Leafs fan favourite Johnny Bower dies at 93
Johnny Bower didn’t really want to come to Toronto. But the pint-sized goalie with the big heart went on to become part of Maple Leafs lore. Bower, a twotime Vezina Trophy winner who helped the Leafs win their last Stanley Cup championship in 1967, died on Tuesday. A statement from his family said the 93-year-old died after a short battle with pneumonia.
Bower, who became known as the China Wall, was happily playing in the minors in Cleveland when he was picked up by Toronto almost 50 years ago. He said he only showed up to avoid being suspended for not reporting.
“They just wanted me for one year but I had a good team in front of me,” Bower recalled with a laugh in a November 2014 interview. “I was there for 13 years, so it turned out really nice for me.”
Years after retiring, Bower remained one of the most beloved ex-Leafs. “I don’t know what it is,” he said of his popularity. But Bower, whose age seemed flexible during a long hockey career that took a long while to come to a boil, always had time for his fans.
“I can’t say no to these kids. Because when I was a child during Depression time we had nothing at all. Like my dad said it costs you nothing for a smile. Just go ahead and work and do your job and be good to people and they’ll be good to you.” Toronto honoured Bower on the occasion of his 90th birthday on Nov. 8, 2014, during a game against the New York Rangers, his first team. He was given a framed, autographed crest from each team and an enthusiastic rendition of “Happy Birthday” from the sellout crowd.
Bower’s career took off after the Leafs claimed him in a 1958 intra-league draft. Bower went on to play 475 regular-season games and win four Stanley Cups for the Leafs, plying his trade mostly without a mask. “I got a couple hundred stitches in the face,” the fearless goaltender recalled during a 2005 interview. “You learn how to duck.”
He pioneered the poke-check, diving head first at opposing players to knock the puck off their sticks. The move came with a cost – he suffered cuts and lost teeth by throwing himself into the action.
But he stopped pucks. And he got better with age – despite painful bouts with arthritis and eventually learning he was near-sighted.
Bower won the Vezina Trophy in 1961 and the Leafs hoisted the Stanley Cup in 1962, 1963, 1964, with Bower and Terry Sawchuk sharing the Vezina in 1965. In 1967, again sharing the job with Sawchuk, he helped Toronto win its last title at the age of 43.