Bob Rosen always told his son, Jake, that the friends he would make playing hockey would stick around long after he hung up his skates.

“You develop friendships that are unlike anything else. That’s the most important thing about hockey,” Bob Rosen said. “It’s the main reason why I wanted him to play.”

Growing up, Jake didn’t take his dad’s advice seriously. Now, with just a few games left in his collegiate hockey career, the Buffalo State senior forward has realized there was a lot of truth to his father’s statement.

“It’s true,” Jake Rosen admits. “I hang out with the guys here all the time; they’re lifelong friends. My friends from home are all hockey players. It’s an unbelievable bond.”

Jake’s fondest memories of his youth are not about winning games and championships, but the time he spent with friends playing on the rink at home in the backyard and in the homemade locker room in the basement.

“When I was younger, I always had a rink in the backyard; that was the most important thing to me. Two of my best friends, still to this day, would come over and skate every single day,” Jake said. “That’s as good as it gets for me.”

For most of Jake’s young life, coach and dad were synonymous. But there was a quick realization that the distinction needed to be made between the two. It’s a distinction that has made their relationship work.

“On the ice, he’s coach, and at home, he’s dad. That’s always helped,” Jake said. “When I was little, we would get in the car and he would say, ‘Who do you want to hear from first — your coach or your dad?’”

In 100 games for the Bengals, Rosen has scored 23 goals and posted 37 assists. This season, the senior is fourth in scoring on the team with six goals and 11 assists. But perhaps more valuable to Buffalo State is his success in the faceoff circle.

For most of his hockey career, Rosen played as a winger. When he got to Buffalo State his freshman year, then-head coach Nick Carriere moved him to center in the second week of the season. Instead of complaining about the change, the forward saw it as an opportunity.

“I saw it as something that would keep me in the lineup, so I focused on it,” Jake said.

It came as no surprise to his father who says that Jake has always been a student of the game.

“He’s always trying to learn the game,” Bob Rosen said. “He wants to learn the different aspects from different people.”

For current Buffalo State head coach Steve Murphy, that attitude has made Rosen the man to count on in big moments.

“He’s hands down one of the hardest working guys on our team,” Murphy said. “He’s a guy we rely on when we need to win a faceoff. He’s a good two-way player.”

                                                                                                                            Buffalo State Athletics

Murphy admits the Bengals will miss Rosen and all he brings to the team. Rosen’s charisma is a driving force for the Bengals and their team morale.

“He’s a guy who always has a smile on his face and likes to keep it loose. But when it’s go time, he can flip the switch,” Murphy said. “He’s somebody who you want on your team.”

Currently, the Bengals are fighting for home playoff seeding.

With only four games left in the regular season, Rosen knows his college career is ticking down. However, the senior is taking it one game at a time, just like he did his freshman year.

“I try not to think about,” Jake Rosen said. “I’m trying to stay in the moment and make the most of every game I have left.”

email: [email protected]

Twitter: @Fboeck300level