In June 1986, we read these words in The Press on Mike Bossy: “It’s hard to find a player as talented and as gentlemanly as him. And besides, he is frank. »
Posted at 8:15 a.m.
And what’s more, he’s frank… We guess that for the author of these words, the famous Maurice Richard, this bit of a sentence was the absolute compliment. The Rocket often praised athletes in its column, but with restraint. This is why this assessment weighs so heavily. He felt a real admiration for those who, like him, delivered without detour the bottom of their thought. What Bossy was already doing at that time, in particular by denouncing violence in hockey.
Bossy’s death plunges Quebec into mourning. It comes less than a year after that of Rodrigue Gilbert, another Quebecer who shone in the biggest media market in the world. Gilbert will forever remain a pivotal player in Rangers history; Bossy is just as much in that of the Islanders.
Few pundits thought Bossy would have such a stellar career in the NHL. The most skeptical considered him too cautious on the ice. In 1992, a few days before the Islanders retired his number 22 jersey on the occasion of a visit by the Canadiens to Uniondale, he told me about his first training camp in the NHL. A shoulder injury and a cut above one eye worried him. “I spent more time in the clinic than on the ice,” he told me, laughing.
At the end of the camp, animated by a formidable intuition, coach Al Arbor brought together in the same trio Bryan Trottier, Clark Gillies and Bossy. “We clicked right away! “, he added.
That’s the least we can say. Bossy will score 53 goals during his rookie season. In his third NHL campaign, in the spring of 1980, the Islanders won the first of four consecutive Stanley Cups. Bossy is at the heart of their success.
His shots unleashed without warning drive opposing goalkeepers crazy. He takes advantage of the thinnest openings to accommodate the puck in the net: up, down, left, right, between the legs, under the glove…
His lynx eye and extraordinary precision serve him just as well in the NHL as when, barely 4 years old, he scored 21 goals in 15 minutes against players aged 6 and 7!
In 1982, the Islanders reached the final by eliminating the Quebec Nordiques. They face the Vancouver Canucks for the Stanley Cup. From the first game, Bossy set the tone by scoring the winning goal two seconds before the end of the first overtime period. He intercepts a risky pass from defender Harold Snepsts with a backhand and beats Richard Brodeur with a shot into the top of the net, the perfect way to score… his hat trick!
PHOTO UPI, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Mike Bossy hugs Canucks goaltender Richard Brodeur after the Islanders win the Stanley Cup Final.
Game 3 sees another feat from Bossy, who scores a spectacular goal after being hit by a rival. “Horizontal to the rink, Bossy scored with a backhand. I was there. I saw it. It really happened,” wrote journalist George Vecsey years later, from the New York Times.
It’s not just in his uniform that Bossy wrote his law. Contractually, he was a forerunner in the NHL. All this because of his talent, of course, but also of his agent Pierre Lacroix.
In October 1981, Bossy signed a six-year deal with the Islanders. “For a few years, Bossy was the highest paid player in the league,” Lacroix would tell me one day, referring to these negotiations.
“We were in an ideal situation. The Islanders had just won the Stanley Cup, Mike had scored 68 goals in the regular season, in addition to being named to the Canada Cup all-star team. »
That’s not all, added Lacroix. “The players’ collective agreement expired a year later. We all knew that they would try to extract more favorable conditions from the owners to take advantage of their autonomy. The Islanders didn’t want to risk the New York Rangers snatching Bossy from under their noses. »
All these negotiations took place in the “Lacroix style”, without public appearance or threat. This agreement secured Bossy’s financial future, which was not the norm for all stars of the time.
Like other renowned Quebec players, whether Gilbert Perreault, Marcel Dionne or Luc Robitaille, the fabulous number 22 has never donned the uniform of the Canadian. The organization would have had the chance to draft him in 1977. But it ignored him, as was the case with Denis Savard three years later. After all, their defensive play left something to be desired…
Would Bossy have liked to line up with the Canadian? The GM of the Islanders, Bill Torrey, gave him the authorization to discuss with the CH at the expiration of his contract. “But I hadn’t played for a year because of my back pain,” he explained to me. Feeling no improvement, he ended his career and did not contact the team’s management.
During our meeting, I asked him how he would feel when his number 22 was retired by the Islanders. His answer was very simple: “The feeling of accomplishment. »
That evening, knowing that the ceremony was televised in Quebec, Bossy also addressed the crowd in French, a gesture in keeping with his values. This guy never forgot where he came from, even though he was a star in New York.
As an analyst, Bossy has always impressed me. The fact of not having been part of the Canadian family gave him detachment in dissecting the performances of the team. His four Stanley Cups and numerous individual trophies, as well as his ability to shine under pressure, established his exceptional authority.
More importantly, as the Rocket pointed out as far back as 1986, Bossy was outspoken. And, yes, he was a gentleman. And a great Quebecer who, all his life, has brought honor to his compatriots.
Rest in peace, fabulous Mike Bossy.