Obituaries

Mike Bossy, the player who scored more goals for the New York Islanders dynasty, dies at 65

Mike Bossy, one of hockey’s top goalscorers and the star of the New York Island team during their 1980s Stanley Cup reign, has died months after he revealed he had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

He is 65 years old.

TVA Sports, the French network in Canada where he worked as a hockey analyst, confirmed Bossy’s death on Thursday night.

An Islanders spokesman said Bossy is in his hometown of Montreal, where the team will play Friday night against Canada.

Bossy helped the Islanders win the Stanley Cup four years in a row from 1980-1983, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1982. He scored the Cup winning goal in 1982 and 83.

Bossy revealed his diagnosis in October in a letter to TVA Sports.

“With so much sadness, I need to get away from your screens, to take a much-needed pause,” Bossy wrote in French. “I intend to fight with all the determination and fire that you have seen me show on the ice.”

It was the third loss since that Islanders this year after Hockey Board colleague Clark Gillies died in January and Jean Potvin died in March.

Daughter Tanya Bossy said her father “no longer hurts.”

“Certainly my dad loves hockey, but first and foremost he loves life,” she said in a statement in French on behalf of the Bossy family. “Until the end of his journey, he continued. He wants to live more than anything.”

Bossy was a first-round pick in 1977 and played his entire 10-year NHL career with New York. He’s won the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year, received the Lady Byng Trophy for Gentlemen three times and led the league in goals twice.

Bossy scored 50 or more goals in each of his first nine seasons – the league’s longest streak. He and Wayne Gretzky are the only players in hockey history to have nine 50-goal seasons.

“The New York Islanders Foundation mourns the loss of Mike Bossy, an icon not only in Long Island but also in the hockey world,” said Lou Lamoriello Island President and General Manager. “His drive to be the best every time he steps on the ice is second to none. Together with his teammates, he helped win 4 consecutive Stanley Cup championships, shaping the history of the franchise forever. ”

Bossy is one of only five players to score 50 goals in 50 games. He remains the all-time leader for goals in a regular-season game at 0.762, and only two players have scored more hat-tricks than Bossy’s 39.

He’s third in points per game and seventh on the all-time scoring list. It was all during the regular season when Bossy delivered some of the best numbers in the history of the game. In the knockout round, Bossy was even better. He is the only player to have four wins in the same playoff series and to score three goals in playoff extra time.

Led by Bossy, Gillies, Bryan Trottier and bodyguard Denis Potvin, the Islanders succeeded Scotty Bowman’s 1970s Montreal Canadianiens as the next NHL dynasty before Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers took over the sport. this.

Bossy was an eight-time All-Star and finished with 573 goals and 553 assists, scoring 1,126 points in 752 regular games of the season. He is the fastest player to reach the milestone of 100 goals and is currently ranked 22nd in the list of career goalscorers. In the knockout round, Bossy has 160 points from 129 games.

Back and knee injuries finally ended his career in 1987. He was limited to 38 goals in 63 games and was unable to return for the 11th season.

Bossy was honored in 1991 and in 2017 was named one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman called Bossy a “dynamic winger” whose goal-scoring ability ranks among the greatest in NHL history.

“Although harboring him is the obsession of opposition coaches and testing him is the focus of opposing players, Bossy’s excellence is unstoppable and his prowess,” Bettman said. His production was non-stop throughout his career,” Bettman said. “He captivated the fans like some others.”

Before joining the NHL, Bossy played five seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with Laval National. He had 602 points in 298 QMJHL games. Bossy also represented Canada at the Canada Cup in 1981 and 1984, long before NHL players began competing at the Winter Olympics.

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