Sam Rosen reflects on his final season and the Rangers memories that defined his career

I recently had the opportunity to interview Sam Rosen, and wanted to share some of our conversation for the readers of Blue Line Station. During our recording with Sam, what stood out most to me was his clear passion for the Rangers even after resigning from being their play-by-play announcer. He shared with us his thoughts from the initial moments of the season, and kept his perennial optimism for the bright future within the New York Rangers organization. Here are some of my favorite moments from the episode, with the full appearance available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

If there was another 40-year career you could have that wasn't in hockey, what would it be?

"You know, Joe, I love all sports, and I've been that way all my life, but I played baseball, so I always prided myself as being a baseball guy. But what I've always told perspective broadcasters, people who wanted to go into the business and make it a career, is be versatile, know the different sports, know the players, know the rules, so that when the opportunity presents itself, you can say, yes, I can do that.

When I first started at Madison Square Garden as a fill-in for Marv Albert on Knicks basketball, I started out doing basketball. A year after that, they came to me and said, can you do hockey? And I said, sure, I can do hockey. I gave them the tapes that I had. They liked it. And I've been doing hockey ever since. I think you have to grab the opportunity in this business where it presents itself, and be ready for it.

The answer to your question is, I guess if you said to me, ‘Sam, you can do a season of Yankees baseball.’ I wouldn't mind doing that. That would be fun."

What was your personal favorite call from your career?

"I would say to you that I've always brought the attitude and the feeling about the sport of hockey that you never know when that next great play is going to happen. And I've had the privilege and the joy of watching some of the greatest players in the game ever to come through Madison Square Garden Hall of Famers. And you just never know when that moment is.

I think when you ask about calls, the first call always has to be, in my mind and my heart, is winning the Stanley Cup. There is nothing that compares to that.
 And then, one of the calls that I love a lot was the Mika Zibanejad five-goal game when he scored his fifth goal as a game winner in overtime. That was one that always sticks out in my mind. 


A lot of the calls that I think about, as to me, those great moments are in the playoffs, like Panarin with an overtime power play goal to win game seven against the Pittsburgh Penguins. So it's moments like that that always stick with you."

When Joe Micheletti announced he would also be retiring, did this come as a surprise, or were you made aware of the decision?

"I was surprised because Joe, to his great credit and his great class, let me kind of have the spotlight making that final season tour around the league. And when people would ask Joe, 'well, what about you, Joe?' and Joe would always say, 'Oh, I'll be around.' Joe was offered a contract extension at the beginning of last season. Joe's a big family man, comes from a big family. He is someone that just loves his family so deeply. He's lost a couple of siblings to cancer.

During the course of the season, I'd see him on the phone talking to his brothers, a couple that were suffering from cancer and their families. And it always had an impact on him. It really, you can see that it bothered him when his brothers were not doing well. It got to the end of the season after a couple of times being offered an extension, where he and his wife Kathy decided, you know what? It’d be a good thing to spend more time with the family, and that's what they decided.

He called me a few days before he made the announcement to give me a heads up and to let me know. It did surprise me because Joe's got so much left in the tank, great broadcaster, so knowledgeable about the game, and respected around the league, as I mentioned, by coaches and players everywhere we went. So it was a bit of a surprise, but I have tremendous respect for Joe and loved the 19 years that we worked together."

Was there a specific moment from the farewell tour around the league that touched you the most?

“Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning, because we were in Tampa, after the morning skate, Jon Cooper had a meeting with the media, and he's talking, and he stops his question and answer session with the media, to call me over and single me out, and say nice things about my career, and handed me a beautiful bottle of Cabernet. I thanked him. It was great. And then Jon found out, Joe probably told him, that I like Merlot. And so when I got to the booth at 5 p.m. that night for the game, right on the desk in front of my microphone was a bottle of Merlot with a note from Jon Cooper. He signed the bottle. So that was kind of special.

The Philadelphia Flyers gave me a brick from the old Spectrum where the Flyers used to play. That was something. Lou Lamoriello, before he left the Islanders, gave me a small silver stick engraved with the date and the team that we played in my first game full time in 1984. It was the 4-4 tie, Rangers and the Hartford Whalers, and that was that was also touching. I've known Lou for a long time. And he's a great person to be around. If you ever need anything, you call Lou.”

He remained positive throughout our other conversations that the Rangers would find away back into the playoff conversation this season, sighting budding young forward Noah Laba, the promotion of captain J.T. Miller, and the appointment of Mike Sullivan as head coach. In a way, I needed to hear Sam tell us one more time that everything will be alright in Rangers world.

After being incredibly generous with his time, just like he was with the decades of his life he gave to us from the broadcasting booth, he signed off in style, with a hearty "Let's go Rangers" and of course his calling card "It's a power play goal!".