“He is an Islander legend,” coach Barry Trotz said in front of the UBS Stadium crowd when paying tribute to the fallen franchise great before Monday’s game. “These are his people.”
Mike Bossy succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 65 last Thursday, as his “people” still attempt to grapple with the loss of the 1982 Conn Smith Trophy Playoff MVP a week later. The show-stopping sensation was a key cog in the machine of the 1980-1983 “four-peat,” scoring the winning goals in the final two victorious Stanley Cup contests the Islanders put together; highlights of a Hall of Fame career ultimately cut short at the age of 30 due to back injuries.
Wayne Gretzky once called the eight-time All-Star-selected right-wing “the greatest to play the position.”
For his efforts, Bossy is the NHL’s all-time leader in average goals scored per regular-season game and has the record for most consecutive 50-goal seasons. Additionally, he was a three-time recipient of the sportsmanship-tailored Lady Byng Trophy.
Prior to the conclusion of his short-lived playing career, the Montreal native forged a lasting imprint on pop culture beyond his most familiar arena.
In 1985, Bossy co-starred in the music video for Canada’s Ethiopia famine-combating We are the World contribution: “Tears Are Not Enough.”
“If Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders didn’t play hockey, he’d like to be a rock and roll star,” the Los Angeles Times wrote at the time. “All I watch on television is MTV and the news,” Bossy told the outlet, humorously adding that his “fantasy is to be a singer.”
A fantasy he’d fulfill alongside 39 other Hockey stars – as they all belched to the tune laid down by a supergroup assemblage consisting of Gordon Lightfoot, Burton Cummings, Anne Murray, Jonie Mitchell, Dan Hill, Neil Young, and Bryan Adams, among others; and a backing chorus including, but not limited to: John Candy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, and Paul Schaffer.
New York retired Bossy’s “Number 22” in 1992. An Islander hasn’t worn it since and never will again. But that won’t stop youngsters from donning it in his honor, based on the stories their fathers will pass down to them about perhaps the greatest player to lace up for Long Island.
“Though containing him was the obsession of opposing coaches and checking him the focus of opposing players, Bossy’s brilliance was unstoppable and his production relentless throughout his entire career,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said on Friday. “He thrilled fans like few others.”
To adequately mourn “Boss,” tears are simply not enough. But, as they have come to attest time and time again, the Isles faithful will endure – thanks in large part due to the strong example their most recently departed set for them once upon a time at The Mike Bossy with the Stanley Cup. Old Barn, way back when.
