BOSTON (AP) – Boston Bruins fans have long counted Cam Neely among the team’s all-time greats, despite a career shortened by injury.

In a pre-game ceremony on Jan. 12, the team plans to make that designation official by retiring Neely’s No. 8, raising it to the FleetCenter rafters alongside the likes of Bobby Orr and Eddie Shore.

No Bruins player has worn Neely’s number since injuries forced his retirement in September 1996.

Neely, a strong skater and imposing physical presence on the ice, is the 10th Bruin to have his number retired.

“There’s no question it’s very special for me to go up there and join those guys, those great players,” Neely said. “I think the common denominator between all the other numbers and players that are up there is the commitment to organization and the Bruins and the work ethic that I tried to instill in myself.”

Neely said the retirement of his number was the “icing on the cake” of a successful career.

He isn’t bitter that injuries cut his playing days short, and says he wouldn’t have been as successful if he had played a less physical style.

“If I had done anything different, my career would have been a lot shorter,” he said. “There were times I got reminded by a couple of coaches … that I did have to play physical.”

The ceremony, before a game against Buffalo, will be among the events commemorating the team’s 80th anniversary season.

“The term ‘power forward’ became part of the hockey lexicon because it was the only way to truly describe his style of play,” team president Harry Sinden said of Neely. “Cam gave Bruins fans countless highlights over his seasons in a Boston uniform as one of the most prolific scorers and complete players in team history.”

Neely said he developed that style by emulating one of his favorite hockey players growing up in British Columbia, Vancouver Canucks right wing Stan Smyl.

“He was not necessarily the most skilled or flashiest player by any means. But he produced and he was a team leader, and he played well for what ability he had, and he gave everything that he could,” Neely said. “I looked at him and kind of said ‘I’d like to play like that.”‘

Drafted ninth overall by Vancouver in the 1983 NHL draft, Neely played two-plus seasons with the Canucks before he was traded to Boston in 1986.

He ended his Bruins career with 344 goals and 246 assists for 590 points, with 921 penalty minutes in 525 regular season games. He remains fourth on the club’s all-time goal scoring list and ninth overall in the team’s scoring history.

Neely is also the team’s all-time leading playoff scorer with 55 goals. The Bruins made the Stanley Cup Finals twice during his tenure, losing to the Edmonton Oilers both times.

He scored more than 50 goals three times, in 1989-90, 1990-91 and 1993-94.

Neely’s injury problems began in the 1991 conference championship series with a hit to his left thigh.

He missed the first 38 games of the 1991-92 season, and played in just nine games before developing a knee problem that caused him to miss the remainder of that season and all but 13 games of the next.

Neely earned the NHL’s Bill Masterton Trophy in 1993-94, when he returned from those injuries and scored 50 goals. A hip condition led to his retirement, and a 1998 comeback bid was short-lived.

His NHL career totals were 395 goals and 299 assists for 694 points in 726 career games.

Besides Orr and Shore, the Bruins have retired the numbers of Lionel Hitchman, Aubrey “Dit” Clapper, Phil Esposito, John Bucyk, Milt Schmidt, Terry O’Reilly and Raymond Bourque.

AP-ES-07-29-03 1615EDT