Johnny Bower grew up in rural Saskatchewan, the only boy in a family of nine children. He was dirt poor and never had the proper hockey equipment. He made his goalie pads from an old mattress and his pucks from horse manure; his dad would look for suitably crooked tree branches to shave into sticks; a friend gave him his first pair of skates because his father couldn’t afford to buy him a pair; and yet he refined his game to become one of the best goalies of all time. He began a career in the American Hockey League, playing for Providence and Cleveland for an incredible eight full seasons before playing a single NHL game.
In 1953-54, he played the entire season for the New York Rangers, but then spent most of the next four seasons right back in the minors, having lost the starting job in New York to Gump Worsley. Bower’s big break came in the summer of 1958 when the Leafs claimed him from Cleveland. Bower was at first reluctant to join the Leafs, even though they had finished in last place the previous season, telling them he could be of no help to the team. It was only after being threatened with suspension that he showed up for training camp that fall, and within days he had established himself as the team’s number one goalie at age 34. He played a total of 12 years with the Leafs.
Bower became famous for his fearless play. He never shied away from an attacking player and in fact, patented the most dangerous move a goalie can make – the poke-check. Diving head first into the skates of an attacking player at full speed, Bower would routinely flick the puck off the opposing player’s stick and out of harm’s way. Under coach Punch Imlach, Bower got better and better. He led the Leafs into the playoffs in his first season with a miracle comeback to end the schedule and then lost two finals in a row before winning three consecutive Stanley Cup championships from 1962 to 1964.
After he retired in 1970 as the oldest goalie ever to play in the NHL, Bower remained with the Leafs for many years as a scout and then goalie coach, putting the pads on and helping Leaf goalies in practice.
