Rockville Centre Police Department's color guard invited to New York Rangers game

The Rockville Centre Police Department’s Color Guard were invited to attend the New York Rangers hockey game on Nov. 2, for the regular season matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes.

“For four guys from our job to be able to go, it was not only cool, personally speaking, it was something really special,” Lt. Matt Vickery with the Rockville Police Department said. “It was a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Vickery said that every year the department tries to attend at least one game, and decided to reach out to a ticket rep during the postseason this past summer, to try and book a date.

Madison Square Garden representatives initially said that they were booked up for the year, so when an opportunity arose to represent the department at the “World’s Most Famous Arena,” during the team’s Law and Order night event, he immediately jumped at it.

Vickery and his fellow officers — Sgt. Joseph Burnside, Sgt. Salju Thomas and Police Officer Nicholas Palladino — are all big fans of the New York Rangers franchise and were honored to be invited to present the colors during the opening ceremony.

“The whole thing was hard for me to take in all at once,” Vickery said. “My heart was beating a mile a minute and I had goosebumps.”

During their visit to MSG, the four members of the police department’s color guard were given a behind-the-scenes look at all of the action, including the Rangers announcers, interviews with the players, and even got the opportunity to meet John Brancy, the operatic baritone who performed the National Anthem.

Vickery said that standing at ice level in front of the Garden faithful, as thousands of fans cheered and screamed from the stands, was an exhilarating experience that he and his fellow officers will never forget.