frozenboards Posted April 15, 2022 Report Share Posted April 15, 2022 I'm old enough to have had the pleasure of watching Mike Bossy play and the Islanders win 4 consecutive Cups. I read this article a few years ago and it was posted again on the CBC site: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/letter-to-my-younger-self-mike-bossy 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Festivus Posted April 15, 2022 Report Share Posted April 15, 2022 Thanks for sharing man, what a good read. One of my first hockey memories, not the first, but one of them was in June of 1980 right after Nystrom scored in OT from Tonelli to win their first cup. I remember being downstairs out front of my aunts house on Outremont Ave just below Van Horne, where my brother and I were staying at the time. I had a hockey stick in my hand, not even sure if I had a tennis ball or was just practicing deking with small rocks, but I remember telling every person that walked by, "Hey the Islanders just won the cup!" Being only 8 years old or so at the time I didn't realize the Habs were larger than life to everyone in the city, but now looking back I can understand why almost everyone who I told basically shook their head at me and one person I remember said "Who cares!" But man was I ever happy the team I was going for won, and in dramatic fashion. We moved to Whitehorse not long after and I remember roaming the little community labyrinth behind our townhouse and found people watching the finals on a small TV in one of the many small fenced "backyards". Cheering for the Islanders vs the Canucks. Again not the popular choice aha. Yukon is basically Canucks territory. My love for Bossy and the Islanders was very overshadowed by my love for Guy Lafleur and the Habs, but #22 did have an effect on me growing attached to the game I still love. One last thing I will add to the story. My family did move back to Montreal and we settled in Park Ex, and in those early days we'd go exploring the laneways and I remember finding a Mike Bossy rookie card in one lane, soaked from the rain. Of course I picked it up and kept it but just like all my 20 Gretzky rookie cards, somewhere along the way it got lost. RIP Mike. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raken65 Posted April 15, 2022 Report Share Posted April 15, 2022 Mike Bossy and the Islanders were the beginning of my lost innocence of youth. ( along with Rick Monday and the Dodgers but that's another story) Growing up a Habs fan in the 70's in Montreal all we knew was winning. The Cup was rightfully and sacrilegiously ours every year and nothing else was acceptable or even possible to a 13 year old kid. We won 4 Cups in a row and there was never really any question if we would win it was just how easy it would be to win. The Islanders were a tough playoff opponent for the Habs in one of those years , they beat us twice in a semi final series and even as a 13 year old I remember thinking oh no something special is brewing on the Island. They of course went on to win 4 in a row with guys like Potvin, Trottier, Gillis, Smith and a whole bunch of incredible role players. It was Mike Bossy though that I hated the most. It seemed every time he had the puck it was in the net before you even saw him release his shot. I grew to have mad respect for that Islander team as I got older and especially Bossy. A career cut way too short due to injury and a life taken way too early by that fucking dreadful disease. RIP to a real hockey legend. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Festivus Posted April 15, 2022 Report Share Posted April 15, 2022 Pretty sure that's the year the Habs got eliminated by Minnesota, and if memory serves me right, when the Habs lost you freaked and threw off your eyeglasses and grabbed the flimsy coffee table and flipped it and smashed your glasses repeatedly. I remember being like whoa- this guys crazy!! That might be my first hockey memory LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raken65 Posted April 15, 2022 Report Share Posted April 15, 2022 9 minutes ago, Festivus said: Pretty sure that's the year the Habs got eliminated by Minnesota, and if memory serves me right, when the Habs lost you freaked and threw off your eyeglasses and grabbed the flimsy coffee table and flipped it and smashed your glasses repeatedly. I remember being like whoa- this guys crazy!! That might be my first hockey memory LOL Lol, that is a correct memory you have. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Festivus Posted April 16, 2022 Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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