Sam Rosen has been the voice of the New York Rangers for four decades, but he is soon going to put down the microphone, set to retire in a few weeks.

The longtime broadcaster told NY1 in an interview earlier this month that it was time to step away.


What You Need To Know

  • Sam Rosen has been calling games for the Rangers for four decades

  • He is set to retire at the end of this season

  • One of his trademark calls is when the Rangers score on the power play

ā€œI want to go out with people thinking I’m at the top of my game. And I feel that way,ā€ he said. He added that traveling feels longer now than it used to.

ā€œLittle things like that, you realize, you know what, it’s time to slow down a little bit,ā€ he said.

Rosen has been calling games his whole life, going back to his early days growing up in Brooklyn.

ā€œEvery weekend there were roller hockey games, and I sat and watched the games with my friends and I called the games,ā€ he said. ā€œI didn’t know the players. I made up names or put the Rangers’ names into the game.ā€

The Rangers gig was a dream job for him, and it has been one filled with memories over the last several decades. What he called ā€œthe greatest game as a broadcasterā€ was when the Rangers broke their more than 50-year drought in 1994 to win the Stanley Cup.

ā€œTo call that moment, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, and your team — for me, that I’ve been following for basically my entire life — for me to call them winning it after 54 years, doesn’t get any better,ā€ he said.

One of his signature calls happens when the Rangers scored on a power play.

ā€œIt’s a power-play goal,ā€ Rosen booms across televisions in the tristate area.

ā€œKids come up to me. Parents come up to me. They want to hear that call,ā€ he said.

Its origin, Rosen said, actually comes from when he called games for the now-defunct New York Cosmos, a professional soccer team.

ā€œSo when the Cosmos scored, I would just punch it out there, ā€˜It’s a Cosmos goal,ā€™ā€ he said, adding the same emphasis he does when the Rangers score on the power play.

He said that in 1987, when the Rangers scored 111 power-play goals, the call grew punchier and took on a life of its own.

ā€œBecause fans liked it. They took to it. And I loved it,ā€ he said.

Rosen’s run with the Rangers has been recognized by teams across the National Hockey League this season, with the broadcaster routinely being honored during away games.

ā€œIt’s the most heartwarming thing that you could feel,ā€ he said.

But even though he is set to retire, he doesn’t plan to stop watching the Rangers. He will be putting it on his television along with other die-hard fans.

ā€œI’ve been a Rangers fan my whole life, and it’s never going to stop,ā€ he said.