Mike Bossy, Islanders great, 4-time Cup champion, dies at 65
Mike Bossy, one of hockey’s most prolific goal-scorers and a star for the New York Islanders during their 1980s Stanley Cup dynasty, has died after a battle with lung cancer. He was 65.
TVA Sports, the French-language network in Canada where he worked as a hockey analyst, confirmed Bossy died Thursday night.
Bossy helped the Islanders win the Stanley Cup four straight years from 1980-83, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1982. He scored the Cup-winning goal in 1982 and ’83.
“It is with a lot of sadness that I need to step away from your screens, for a necessary pause,” Bossy wrote in French.
It’s the third loss from that Islanders era this year after fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Clark Gillies died in January and Jean Potvin died in March.
“My dad loved hockey, sure, but first and foremost he loved life,” she said in a statement in French on behalf of the Bossy family. “Until the end of his journey, he hung on.
He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, got the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly conduct three times and led the league in goals twice.
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