They are inseparable. Forever.
It’s tied to a stunning goal in double overtime and three words: “Matto, Matto, Matto!”
They also represent the Rangers’ most direct link to their last true glory days. It’s the ultimate glory days that this year’s team is chasing, starting Friday night at the Garden in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Panthers, who they’re trailing 1-0 in the series.
He gives a thumbs up while posing for a photo with announcer Howie Rose.
Participated in a panel discussion at Bohemian National Hall in Manhattan
The proceeds will be donated to the Stephen Matteau Foundation and Mount Sinai Hospital.
Urology conducting bladder cancer research on behalf of Howie Rose. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
Stephan Matteau and Howie Rose are brothers forever, so they could be relatives.
When you think about it, they didn’t know each other before they started calling out “Matto, Matto, Matto.”
Rose’s iconic radio play-by-play of Matteau’s goal that beat the Devils in Game 7 of the 1994 conference finals and sent the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Final feels like it’s being played continuously, especially as the Rangers chase an elusive trophy.
We hear it everywhere and we never get tired of it.
Unless, that is, you’re a Devils fan.
“Just as Ralph Branca and Bobby Thomson met for very different reasons, we experienced a moment where fate brought us together,” Rose said Thursday. “This was a case of someone giving me a moment that basically shaped my career and, of course, a career highlight for him as well.”
Rose, along with Matteau and Rangers teammates Mike Richter, Adam Graves, former Devils player Jim Dowd and former Islanders standout Pierre Turgeon, appeared on a panel discussion Thursday at a Manhattan venue to raise funds for the Stephane Matteau Foundation.
Matteau also started the event to raise funds for the Mount Sinai Hospital Urology Department, which saved Rose from bladder cancer.
The two remain inextricably intertwined to this day.
Rose said of the calls of “Matto! Matto! Matto!” she “never take them for granted, and I don’t become passive when I hear them. I listen. I bring myself back to the moment. And, yes, I feel euphoric. I get goosebumps because of the moment, not because I made the call.”
It was a life-changing moment for Matteau, who joined the Rangers midway through the 1994 season after playing for six different NHL teams and multiple stops under Rangers coach Mike Keenan.
“It didn’t immediately change my life because I continued to play,” Matteau said, “and I played for a few more years after that, but when I became part of the alumni community, I realized the impact the ’94 players had on the fan base over the years.”
“It’s been amazing. I’m in a school program in New York and that goal has helped me get in doors that I would never have been able to get in without that moment.”
When asked if he has ever wondered what his life would be like now if he hadn’t scored that goal, Matteau replied: “That’s a question I get asked every now and then and I immediately start crying because I was so lucky to score that goal and so many good things have happened in my life because of it. I cherish goals and I don’t take them for granted.”
Matteau and Rose recalled that in the excitement of the goal, neither really knew whether it came from Matteau’s stick or from Esa Tikkanen, who was charging in front of the goal when Matteau fired a wraparound shot toward Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur.
“Howie has great vision,” Matteau said. “I don’t know if it was a lucky call or a lucky goal because Tikkanen almost got a touch on it. Howie had vision and thankfully made the right call. If you look at the replay, the puck was right there on Tikkanen’s stick.”
Rose looked a little uneasy as he recalled the moment, recalling being directly above the Garden’s Willis Reid Tunnel, not the best place to broadcast hockey because it was too close to the ice.
“Ideally, I wish I could have gone higher,” he said, “but as an announcer, your focus is so sharp and intense. In that situation, my eyes were just glued to the puck like a magnet.”
“It was only after I shouted his name 1,000 times and watched the replay that I realized Tikkanen might have scored the goal. [broadcast partner] Sal Messina broke down the play on the radio and said it could have been Tikkanen.
“Now I’m like, ‘Oh, shit.’
Thankfully, his eyes were right.
“My name will always be linked to his,” Matteau said, “and vice versa.”
