Johnny Bower

John William Bower (né Kiszkan; ; ; November 8, 1924 – December 26, 2017) nicknamed "The China Wall", was a Ukrainian-Canadian ice hockey goaltender and inductee to the Hockey Hall of Fame, who won four Stanley Cups during his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 2017 he was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history. His song "Honky (The Christmas) Goose" reached #29 on the CHUM Charts in December 1965.

Playing career Bower was born John William Kiszkan into a Ukrainian-Canadian family in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, to Johnny Kiszkan, a labourer born Dmytro Kiszkan, and his wife, Lizzie, née Jacobson. (His father had previously been a homesteader.) He was discharged due to rheumatoid arthritis in his hands. or that he was adopted. His parents' break up may also have been a factor, suggests Robson, as Bower rarely talked about the situation.

In the AHL, he proved himself the star goaltender of the circuit, winning numerous awards and leading his teams to three Calder Cup championships.

Bower made his debut in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the New York Rangers in , at the age of 29. The Rangers made him their starting goaltender over Gump Worsley, who had been rookie of the year the previous season. Bower played in all 70 games that season and recorded 29 wins. The following season Worsley won back the starting job for the Rangers, and Bower returned to the minor leagues. He played there for four more years with three teams, the Providence Reds, the Vancouver Canucks and the Cleveland Barons, and was called up briefly by the Rangers in and .

In the 1958 Inter-League draft he was claimed by the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were an up-and-coming team of young star players at the time. Nonetheless, Bower preferred to stay with the Barons, as he was tired of moving all over the country. Punch Imlach, whom the Maple Leafs had recently hired, visited Bower and convinced him to give the NHL one more try, as he considered him "the most remarkable — and maybe the best — athlete in the world."

Bower's career was hampered by poor eyesight, but he remained a top-tier goaltender. He was known for his hard-nosed, scrappy playing style and helped the Leafs win another Stanley Cup in 1967, as part of a tandem with another Hall of Famer, Terry Sawchuk. He said, "I wasn't all that glad to see the two-goalie system come in. I wanted to play as many games as I could." Bower and Sawchuk shared the Vezina Trophy in .

On April 6, 1969, at the age of 44 years, 4 months, and 29 days, Bower became the oldest goaltender to play in a Stanley Cup playoff game, a distinction previously held by Lester Patrick. He played his last game on December 10, 1969, a 6–3 loss to Montreal; mainly due to injuries, this was his only game of the 1969–70 season. At the time, he was the oldest full-time player to participate in an NHL game, and remains the second-oldest goaltender (45 years, 1 month, 2 days), behind only Maurice Roberts; he was surpassed as oldest full-time player by Gordie Howe, Chris Chelios, and Jaromír Jágr.

On March 19, 1970, Bower publicly announced his retirement, four months after his 45th birthday. He played eleven full seasons with the Leafs. When asked if he might reveal his true age, he replied "If you don't know by now, you never will". Bower eventually revealed his birth date as November 8, 1924.

He remains the AHL career leader in wins with 359.

Post-retirement and death Bower worked for the Maple Leafs after his retirement in various capacities, including as a scout and a goalie coach. He was assistant coach for the Leafs from 1976 to 1978. He retired in 1990 but continued to make public appearances on behalf of the organization for the rest of his life. An exhibit for Bower at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bower was inducted into the Hall in 1976. Bower was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1976, and to the AHL Hall of Fame as a member of its inaugural class in 2006. In 1998, he was ranked number 87 on The Hockey News''' list of the 100 Greatest NHL Players. He was inducted into the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. He was married to Nancy and had a son, two daughters, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, and resided in Mississauga, Ontario. In 2005, the Royal Canadian Mint featured Bower on a non-circulating fifty-cent coin, as part of its four-coin Legends of the Toronto Maple Leafs coin set. In 2007, it was announced that Bower would receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

On October 7, 2010, Bower opened the first game of the regular season for the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre by walking out on an implied "bridge over water" with his goalie stick.

On May 24, 2014, Bower attended a street renaming ceremony in Weston in Toronto. Patika Avenue, where he lived during the 1960s, was renamed Johnny Bower Boulevard. He said, "It’s a great day for me and my family...this is a better ovation than I used to get at Maple Leaf Gardens."

On September 6, 2014, the Maple Leafs named him and Darryl Sittler two of the first three inductees of Legends Row (Ted Kennedy had been inducted some months earlier), with statues outside Air Canada Centre of twelve of the greatest players in Maple Leafs history.

On December 26, 2017, Bower died at the age of 93 from pneumonia. In the days following Bower's death, many teams, including the Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, Arizona Coyotes and Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association honoured Bower with pre-game tributes. On January 3, the Maple Leafs hosted a public celebration of Bower's life at the Air Canada Centre. The event was attended by thousands, including various NHL alumni, members of the current Maple Leafs team, members of the Canadian Armed Forces and other major figures. The memorial was televised across several channels in Canada, and in accordance with the event, Toronto Mayor John Tory declared January 3 to be Johnny Bower Day in the city of Toronto. For the remainder of the season, the Maple Leafs wore patches on their jerseys and helmets in honour of Bower.

