Why famed Leafs goalie Johnny Bower believes in today’s generation of netminders,
The Star spoke with 15 of the 18 surviving players who were part of the Maple Leafs’ last Stanley Cup victory. The men talked about their recollections of that 1967 season, and about their hopes and advice for the current team. Part of a popular feature published in the Star last year, the players recently were contacted again to get their impressions of the resurging franchise. The stories of their own success have been interwoven with their hopes for the current team that many of them still follow passionately. We also talked to several of the current Leafs about their thoughts on the team’s once storied history.
Johnny Bower, the China Wall as he was known for his puck-stopping exploits, understands goaltending. So he was a little more anxious than most Maple Leaf fans at this season’s trade deadline when he heard Toronto was making inquiries about acquiring a new netminder.
Bower believed then and he believes now that the Leafs can win with incumbents James Reimer and Ben Scrivens patrolling the blue ice.
“I’m really pleased to see they kept the two young goalkeepers that they have. I really do believe in those guys,” says the affable Bower, who must have been born with a permanent smile 88 years ago. “They’re both big guys. One of them is twice as big as I am.
“The Leafs are playing great and they could very easily get into the (Stanley Cup) final. It all depends on the goaltending, but there are a lot of good goaltenders in the National League right now.”
Bower recalled that it took two netminders to bring Toronto its championship in 1967. He said it was important that Reimer and Scrivens work together, as he and Terry Sawchuk did that glorious spring, and that they have a coach who knows how to use them best. Of course, he concedes, it took him a while to understand that.
He was ticked at first when Punch Imlach, general manager as well as coach, picked up Sawchuk during the off-season in 1964.
“When they got Terry Sawchuk, I said, ‘Punch I’m really mad at you.’ I got along good with Punch. I said, ‘What did you take him for?’ I said, ‘Good golly, I’m doing a good job for you.’
“He says, ‘Yeah, but if I get him, I’m sure to win the Stanley Cup.’
“He did and he was right.”
It just took another three seasons. And it was fortunate the Leafs had Sawchuk during that championship run in ’67, because a groin muscle injury felled Bower during the semifinal against Chicago. And though he was relegated to bench duty that doesn’t mean he wasn’t playing the game against the Montreal Canadiens the night Toronto clinched the Cup. At least in his mind.
“Every shot that (Terry) Sawchuk stopped, I was with him. I was on the bench but my pads were going. My left then my right, criss-crossing. I don’t know what I was doing there. I was watching the play very, very closely. He had a super night. It was just great,” says Bower.
Although he was in uniform for that game, Bower couldn’t have played; his injury was too severe. Imlach dressed the veteran as a courtesy. If Sawchuk had been hurt, young Al Smith was ready to go in the Toronto dressing room and would have been summoned to take his place.
Sawchuk, though, was spectacular, beaten only once, by former Leaf Dick Duff. And Bower was one of the first off the bench, racing to congratulate him.
“I’m glad Punch did that. I didn’t want to sit in the dressing room. I wanted to go out and celebrate with the other players,” Bower recalls. “It was a great atmosphere. The fans stood up and they just cheered, I don’t know how to explain it. It’s a wonder they didn’t blow the roof off Maple Leaf Gardens. They cheered and they cheered and they cheered. They were with us all the way.”
The celebration continued in the dressing room afterward — teams didn’t linger on the ice, passing the Cup around as is the custom now.
“Everybody was welcome, the Stanley Cup was there. Everybody had a sip out of it. My children were there, my wife was there, as well. Everyone was just so happy,” he says.
“I forget who threw him in, but they threw (assistant manager) King Clancy in the shower, clothes and all. He looked like a wet duck to me.”
Bower says the parade three days later was pandemonium.
“Paper was flying, they were standing and cheering, yelling at us guys ‘ hooray’ and they were happy as could be. You’d have thought we won the war.”
Toronto Star reporters Joseph Hall and Paul Hunter check in with the hockey legends who last paraded a Stanley Cup down Bay St. to gauge their reaction to the youthful Leafs team that is capturing a city’s heart and to listen to the advice they have for those who may inherit their mantles. To read Maple Leafs: Catching Up with the Past, go to stardispatches.com and subscribe for $1/week. It’s also available for single-copy purchase at itunes.ca or starstore.ca for $2.99.