About a thousand stories have been told about Sam Rosen since the Rangers broadcasting icon announced his planned retirement last fall.
Now that Rockland County's gift to the airwaves is off the air, I wonder whether the long ago Rosen-Wayne Gretzky duet has entered any conversations.
This goes back to April 23, 1997 and has been well recorded in the excellent Matthew Blittner-Russ Cohen book, "Game Winners -- The Greatest Game-Winning Goals In Hockey History."
In the spring of 1997 the Rangers and Florida Panthers met in the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals. As it happened, the Blueshirts took a 2-1 series lead and prepared for Game Four at The Garden.
Although the Visitors scored first, Gretzky rallied his team in the second period and tied the game off a pass from Brian Leetch.
Meanwhile, up in the broadcast booth MSG Networks Sam Rosen bellowed his now famous, "IT'S A POWER PLAY GOAL!"
Wayne's follow up was completed after Luc Robitaille and The Great One had descended on Panthers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck. Now the Rangers were ahead, 2-1 and Wayne was one red light away from his first hat trick in a New York uniform.
"It was 9:30- of the second period," the authors wrote, "when Wayne had the puck, faked a shot, then skated it across the ice and slapped it in off the goalpost to make it a 3-1 game.The hats came flying down and that would be the game."
P.S. It's hard to believe that The Great One's feat took place 28 years ago and in four days we can celebrate the exact date when it was accomplished!