Legacy Bower was the first goaltender to employ the poke check, an aggressive move whereby the goalie uses his stick to poke the puck away from an attacking player, sometimes leaving his crease to do so. This move has since been imitated by goaltenders at all levels of hockey.

Awards and honours

Three-time Hap Holmes Memorial Award: 1952, 1957, 1958 Two-time Vezina Trophy winner in , Four-time Stanley Cup winner: , , , Played in 1961 NHL All-Star Game Three-time Calder Cup winner: 1948, 1951, 1953 The Hockey News''' list of the Top 100 NHL Players of All Time: #87 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee (class of 1976) AHL Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2006) Star on Canada's Walk of Fame Number 1 retired by the Cleveland Monsters (for his career with the Cleveland Barons) Number 1 retired by the Toronto Maple Leafs (alongside Turk Broda) In January 2017, Bower was part of the first group of players to be named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Bold indicates led league Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1944–45 Prince Albert Black Hawks SJHL 10 5 4 1 630 27 0 2.57 — — — — — — — — — 1944–45 Laura Beavers SIHA — — — — — — — — — 1 0 0 60 3 0 3.00 — 1944–45 Prince Albert Black Hawks M-Cup — — — — — — — — — 3 0 3 180 23 0 7.67 — 1945–46 Cleveland Barons AHL 41 18 17 6 2460 160 4 3.90 — — — — — — — — — 1945–46 Providence Reds AHL 1 0 1 0 48 4 0 5.00 — — — — — — — — — 1946–47 Cleveland Barons AHL 40 22 11 7 2400 124 3 3.10 — — — — — — — — — 1947–48 Cleveland Barons AHL 31 18 6 6 1880 83 1 2.65 — — — — — — — — — 1948–49 Cleveland Barons AHL 37 23 9 5 2200 127 3 3.43 — 5 2 3 329 23 0 4.19 — 1949–50 Cleveland Barons AHL 61 38 15 8 3660 201 5 3.30 — 9 4 5 548 27 0 2.96 — 1950–51 Cleveland Barons AHL 70 44 21 5 4280 213 5 2.99 — 11 8 3 703 32 0 2.73 — 1951–52 Cleveland Barons AHL 68 44 19 5 4110 165 3 2.41 — 5 2 3 300 17 0 3.40 — 1952–53 Cleveland Barons AHL 61 40 19 2 3680 155 6 2.53 — 11 7 4 745 21 4 1.69 — 1953–54 New York Rangers NHL 70 29 31 10 4200 182 5 2.60 — — — — — — — — — 1954–55 Vancouver Canucks WHL 63 30 25 8 3780 171 7 2.71 — 5 1 4 300 16 0 3.20 — 1954–55 New York Rangers NHL 5 2 2 1 300 13 0 2.60 — — — — — — — — — 1955–56 Providence Reds AHL 61 45 14 2 3710 174 3 2.81 — 9 7 2 540 23 0 2.56 — 1956–57 New York Rangers NHL 2 0 2 0 120 6 0 3.50 .882 — — — — — — — — 1956–57 Providence Reds AHL 57 30 19 8 3501 138 4 2.37 — 5 1 4 300 15 0 3.00 — 1957–58 Cleveland Barons AHL 64 37 23 3 3870 140 8 2.17 — — — — — — — — — 1958–59 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 39 15 17 7 2340 106 3 2.74 .913 12 5 7 746 38 0 3.06 .906 1959–60 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 66 34 24 8 3960 177 5 2.68 .918 10 4 6 645 31 0 2.88 .916 1960–61 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 58 33 15 10 3480 145 2 2.50 .922 3 0 3 180 8 0 2.67 .911 1961–62 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 59 31 18 10 3540 151 2 2.58 .918 10 6 3 579 20 0 2.07 .927 1962–63 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 42 20 15 7 2520 109 1 2.62 .913 10 8 2 600 16 2 1.60 .949 1963–64 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 51 24 16 11 3009 106 5 2.11 .933 14 8 6 850 30 2 2.12 .930 1964–65 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 34 13 13 8 2040 81 3 2.38 .924 5 2 3 321 13 0 2.43 .916 1965–66 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 35 18 10 5 1998 75 3 2.25 .929 2 0 2 120 8 0 4.00 .893 1966–67 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 27 12 9 3 1431 63 2 2.64 .924 4 2 0 183 5 1 1.64 .957 1967–68 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 43 14 18 7 2329 84 4 2.25 .934 — — — — — — — — 1968–69 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 20 5 4 3 779 37 2 2.85 .910 4 0 2 154 11 0 4.29 .888 1969–70 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 1 0 1 0 60 5 0 5.00 .868 — — — — — — — — AHL totals 592 359 174 57 35,799 1684 45 2.82 — 55 31 24 3465 158 4 2.74 — NHL totals 552 250 195 90 32,016 1340 37 2.51 .922 74 35 34 4378 180 5 2.47 .922