“I always go back and say, ‘Why didn’t I do more, why didn’t we do more?’ I still go back to the overtime when we won our first Cup and had a two-on-one and I didn’t score. “To me, it doesn’t make any sense other than the fact Edmonton was younger and better than us. “I think back to that series and I just wonder why we were so bad,” Bossy said. ‘Kick in the teeth’: Islanders teammate reacts to Mike Bossy’s cancer diagnosisīut then the next three in Edmonton … oh boy … 7-2, 7-2, 5-2, Oilers. The teams split the first two at the Coliseum, Edmonton taking the opener 1-0 before the Islanders won Game 2 in a 6-1 rout. The Islanders were beaten up and exhausted. Those Islanders overcame a 2-0 deficit in the semis to defeat Montreal in six on their way to a rematch against the Oilers, whom they had swept a year earlier. “To have gone so far, people wrote us off in that fifth run in the sense that they just didn’t think we could get there.” So last June, I asked Bossy whether he ever looked back and had regrets about the Islanders not being able to win their fifth straight Cup in 1984, when they were knocked off in the final by the Oilers, or whether the four straight and 19 consecutive playoff series victories were enough for him. We have kept in touch for more than four decades, chatting about old times, yes, but just as often about the contemporary game, as we exchanged multiple emails with Bossy working for the Canadian network TVA as an analyst.

I have told you before that my relationship with Bossy is one of the great joys of my career. This is the fight he will confront with every fiber of his being. This is one from which he neither can nor will turn away.

The Hall of Famer revealed this past Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Now, Bossy’s courage and bravery will be tested as he confronts the most meaningful fight of his life. He had the courage not to fight on the ice while cheap-shotted consistently by all manner of thugs as mayhem ruled at the tail-end of the Era of the Broad Street Bullies. 22, among the bravest hockey players I have seen. The next story about the dynasty remained in the notebook, the next story about Bossy remained unwritten.īossy is, No. It was not to be, as the Islanders lost 1-0 in Game 7. Which meant another conversation with one of my favorite players I have covered throughout my career about arguably the greatest team in NHL history and another chance to write about the Dynastic Islanders. Had they won, The Post was going to run a special section for the final. I spoke most recently to Mike Bossy in late June when the Islanders were preparing for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup semifinals at Tampa Bay. Rangers need to decode Artemi Panarin's puzzling playĪlexis Lafreniere not shying away from Rangers coach's criticism Gerard Gallant leaning on Rangers 'core four' as power-play juggernaut NHL players must use power to transform union that failed Kyle Beach

Pieces 1982 qupotes