Former Mets, Islanders broadcaster Howie Rose gets tribute at UBS Arena during Isles' home opener

It’s been a hectic time for Howie Rose, who two weeks ago called the final Mets game of his broadcasting career. Since then, he said, he’s been packing up his New York apartment before he and his wife move out Monday to head to their permanent home in Florida, where Rose said he plans on feeding golf balls to alligators in his retirement.

“We’ve just been renting an apartment the last couple of years, but when we sold our previous home, we had a lot of stuff that we had to kind of kick down the road because we were under some time constraints,’’ Rose said Saturday night at UBS Arena, where the Islanders recognized him for his 21 years as their TV play-by-play man. “So we’ve been going over all kinds of stuff that, you know, some of it you keep, some of it you throw out, some of it you donate. And believe me, it’s a whirlwind.”

While Rose will forever be known among Rangers fans for his famous radio call of the double-overtime goal by Stephane Matteau that beat the Devils in Game 7 of their epic 1994 Eastern Conference Final before the Rangers won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, he spent a generation calling Islanders games after replacing the legendary Jiggs McDonald. And even before that, his first broadcast partner remembered him as a college reporter working the Islanders’ locker room with his tape recorder.

“I always think back and say, you know, he was practicing with his dream of being in the broadcast end of sports,’’ Ed Westfall said. “And it certainly paid off.”

Rose worked with Westfall for the first three years of his time with the Islanders, from 1995 until Westfall’s retirement in 1998. He then partnered with Joe Micheletti, Billy Jaffe and Butch Goring, with whom he worked from 2010 until he left in 2016 to concentrate on baseball.

“I came in absolutely cold,’’ Goring recalled of his time with Rose. “I had no experience, no training, no exhibition games, and Howie was an absolute gem. I mean, he told me, ‘Butch, just have fun. Don’t worry about it. You know the game.’ And he said, ‘If you make a mistake, just keep going. Don’t worry about it.’ And we had so much fun together.

“For me, he was the perfect guy because I needed help, and he would lead me into the right thing all the time. And I just couldn’t have been happier, and I couldn’t have been more thankful to have Howie Rose work with me.’’

The Islanders put a video tribute on the center ice scoreboard during a TV timeout with 8:37 left in the second period. The tribute had a montage of Islanders highlights called by Rose and ended with a message saying “congratulations on your Amazin’ career, Howie’’ with the Islanders and Mets logos. Then there was a shot of Rose in the owners’ box and a later shot of Westfall waving to the crowd.

Casey Cizikas, Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech and Scott Mayfield are the only current Islanders who were on the team while Rose was broadcasting the team’s games. Mayfield was a healthy scratch Saturday, but the others were in the lineup.

Cal Clutterbuck, who now does broadcasting work for the team’s games, played on the team when Rose was broadcasting but said he didn’t really have a relationship with him. Now, as a broadcaster himself, he has plenty of respect for him.

“I always find it amazing how Brendan [Burke, who took over from Rose as the Isles’ play-by-play man] and these guys can recall information while they’re in the process of calling out names in real time,’’ Clutterbuck said. “It’s really an amazing skill. So I have appreciation for a lot of those guys, but especially guys in the New York metro area who’ve been doing it for so long.’’

Andrew Gross contributed to this story.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.