In a team known for his blue collar, Mike Bossi was the elegant, fine-tuned closer, as clean-minded goal scorer as hockey creates, with a first-class level that exactly matches the years of the Islanders dynasty.
He was just one of many key elements that led to four Stanley Cups in four seasons in the early 1980s. But Bossi’s contribution was unique.
So when the islanders announced on Friday morning that he had died at the age of 65 after announcing he had lung cancer in October, the news hit the islanders’ community – and the wider hockey world beyond – hard.
“The New York Islanders mourns the loss of Mike Bossi, an icon not only of Long Island but of the entire hockey world,” Islanders President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello said in a statement. “His quest to be the best every time he stepped on the ice was unsurpassed. Together with his teammates, he helped win four consecutive Stanley Cup titles, shaping the history of this franchise forever. On behalf of the entire organization, we extend our deepest condolences to the entire Bossi family and to all who mourn this tragic loss. ”
Widely considered one of the top three islanders of all time, along with defender Dennis Potwin and center Brian Trotier, Bossi spent his entire 10-year career with the team before retiring due to chronic back problems.
If he had played in his mid-30s, it could have been him, not Wayne Gretsky, whom Alex Ovechkin is chasing for the NHL career goal record.
Gretsky finished with 894 goals in the regular season, well ahead of Bossi’s 573. But Bossi’s 0.762 goals per game ranks first in NHL history, well ahead of Grecki’s 0.601.
He was such a talent, a sniper, who did his job relatively quietly, thanks to the effectiveness of the strike and his overall game.
His best time of the regular season came on January 24, 1981, when he joined Maurice Richard as the second player to score 50 goals in 50 games – needing two in the last five minutes against Nordics to reach the cornerstone.
Brian Trotier assisted at number 50, which came with the remaining 1:29. This was appropriate given the long partnership on the front line between Bossi and Trotie, often with Clark Gillis as their left wing. (Gillis died on January 21, 2022, the first of the 17 four-time Islanders Cup winners to die.)
In a 2017 essay in The Players’ Tribune – written as a letter to his 14-year-old self – Bossi concluded: “Thank God I was an islander and I love you, Brian Trotter.
Bossi was born on January 22, 1957, the fifth of 10 children and grew up in a 4-bedroom apartment in Montreal. He slept in a crib at the end of the corridor, according to an essay in The Players’ Tribune.
In it, he remembers moving to Laval, Quebec, as a 14-year-old, a move that comes with a new home for his family and his first real bedroom, but he also struggles with opponents trying to shake the top scorer. .
Bossi always hated being considered a goal scorer, as if he didn’t work hard at the craft.
Rough things left Bossy with a constantly deformed nose, but that never changed his aversion to fighting, something he avoided in the NHL as his teammates tried to keep him out of trouble.
One of the advantages of living in Laval was meeting the girl who worked behind the snack bar on the rink, Lucy Krimer, who later became his wife.
By 2021, his 309 goals (in 263 games) are still the all-time record of Quebec in the Major Hockey League.
By 1977, Bossi had qualified for the first round, but 12 teams outscored him – Rangers and Maple Leafs twice – in part because of his reputation for strength and defense finesse.
After the general manager of the Islanders Bill Torrey took the 15th place overall, Bossi quickly contacted Trotie as his center and they scored 53 and 46 goals respectively in the new season of Bossi, who won the Calder Trophy.
Bossi scored a career-high 69 goals in 1978-79, but the following season he and his team-mates finally won the biggest prize in the sport.
Bossi believes that this was a key personal moment in the 1980 Cup final, when he ran over the tough Flyers man Mel Bridgman. It was his way of making a statement that he would not be harassed.
In the four playoff series of the islanders during their series to win the Cup, Bossi scored 61 goals in 72 games.
He won the Cohn Smythe trophy in 1982 – when the Islanders won their third Cup – after scoring seven goals in the final, in four games for Canucks.
In 1983, Bossi scored nine goals in six games against the Bruins in the conference finals.
By 1986-87, with one year left on his contract, his back problems were becoming unbearable. He blamed them in part for overcompensating for a right knee injury he received while jumping as a 12-year-old.
In an interview with Hockey Night in Canada in February 1987, Bossi said he had missed training time and was feeling the effects. “It really made me lose a lot of my time, and also a lot of my conditioning,” he said.
He scored the lowest 38 goals of his career in 63 games in the 1986-87 season and retired after being absent throughout the 1987-88 season after playing his last game at the age of 30.
Bossi finished with 573 goals and 553 assists in 752 games in his regular season. He played a total of 210 penalty minutes in his 10 seasons and was a three-time winner of the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991 – in the same class as Potwin – and the islanders retired his number 22 in 1992.
On the night of his retirement, Potwin imagined a conversation between Tori and Coach Al Arbor on the day of his appointment in 1977: “Should we hire a man who can check, or that skinny 20-year-old from Laval who can’t check the suitcase? ”
Then Potwin added, “Thank you, Al!”
Joe Gergen of Newsday took the opportunity to recall the impact of Bossi’s arrival on an already good team, writing: “For the islanders, it was the last piece of the puzzle, a diamond in hard gold. With him in the team, the team has become not only a threat but also an attraction. ”
In a 2020 interview for the Newsday podcast “Island Ice”, Bossi urged fans to avoid comparisons with him and other historical goal scorers such as Ovechkin.
“You can’t compare Maurice Richard and Mike Bossi and Alex Ovechkin and Connor McDavid,” he said. “You just can’t compare these guys. Why don’t we say we will put players in their own categories? ”
In 2020, NHL.com named Bossi the second best right winger in the era of expansion, behind only Jaromir Jagr and one place ahead of Guy Lafleur, the great Canadian with whom Bossi was often compared.
Bossi has held various jobs in business and the media since retiring, including as a radio personality at a French-language station in Montreal.
In 2006, the islanders hired him for their front office as executive director of corporate relations, in charge of supporting sponsors and fan development.
He worked for MSG Networks as an analyst in 2014-15, after which he joined TVA Sports, a French channel in Canada.
On October 16, 2021, he announced that he was taking leave from TVA to treat lung cancer.
Bossi wrote in French, as translated by Google: “Today, with great sorrow, I have to withdraw from your screens for a mandatory rest, a necessary stop, during which I will have to receive treatment for lung cancer.
“I can assure you that I intend to fight with all the determination and all the fervor you have seen me to show on the ice and in my game.
In an essay on the Players’ Tribune, Bossi wrote that he regretted how little he remembered about the Cup tournament, describing it as a huge blur.
“What I remember is Brian with the Cup,” he wrote. “I have a vivid memory that he is completely impersonal … [expletive] racing around the ice with the glass over his head at the Colosseum in Nassau. I see him standing on the bench with him, angering the crowd. I see him jump against Billy Smith after we won our fourth straight cup.
“My advice to you, kid, is to remember more. And value your time more, because your time will be shorter than you think. ”
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