Boss!: The Mike Bossy Story

by Barry Meisel and Mike Bossy

A genuine superstar and a hero, Mike Bossy tells how hockey was meant to be played. In his own words, he takes fans from his childhood to the coup he experienced being the first amateur selected in the 1977 draft to his courageous battle against the severe back injury that now threatens his career. Illustrated.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0075496968
• ISBN13: 9780075496960
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Mike Bossy Story

I read this book years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think that with time he has begun to fade into obscurity, but when I was growing up he was truly one of the great players--and as far as I'm concerned, always will be.

Great insight to a great player!

For someone who didn't speak much to the press, it was extremely interesting to get inside Mike Bossy. It was great to relive all his outstanding accomplishments. A must read for hockey fans.

the greatest sniper

Mike Bossy is perhaps the most unappreciated star in the history of New York area sports. Perhaps it is because he played on Long Island and not NYC, Bossy is forgotton. Meisel and Bossy do a fine job. I hope copies of this book are out there for those of you hockey fans who are looking for a fun book to read. The book also takes serious turns, as the other review here says. It was an accurate review.

Bossy's Book is a Bull's-Eye

In his autobiography, Boss - The Mike Bossy Story, which was published in late 1988, Mike Bossy takes readers through his life and NHL career. The book is logically organized, easy to read and full of insights. He discusses his pre-NHL playing days, his NHL career, his memorable years with the New York Islanders, and his career-ending injury.Chapter 1 talks about the genesis of Bossy's career-ending back injury, which occurred during a 1987 practice session. He also offers ideas for improving hockey.Chapters 2 and 3 talk about his childhood in Montreal and his teenage years. He mentions how he met his future wife.Chapter 4 details life in junior hockey. The title of this chapter, Survival, summarizes what Bossy went through to get to the NHL.Chapter 5 talks more about his junior career and about how the Islanders drafted Bossy. It is still hard to believe that Bossy, despite all the goals he scored in junior hockey, was only the 15th pick in the first round of the 1977 draft, and that two teams passed drafting Bossy twice. There is a humerous passage in this chapter about the negotiations with the New York Islanders over Bossy's first contract.Chapter 6 briefly touched on Bossy's disasterous 1977 honeymoon in the Caribbean, before discussing Bossy's first year in the NHL. He scored 53 goals, setting a record for rookies (which would stand for 15 years), and easily won the 1978 Rookie of the Year award.Chapter 7 is the funniest section of the book. Bossy details his great relationship with teammate Bryan Trottier and some of the more memorable laughs he and the team had during his playing days.Chapter 8 details how the 1978-1979 Islanders suffered a crushing defeat in the third round of the playoffs at the hands of their arch-rival New York Rangers, even though the Islanders finished first overall during the regular season. Many Islanders in the early and mid-1980s would say that their demoralizing defeat in 1979 (when they were expected to win the Stanley Cup) would make them fear losing.Chapter 9 talks about the 1979-80 season. For a change, the team did not do well in the regular season, finishing sixth overall. But the Islanders tuned themselves up late in the season (via a trade that brought Butch Goring) and stuck together in the playoffs (against three favored teams, Boston, Buffalo and Philadelphia). In the playoffs, the Islanders dominated overtime, winning six games and losing only one. Bossy describes the uninhibited joy and elation that came with the Islanders first Stanley Cup championship, won on May 24, 1980, on Bob Nystrom's overtime goal.Chapter 10 discusses Bossy's personal goal of trying to score 50 goals during the team's first 50 games, a feat last accomplished in 1945. Bossy tied the record, in dramatic fashion, by scoring twice in the third period of the 50th game. Bossy would later state this was his greatest individual accomplishment. The Islanders culminated the seas