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Four-time Stanley Cup Champion Mike Bossy is considered one of the greatest bona-fide snipers in hockey history as well as one of the game’s hardest workers as he strived to become a well-rounded player. Bossy started his junior hockey career with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at the age of 15, where he scored 309 goals in four seasons. In the 1977 NHL Draft, he was selected 15th overall by the New York Islanders, where he would spend his entire NHL career. That year, Mike boldly predicted to the Islanders’ general manager that he would score 50 goals in his first NHL season, which had never happened in the league before. He made good on his promise, scoring a record 53 goals in the 1977-78 season, winning the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year and being named a Second Team All Star. Bossy would continue his scoring onslaught for the Islanders throughout his entire career. In the 1980-81 season, he became only the second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in the first 50 games of the season. Mike was known for being able to score goals in remarkable fashion, the most impressive coming in the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals, where he netted a goal after being up-ended by a check and flying several feet in the air parallel to the ice while still managing to hook the puck with his stick and past the goaltender. He scored the series winning goal in both the 1982 and 1983 Stanley Cup Finals, making him the only player in NHL history to record Cup-winning goals in consecutive seasons. In 1982 Bossy was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ Most Valuable Player. That year he also set a scoring record for right-wingers with 147 total points. Bossy was a key component of the New York Islander’s dynasty in the 1980s, where they won four consecutive Stanley Cups and made five consecutive Stanley Cup Finals from 1980-1984. He holds the current NHL record for most consecutive 50+ goal seasons with nine, and averaged .762 goals per game in the regular season, more than any other player in NHL history. Mike scored 17 goals in three straight playoffs, the only player ever to do so. He was named an NHL First Team All-Star 5 times, and is ranked 19th on the NHL all-time goal scoring list, with 573 lifetime goals and 553 assists. Bossy was also known for his clean play, and was awarded the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play three times. Mike retired from the NHL in 1987, after a chronic back problems forced him to end his career prematurely. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991 and the New York Islanders retired his #22 jersey in 1992. Despite having an injury shortened career, Bossy was ranked number 200 on The Hockey News’ 1998 list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. After his retirement, Mike worked as a television broadcaster for the Quebec Nordiques as well as for a French language radio station in Montreal. He rejoined the Islanders organization in 2006, where he works with the front office in sponsor and fan development.
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