Bond between Goring, Bossy went beyond the ice

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This article was published 16/04/2022 (1450 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BUTCH Goring can’t believe he’s gone.

The Winnipeg product is mourning the loss of good friend and longtime teammate Mike Bossy, who died Friday of lung cancer at the age of 65. The duo spent parts of six seasons together with the New York Islanders — often on the same potent line — capturing four Stanley Cups together. And their strong bond went well beyond the ice.

“I was fortunate enough that when I first joined the Islanders, I sat right beside Mike Bossy,” Goring, the former centre, told the Free Press in a telephone interview. “He sat on my right side. He’s a right-winger, so appropriately he was on the right side of me. We got to become very good friends, and spent an awful lot of time talking to one another. I could have been sitting beside a lot of different people. You know, in hindsight, I had the privilege to be able to sit down with, in my opinion, the greatest goal scorer to ever play the game.”

Bossy, who scored at least 50 goals in nine of his 10 seasons, was as humble as they come.

“He was just a player. A good player. He scored goals and he was like everyone else on our team. A contributor. But when you think back and people ask about Mike, that was a premium time for me. I treasure those moments,” said Goring. “As the years went by, he was a guy that wanted to be the complete hockey player. He had already proven he could score goals. But he wanted to be a playmaker, he wanted to be someone that could be counted on to be good in his own zone. He had all the tools of a superstar. Although he never talked in those terms of being a superstar.”

Bossy’s work ethic was second-to-none, a trait that rubbed off on everyone around him. And he was extremely loyal, too, which Goring was reminded of in 2020 at his jersey retirement on Long Island. On the night of the celebration, Bossy surprised him by flying in to town. The gesture meant so much.

“You come to understand how difficult winning Stanley Cups is. And so you share a lot of memories, a lot of difficult times. A lot of stress, sleepless nights, and fun. There’s so much involved, and your time together, particularly for those five years where we won 19 straight playoff series, there’s a lot of memories there. And there’s a lot of feelings of ‘This guy’s my brother, he’s in my family,’” said Goring.

And that tight-knit clan has taken far too many hits lately, not only with Bossy’s death but two other Islanders already this year in Jean Potvin last month and Clark Gillies in January.

“This is like piling on seemingly,” said Goring.

“Three former teammates, Stanley Cup champions and really good people. It’s piling on now. The good Lord needs to give us some leeway. It’s been devastating. All of those guys died so quickly. One day they’re up and about and life is good, and then in a very short period of time they’re gone. That hurts.”

Bossy’s death, although not unexpected given recent news of his failing health, has hit the hockey world hard. Including the Winnipeg Jets, who have several connections to the Hall of Famer.

Forward Pierre-Luc Dubois recalled Friday how he first heard about Bossy from his grandfather.

“He was one of his favourite players,” said Dubois, who was born 11 years after Bossy retired. The connection became a more personal one in 2016, after Dubois was awarded the Michael Bossy Trophy as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League player deemed to be the best professional prospect. For Dubois, the honour included a face-to-face meeting with the Hockey Hall of Famer and fellow Quebecker.

“Every time I’ve been around him he was always smiling, always happy, always giving tips and telling you that you’re playing well,” said Dubois. “He had so much energy and so much positivity surrounding him. He was always a pleasure to be around. It was an honour to win that award after a pioneer – especially for French-Canadian players – like him. It’s a sad day in the hockey world today.”

The Jets are actually home to a pair of Bossy Trophy winners, as winger Nikolaj Ehlers captured the hardware in 2014.

Interim Jets coach Dave Lowry played against Bossy on a handful of occasions. Bossy’s final two seasons in the NHL (1985-86, 1986-87) were Lowry’s first two.

“I think the only time I got to get on the ice against him was when period were ending and we had to leave the bench,” Lowry joked, suggesting his coach with the Vancouver Canucks, Tom Watt, wouldn’t dare have put him out for a head-to-head matchup.

“Seriously, toward the latter stages of his career, this was a group and a team (the New York Islanders) that was my favourite team. So, it was a thrill just to be on the ice with him at the same time. It was a team that I had watched rise and win, and there were a lot of players on that team I really wanted to use as a role model.”

Indeed, the Islanders of the early 1980s were a dynasty.

“I look at the leadership of that group, I look at the role players that they had, and there was a lot of guys there that if you could have had half the success they had, you would have had a very successful career,” said Lowry. “I would say he was one of the best natural goal scorers of all time. He did it obviously in a different era that we’re in today. I look at his second -last year and he was 61 (goals) and 62 (assists). That’s a pretty good year. And he had a career like that. It’s really a sad, sad time, a sad say, that the loss has lost another great ambassador.”

Bossy’s accomplishments might have been overshadowed a bit because of Wayne Gretzky bursting on to the NHL scene around the same time and re-writing the history books, as the Islanders eventually gave way to the powerhouse Oilers (which included Jets assistant coach Charlie Huddy). But that doesn’t make them any less special.

“Well, his success was early 80s and it was derailed by the Oilers then of the late 80s, said Lowry. “I really believe, to the true hockey fan, I don’t think his legacy gets lost. He’s regarded in the same group as I would put the likes of a Brett Hull just in terms of goal scoring, Jari Kurri. These guys scored and they seemed to score at will. And I would put Mike Bossy into that category as well.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg