Goaltender was proud to be a Leafs legend

Goaltender Johnny Bower, a fourtime Stanley Cup winner who worked to promote the Toronto Maple Leafs long after his playing days, has died at age 93.

A family member at Bower’s home confirmed his death late Tuesday. Bower had recently been hospitalized in the Toronto area.

His rough-hewn face, which took many pucks in an age where goalies did not wear masks, became familiar to both fans of the Original Six NHL and generations afterward. The amiable Bower signed thousands of autographs and made frequent appearances at Maple Leaf Gardens and the Air Canada Centre, never failing to say the Leafs would one day be champions again.

Bower was a four-time all-star who was awarded a Vezina Trophy and inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He won 220 games — second in franchise history.

Bower was born in Prince Albert, Sask. He spent years in the minors and did not play regularly in the NHL until he was almost 34. He was proud to have maintained his playing weight of 171 pounds into his 90s.

“If I ever slowed down, I’d probably just waste away in front of the television,” he said a few years ago.

A 29-year-old Bower was deemed ready for the NHL and moved to the New York Rangers in 1953. He won 29 games and learned more moves such as his signature poke check, but was rarely used in the NHL after that big season.

The Leafs, about to re-organize under Punch Imlach, took note of him and got the four-time Calder Cup champion to leave the AHL’s Cleveland Barons in 1958.

“Nancy always reminds me I didn’t want to go,” Bower told the Toronto Sun this year. “I said at the time, ‘I’m 33. I’m happy in Cleveland.’ She kept saying this is your big chance. We wound up staying for four Cups.”