Bossy mike

Mike Bossi was born in a large family of Ukrainian immigrants Bosef, which numbered twelve people. His family, like many other Ukrainian families of that time, moved from their historical homeland in search of a better life. .

His individual statistics, even at a young age, could not help but impress: in one season Mike scored 170 goals, and once in one game he scored 23 times, without giving a single assists.

At the age of 14, Bossi came to the Laval Nationals club, based in the suburbs of his native Montreal. For 4 seasons in this team he scored 309 goals and in 1977 was drafted by the New York Islanders club. After the draft ceremony, Bossi said: “I have always scored goals and I am sure I can help the Islanders, but sometimes miracles do not happen in one evening.” In the first year, a talented newcomer won the Calder Prize, scoring 53 goals in a season - a result that no one had obeyed before in his debut season.

In 1981, Bossi repeated Maurice Richard's 36-year record, which was considered unattainable: he scored 50 goals in the first 50 matches of the season . But no one could even imagine what effort it would cost him to repeat the record. It all started very well: in 23 matches, Bossi scored 25 goals, thus ahead of Richard's schedule. The whole League focused on Bossi, the coaches began to put personal watchmen on him, and it became much harder to score. After 36 matches, he had six hat tricks. For his fiftieth match this season, Bossi had 49 abandoned goals. After the second period of the game with Quebec Nordics , the scoreboard was 3: 3, but Mike by that time had not managed to distinguish himself. Not wanting to hear words of support from partners, Bossi was already picking up excuses for the press conference. However, this was not necessary. One and a half minutes before the final siren, Trotje made a wonderful pass on Bossi into the left throw-in circle, and he put the puck into the net. Mike jumped for joy, the fans went crazy, throwing everything that came to hand on the ice, teammates poured onto the ice, neglecting all the NHL rules. And in the locker room Bossi was waiting for a congratulatory telegram from Maurice Richard. Bossi accomplished the impossible and made history. Moreover, Mike himself set the League record, considered eternal: he scored more than 50 goals for nine consecutive seasons, in five of which he scored more than 60 goals. Bossi became the legend of the American club - the first of the team's hockey players scored 500 goals, the first to cross the line at 1000 points.

Bossy was a key player in the team , which thanks to him won the Stanley Cup for four seasons. He had the talent to score the “winning” goals, which made him not only a valuable player in the club, but also extremely popular among fans. And the Clark Gillies link - Brian Trottier - Mike Bossi (he was called the "Trio Grande") was one of the greatest in NHL history. The brilliant wagon Trottier, tough guy Gillis with a killer “click” and virtuoso Bossi - the goal maestro. He had the fastest hands and the fastest jerk of his time. The ability to find free space was the essence of Bossy's game, the key to his success.

Mike became the hero of the Canada Cup 84 tournament when the hosts played against the USSR team . In the extra period of the semifinal match, the puck from his stick ricocheted into the goal, which was defended by Vladimir Myshkin , and the Soviet hockey players had to go home. In the finals, the Canadian team beat Tre Krunur quite easily and regained the trophy.

Chronic back injury forced him to end his career after the 1986-87 season. Bossi left hockey at age 30 due to serious injuries. He left at the peak of his career, scoring as much as ever. His statistics in today's NHL would look space: 126, 147, 123 points per season; 69, 68, 64 goals. In 1988, The Hockey News magazine named Bossi the best "pure sniper" of all time.
In 1991, the "Islanders" as a sign of respect for the merits of the player withdrew from circulation his game number "22".

After long and unsuccessful attempts to get a coaching job in the NHL (none of the teams expressed interest), Bossi worked for several years as the director of the sales department in a company selling potato chips. In 2006 he returned to his club. Now Bossi is engaged in attracting sponsors and relations with fans.

Team

• Stanley Cup Winner: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983
• Finalist of the Stanley Cup 1984.
• Canada Cup Winner: 1984
• Finalist of the Canada Cup 1981.

Personal

• Best Newcomer to QMHL : 1974
• Frank Jay Selkey Prize Winner Trophy Memorial : 1977
• Calder Trophy Prize Winner: 1978
• Winner Conn Smythe Trophy : 1982
• MVP All-Star NHL Match : 1982
• Prize Winner Lady Bing Trophy : 1983, 1984, 1986
• Member of the Toronto Hockey Hall of Fame : 1991
• Member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame : 2007
• In 1981-1984 and 1986, he was part of the first All Star Stars in the NHL, and in 1978, 1979 and 1985, he was in the second squad (rightmost).
• In the NHL championships - 752 matches, 573 goals, in the Stanley Cup playoffs - 129 matches, 85 goals.
• In the Canada Cup tournaments - 15 matches, 13 goals.

* - the asterisk marks the seasons of winning the Stanley Cup

• List of NHL Hockey Players with 1000 or More Points
• List of 100 best NHL players by The Hockey News

• Statistics of Mike Bossi on the official website of the NHL
• Mike Bossy - statistics on The Internet Hockey Database