Bullets from the Boss

By B. J. Phillips

The N.H.L. 's sharpest shooter has just begun to fight

Toe Blake knows a little something about scoring goals in hockey games. As a player for the Montreal Canadiens, Blake led the National Hockey League in points (goals plus assists) in 1939. In 13 seasons as the Canadiens coach, he won eight Stanley Cup titles and shepherded the careers of Maurice ("Rocket") Richard, Jean Beliveau and Bernie ("Boom-Boom") Geoffrion. From behind the bench, Blake schemed to stop such high-scoring opponents as Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Phil Esposito and Stan Mikita. So when it comes to evaluating hockey's newest natural wonder, the New York Islanders' Right Wing Mike Bossy, Blake is succinct: "Why is Mike Bossy great? That's easy. He scores goals."

Lots of them. Earlier this season, in only his 244th game, Bossy scored the 200th goal of his career. Thus in slightly more than three years in the N.H.L., Bossy has reached a scoring plateau attained by only 123 players. His closest challenger, Richard, required 336 games to reach 200 goals. This month Bossy set an N.H.L. record for hat tricks (three goals or more in a game) in a single season, with eight. In his first 49 games this year, Bossy poured in 48 goals, the hottest scoring pace since Richard's 1945 mark of 50 goals in 50 games. For Bossy, such feats are merely doing what comes naturally: "Nobody sets out to break records. You just play, you score, and they happen. But the 50-in-50, that's one I want. Having my name next to Richard would not be too shabby."

Born in Montreal, the fifth often children, Bossy grew up playing with his brothers on a rink set up in the backyard by his father, an industrial engineer. As a peewee and junior, he poured the puck into the net so often that the French-speaking Quebecois adopted Bossy, whose parents are English, as one of their own, listing his name as Michel, not Mike, in the newspaper stories extolling his scoring exploits. In four years as a junior player with the Laval Nationals, he scored 308 goals, but was passed over by 14 teams in the amateur draft because it was thought he could not play defense. The Islanders snapped him up, and in his second season he led the league in goals with 69, a total bested only by Phil Esposito's 1971 record of 76. Bossy also won the N.H.L.'s Rookie of the Year trophy.

Along the way he learned to forecheck, ride opponents into the boards and otherwise play defense. At 24, he has become a rounded player. Says Bossy: "I was never asked to do that before, but I want to be more than a goal scorer."

He is still disarmingly in awe of his talent. "It's hard for me to admit that I have something other people don't," he notes, adding, "but I do." Tony Esposito, the Chicago Black Hawks goaltender, sums up: "Bossy has the knack of hitting the open spot in the net, just like my brother Phil. You can't teach that. You have to be born with that instinct for the spot where the goalie isn't."

Bossy's skating style is deceptively languid, not galvanic in the manner of, say, Montreal's Guy Lafleur. He circles, seemingly remote, while his linemates, Center Bryan Trottier and Left Wing Clark Gillies, rush the puck up-ice or dig it loose from the corners. When the time comes for a pass, Bossy is often open, waiting for the puck. Once he has it, no one gets off a shot faster. Says Philadelphia Flyers Goaltender Phil Myre: "You're always looking for Bossy, wondering where he is. Sometimes you never see him until after he's scored on you."

Part of the reason for Bossy's disappearing act is the skill and support of his teammates. The Islanders, last year's Stanley Cup champions, boast three former Rookies of the Year--Bossy, Trottier and Denis Potvin, who has also been voted the N.H.L.'s top defenseman three times. Opponents who spend too much time looking for Bossy get burned by Line-mates Trottier, the 1980 MVP, and Gillies. "People can say that Mike's success has come because we set him up to score, but it works both ways," says Trottier. "I never had a 100-point year until Mike came along. We're friends more than teammates, and we want each other to do well." Now in their fourth year together, Bossy, Trottier and Gillies have developed a symbiotic relationship. Says Bossy: "I can tell by the feel of the puck on my stick whether the pass has come from Bryan or Clarkie." Trottier explains:

"Clark feeds a firm pass on the money. I take a little something off the puck to make it easier to handle."

After his dazzling start, there seems nothing but time between Bossy and even more records. A solid 6 ft., 185 Ibs., he has proved durable, despite the not-so-loving attention of the league's defenders.

He lives quietly on Long Island with his wife and infant daughter, returning to Montreal during the offseason. Bossy makes a reported $185,000 a year, and will renegotiate into superstar salary status when his contract expires next year.

Until then, he has little to fret about --save perhaps an inability to beat his teammates at computer games. Admits the Boss: "They say I've got the fastest hands in hockey, but you'd never know that from the way I play Space Invaders." Nobody's perfect. --ByBJ. Phillips.

Reported by Jamie Murphy/New York

With reporting by Jamie Murphy

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