. My guys are playing hockey.’ They laugh and storm away.”
As game time nears, fans move outside to watch together on the oversize screen. Rally towels flutter in the air, a chant of “Let’s Go Rangers” rumbles down West 33rd Street, and one zealot proudly holds his autographed hockey stick. Rain begins to drizzle down, but it does nothing to dampen enthusiasm — even though the Rangers will go on to lose to the Ottawa Senators by a goal. As one fan, with blue-colored lips, announces, “I’m die-hard, and I’ll be out here rain or shine!”
RangersTown Square, West 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue, Saturday, noon to 8 p.m. (as well as other days and nights of Rangers postseason games). Admission is free; NHL.com/Rangers/Fans/RangersTown-Square