Skip to main content

Four-time Stanley Cup winner Mike Bossy reveals lung cancer diagnosis

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame inductee, former hockey great Mike Bossy, smiles during a news conference in Toronto on Thursday Oct. 25, 2007. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn Canada's Sports Hall of Fame inductee, former hockey great Mike Bossy, smiles during a news conference in Toronto on Thursday Oct. 25, 2007. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
Share

Former New York Islanders winger and TVA hockey analyst Mike Bossy is battling lung cancer.

He announced the news in a letter to TVA Sports Tuesday.

"It is with a lot of sadness that I need to step away from your screens, for a necessary pause. During this break I'll be receiving treatment for lung cancer. (The score is) 1-0 so far, but I haven't said my last word," Bossy wrote.

"I intend to fight with all the determination and fire you've seen me show on the ice."

Referring to viewers, he added: "You'll never be far away in my mind. To the contrary, you'll have a choice seat and be a part of what motivates me to get better.

"Like all athletes who prepare for the biggest performance of their lives, I'll need all of my strength and all my concentration."

Bossy, 64, helped the Islanders win 4 straight Stanley Cup, starting in 1980.

The Montreal native tallied 573 goals and 1,126 points over 10 seasons.

Bossy won the Calder trophy as the NHL's top rookie in 1978 and the Conn Smythe as the league's MVP in 1982. He was also awarded the Lady Byng trophy for sportsmanship in 1983, '84 and '86.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2021.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Mussolini's wartime bunker opens to the public in Rome

After its last closure in 2021, it has now reopened for guided tours of the air raid shelter and the bunker. The complex now includes a multimedia exhibition about Rome during World War II, air raid systems for civilians, and the series of 51 Allied bombings that pummeled the city between July 1943 and May 1944.

WATCH

WATCH Half of Canadians living paycheque-to-paycheque: Equifax

As Canadians deal with a crushing housing shortage, high rental prices and inflationary price pressures, now Equifax Canada is warning that Canadian consumers are increasingly under stress"from the surging cost of living.

Local Spotlight

Stay Connected