Micheletti would know. He is in his 19th season being at Rosen’s side with the New York Rangers. They first started as partners on national telecasts with Fox Sports when the network started carrying the NHL in 1995. Rosen, who began calling the Rangers full time on TV during the 1984-85 season, is retiring after this season following a remarkable and versatile career.

Rosen, 77, will receive the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey at the Dec. 4 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Pittsburgh. Going into the Hall this year are Matt Cullen, Brianna Decker, the late Frederic McLaughlin, Kevin Stevens and the 2002 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team.

Kenny Albert has been around Rosen even longer than Micheletti. Albert’s dad, Marv Albert, was the Rangers’ radio play-by-play announcer when Rosen joined the Rangers as a backup on the TV and radio sides for the 1977-78 season. A young Kenny would tag along to Madison Square Garden to do stats — he filled in for a game on his sixth birthday — or practice for a future as a play-by-play guy.

Albert has been the Rangers’ primary radio play-by-play voice since 1995.

“I have great memories watching him in his early years with Phil Esposito and then with John Davidson,” Albert said. “He was one of the announcers that I certainly looked up to and when I would practice into a tape recorder as a youngster. I also would pay close attention to the television and radio broadcasters, really in all sports, but in particular in hockey.”

Albert and Micheletti note that Rosen’s success behind the microphone can be attributed to all the work he puts in when he is not on the air, whether it be at morning skates or elsewhere. Albert and Rosen often sit next to each other on the team plane as they travel from one city to the next.

“A lot of [the flights] are late at night, take off after a game, land somewhere 1 or 2 in the morning,” Albert said. “For the last 10 or 15 years with technology, he always has his laptop out. I'm usually on my iPad. We're reading about sports and preparing for the next game, whatever games we're working next. We're chatting as well. But I couldn't ask for a better seatmate on those team flights.”

What also makes Rosen iconic to fans is his calls. There are the ones that happen almost every game — “It’s a power-play goal!” — and then ones where he rises to the moment and lives in fans’ minds for eternity.

That happened when the Rangers snapped their 54-year Stanley Cup drought in 1994 by defeating the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in Game 7 after almost blowing a 3-1 series lead.

“The waiting is over! The New York Rangers are the Stanley Cup champions!” Rosen exuded. “And this one will last a lifetime.”

There is another call that sticks out to Micheletti. It came when Mika Zibanejad scored five goals, including the winner in overtime, during the Rangers’ 6-5 victory over the Washington Capitals on March 5, 2020, at Madison Square Garden.

“Up the middle to Zibanejad. He goes to the net. He scores! He scores! The Rangers win! Mika Zibanejad with five goals. Do you believe it?” Rosen said.

Said Micheletti: “It was just off-the-charts good. I just sat there and listened to it. I didn't want to say anything. I mean, it was so good.”

That was just a random Thursday game, which is just another reason Rosen is so beloved.

“We run into Ranger fans all the time,” Micheletti said. “He stops and signs (autographs) forever. People have been just as enthused to see him now as they were when he and I worked together in '95. It's been the same thing. It's just been a love affair.

“The fans know that he's got such a big heart and that he's been involved in the community. He'll always stop for a picture or an autograph. He's never been too big for that. And so that's the recognition.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.