RIP Mike Bossy

[Splendid Splinter]

One of the best goal scorers of all-time.
RIP

 

[dixiehack]

Mike Bossy and the Drive For Five on USA Network is my very first memory of watching hockey. I never warmed up to Gretzky because of that Cup final.

RIP

 

[matt_garth]

The best pure goal-scorer I've ever seen.

"One mistake on Michael Bossy is one goal against." --Bob Gainey

 

[mateen]

In the four Cup seasons for the Islanders Bossy scored 61 goals in 72 playoff games. Of all his stats that one might be the most remarkable.

 

[garrow]

Wow, this is so sad. What a legend. I only have three first cousins and they all grew up on Long Island. The middle one (12 years older than me) came of age during that great Islanders Stanley Cup run. He had all sorts of neat Isles memorabilia and books, so I grew up hearing of the legends of that team.

That cousin took me to my very first NHL game (Islanders, naturally) in January 1989 and thus I didn't get to see Bossy play. Trottier, yes.

RIP.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

Trottier now stands alone from that line
RIP

 

[Azrael]

Another hero of my youth turns out to be . . . my age.

To see him skate. And sweet stickhandling Christ, that Islanders dynasty.

Gone much too soon.

May his memory be a blessing.

 

[Songbird]

I was just getting into hockey when the Islanders hoisted Cup after Cup after Cup after Cup. They'd beat the **** out of the Kings just about every time. Mike Bossy is the guy I remember most. Always wanted the Kings to have their own Mike Bossy. We had Marcel Dionne but it never quite felt the same.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Awww damn. I've been unfortunately waiting for this for a while; he was fighting lung cancer, had been a smoker.

I grew up in the shadow of the Nassau Coliseum and his career was from 10 through my teens. So many great memories watching him play, the biggest being his 50 goals in 5o games, when he needed 2 goals in the 50th game. I can still see him scoring that second goal and the high-stepping dance he did.

RIP.

 

[matt_garth]

Michael Farber is exceedingly good at what he does.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

They don’t have guys like Bossy in the NHL anymore
Growing up in Detroit, where we got the Leafs every Saturday night, I loved the Big M no matter which jersey he was wearing
“I have one move. Try and stop it.”
Not many did
But Bossy was a better player

 

[Webster]

The 50 goals in 50 days was such a big thing in NY and then Gretzky blew it out of the water I think the following season.

 

[HappyCurmudgeon]

The thing is there wasn't much of anything fancy about Bossy's game. He just had this whipper of a shot that needed no wind up and it was very accurate and caught goalies off guard. Averaged 57 goals a season and scored 38 in 1986-87 when his back was so ****ed up he could barely walk.

 

[matt_garth]

TORONTO — Bryan Trottier touched his forehead to Mike Bossy’s and told his old Islanders’ teammate — and most importantly one of his closest friends — “I love you.”

“And in his weakest voice, he said, ‘I love you, too,’” Trottier told Newsday on Saturday. “There’s no moments like that.”

Bryan Trottier lauds his longtime Islanders linemate Mike Bossy as a true friend