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Mike Bossy, Rest In Peace
Mike Bossy was a legendary player for the New York Islanders as well as ranked #20 on The Hockey News 100 Greatest NHL Players. He was an instrumental part of the NY Islanders that won four consecutive Stanley Cup championships.
His NHL career was cut short by injuries. He played for 10 seasons. In his tenth season, his back injuries were so painful that a teammate had to lace-up his skates before each game.
Fifteen years ago David Ayers put his dreams of a professional hockey career on ice – literally. He was lying in a hospital bed in the need of kidney transplant which he got from his mother, Mary. But he stayed connected to the game. He’s the maintenance manager at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (the old Maple Leaf Gardens) and has spent time as a practice goalie with the AHL Toronto Marlies and the NHL Maple Leafs. But the closest he has been to game action is driving the Zamboni between periods for the minor league team.
At his natural position, no one in the league was his equal. He was what hockey folks call a “stay-at-home” defenseman, a player who specializes in using his physicality, vision, and disciplined play to neutralize the opposing team’s offensive star. He had always been one of the smallest players on his team, but he compensated for his modest stature by playing with a bulldog’s tenacity. He was fearless and the fans loved him for it. Opposing centers hated his miserable guts, but to the people in the stands, he represented everything beautiful about the game.
