One former Ranger honored a retiring sports media legend.
Wild forward Mats Zuccarello took the ice during warmups at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night and donned a No. 40 “Rosen” jersey to honor Sam Rosen, the Rangers’ television play-by-play man who is in his 40th and final season on the mic.
Zuccarello spent the first eight and half seasons of his NHL career with the Rangers after he signed with the team as an undrafted free agent in the summer of 2010.
“How cool is this, wearing No. 40 in honor of Sam Rosen for his 40th and final season in the booth,” MSG pregame host John Giannone said. “Zucc, you’re awesome.”
Rosen, 77, has been honored across the league this year, and at the end of March, the Rangers held a formal pregame ceremony to commemorate his four-decade run calling games.
His broadcast partner Joe Micheletti joined the ceremony, and while former partners, Phil Esposito and John Davidson, got Rosen a golden mic.
“I’m nervous about it — to be the center of attention here in this building, a building that I’ve been coming to since it opened in ’68, when we had the gondola as our broadcast location,” Rosen said the celebration. “I’ve felt the crowds. I’ve felt the building shake. I remember a Billy Joel concert on New Year’s Eve, and I said to my wife at the time, ‘If the Rangers ever win the Cup, it’s going to be just like this — and even better.’ And in ’94, that was the greatest moment.
“To do a Game 7 in your home building, for the team that I’ve rooted for all my life, and to call that game, it can’t get any better than that.”
Rosen and Davidson, who called games together from 1986-2006, will reunite for an NHL on TNT Rangers-Flyers game on April 9.
