UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE (04/29/01)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

Mike Bossy: model marksman, legend of the game

He had the quickest hands and the quickest release of his - or any - era, but Ukrainian Hall of Famer Mike Bossy says it had as much to do with a high tolerance of pain as pure goal-scoring ability. Bossy, who spent a full decade patrolling right wing for the New York Islanders, took a brutal beating to score goals with an efficiency which, by at least one measure, has never been duplicated.

Fifty goals in a season used to represent the NHL's gold standard, a level of achievement only a handful of players ever attained. Bossy was the best of a generation that shredded the standard; he is the only player in league history to score 50 goals every full season of his career. Bossy did it nine times from the 1977-1978 season through 1985-1986 before scoring 38 times in 63 games in 1986-1987 - and then retiring because of chronic back problems.

"A lot of times," said Bossy, "you hear the comment, 'He just appeared out of nowhere.' Well, appearing out of nowhere took a hell of a lot of hard work and a lot of cross-checks and slashes behind the legs. Defensemen, if they can touch someone, they think they have them covered. So I'll take the cross-checks, the slashes and the jabs from the goalies and they'd say, 'We've got him, he's here.' But it doesn't take very long to slip away."

Indeed, Wayne Gretzky was more prolific than Bossy (with a record 894 career goals) and Mario Lemieux more breathtaking (with a record .823 career goals-per-game average, which does not include his 2000-2001 comeback's scoring.) But nobody - not Gretzky, not Lemieux, not Rocket Richard, not Bobby Hull, not Phil Esposito - has ever matched Bossy's consistency or efficiency.

"The pure goal scorer is a guy who gets a chance and scores - and that's what Mike Bossy did," said former NHL goaltender Mike Liut (believed also to be of Ukrainian descent; his full surname was shortened a generation earlier), who starred during the 1980s. "He didn't miss. He didn't shoot it over the net. He didn't hit you in the crest. If Bossy was forced to the back side of the circle going down the wing, there was no hesitation. He would take that pass at the blueline, take three hard strides, hit the circle and then hammer it eight inches off the ice right between your legs.

"Mike knew that eight inches off the ice, right about ankle height, that's the five-hole. Because whether you butterfly or whether you pull your legs together, that area is the last area to be covered. He was very accurate. He had that goal-scorer's release. He didn't have to wind up. He zinged it. And that's what a goal-scorer does," Liut explained

Some players spend a lifetime chasing the 20-goal plateau. Bossy achieved it 22 games into his first season. Bossy scored a total of 573 goals in 752 games, for a goals-per-game average of .762, second only to Super Mario Lemieux among 500-goal-scorers. Bossy and Gretzky share the record for most 50-goal seasons. Bossy was the first player to score 50 goals in his rookie season.

"When I got to the NHL from junior," Bossy noted, "everything was just so much quicker, so I said to myself, 'If I want to be successful, I'm going to have to be a lot quicker than I was.'"

The ability to find open ice was the essence of Bossy's game, the key to his success. His longtime center, Bryan Trottier, now an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche said: "He had a great release and a powerful shot. He had that ability that all goal-scorers have, they find a way to get the puck on the net. Everybody remembers the goals he got on slapshots or quick releases. I remember a lot of goals he got that were garbage goals. Tons of garbage goals. No one remembers the ones where the goalie made the save and he jammed in the rebound. There were lots of them."

To score in tight, for someone of Bossy's modest 6-foot, 186-pound frame required some subterfuge.

"I always used to let the defenseman think I was right beside him," said Bossy, now 43 and living in Rosemere, a suburb north of Montreal. "In front of the net, I wouldn't mind taking the cross-check to let him think he had me and then just slide away and get out into the open. I didn't need 10 feet of open ice. I always used to tell the guys, 'If my bottom hand is free, then you can give me the puck because I can shoot.'

"So as soon as they saw my stick and saw that it was on the ice, then I was ready to shoot. I always tried to let the defenseman think he had me covered, knowing that he didn't have me covered," he explained.

Old goalie Liut readily concurred: "When you watch a goal-scorer around the net they'll say the puck follows him around the net. It doesn't. The goal-scorer knows where to go. He understands the rebounds and the angles of the shot from the point and where a goaltender is going to deflect them out to. All the great goal-scorers were that way."

"Interestingly, Mike played higher in the slot than other goal-scorers and he was very effective. So he might have been the first to get lost in the crowd and then appear at the right time," he added.

Bossy had a signature play which teams use even now, sometimes on the power play and sometimes with the goaltender pulled and an extra attacker on the ice.

Liut described what is known in hockey circles simply as the "Bossy play": "Mike would line up on the left boards, so he's on his off wing. On the drop of the puck, Trottier would win it straight back between his legs and Mike would walk to the top of the circle. If you lined up a defenseman on the wall with Mike, he was hesitant to follow Bossy, who would jump away from the person he's lined up with. Now, he's got the puck at the top of the circle and there's traffic in front of the net and he'd hammer it. It was a very effective play."

Final transactions/injuries

Anaheim - Vitaly Vishnevski, D, strained hip muscle, indefinite/day-to-day; Gregg Naumenko, GT, recalled from Cincinnati (AHL); Vishnevski sprained shoulder, day-to-day.

Atlanta - Darcy Hordichuk, LW, recalled from Orlando (IHL); Hordichuk assigned to Orlando.

Calgary - Daniel Tkaczuk, C, concussion, indefinite; Tkaczuk assigned to St. John (AHL).

Columbus - Mike Maneluk, LW, back spasms, day-to-day.

Dallas - Richard Matvichuk, D, broken jaw, indefinite/early February mid-February.

Florida - Peter Ratchuk, D, assigned to Louisville (AHL); Joey Tetarenko, D, recalled from Louisville; Tetarenko reassigned to Louisville; Dennis Shvidki, LW, recalled from Louisville; Tetarenko again recalled from Louisville; Tetarenko, scratched cornea, early April.

Minnesota - Maxim Sushinsky, LW, left team to return to Russia; Curtis Leschyshyn, D, traded to Ottawa for third-round pick in 2001 draft and conditional pick in 2002.

Nashville - Drake Berehowsky, D, traded to Vancouver for second-round pick in 2001.

New Jersey - Stanislav Gron, RW, recalled from Albany (AHL) and later reassigned.

Ottawa - Curtis Leschyshyn, D, concussion, April 11.

Philadelphia - Todd Fedoruk, LW, lacerated right eyelid, day-to-day.

Phoenix - Keith Tkachuk, LW, concussion,day-to-day; Tkachuk traded to St. Louis for three players and No. 1 draft pick in 2001 or 2002.

St. Louis - Jaroslav Obsut, D, recalled from Worcester (AHL) and later returned; Obsut later recalled again and returned.

San Jose - Greg Andrusak, D, recalled from Kentucky (AHL) and later returned.

Tampa Bay - Fired coach steve Ludzik; Dieter Kochan, GT, recalled from Detroit (IHL) and later returned.

Toronto - Wade Belak, D, claimed on waivers from Calgary; Belak dislocated shoulder, mid-April/indefinite.

Washington - Glen Metropolit, C/RW, recalled from Portland (AHL); Dmitri Khristich, RW, strained left hamstring, day-to-day; Metropolit returned to Portland; Peter Bondra, RW, signed four-year contract; Ross Lupaschuk, D, signed three-year contract; Metropolit again recalled from Portland.

Minor league utterings

Worcester defenseman Jaroslav Obsut was named player of the week in the AHL (in February) after back-to-back first-star performances ... Philadelphia Phantom Todd Fedoruk was suspended for three games when caught coming off the bench to brawl against Albany as the second period ended in an early season tilt ... Cincinnati Cyclones' goalie Randy Petruk finally got his first two wins of the season in early March against Orlando. Petruk, who starred against the Solar Bears in last spring's playoffs, had been out with a knee injury ... Mohawk Valley traded center John Vecchiarelli, one of the United Hockey League's all-time leading scorers, to the New Haven Knights for former Vancouver Canuck Jay Mazur. Mazur, 35, tallied 21 goals for Alexandria of the WPHL last year ... Brent Gretzky, the United League's reigning scoring champ who had not scored in his first nine games this season, lost his job with Port Huron when another pivot, Paul Polillo, Gretzky's friend and a fellow Brantford, Ontario native, announced he was ending his retirement. Unable to fit both under the weekly $10,000 salary cap, Gretzky was traded to Fort Wayne for center Jeff Loder. Polillo assumed Gretzky's "franchise" player role, with his salary not counting against the cap ... Louisville winger Denis Shvidki was Planet USA's offensive star in the annual AHL All-Star game, setting All-Star Game records for assists (four) and points (five) ... Goaltender Jeff Salajko was named to the Columbus Chill's all-time team and honored at a ceremony at the Ohio Expo Fairgrounds Coliseum ... The Toledo Storm hosted an old-timers' game on March 11 in honor of the team's 10th anniversary in the East Coast Hockey League. Participants included Storm general manager Pat Pylypuik, who was the first player ever signed by the team in 1991 and a key part of back-to-back Riley Cup championships in 1993 and 1994 ...

(Mike Bossy quotes thanks to Eric Duhatschek of The Hockey News.)

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