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| Terry Sawchuk and Johnny Bower |
Bower was born into a Ukrainian Canadian family in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan to Johnny Kiszkan, a labourer and his wife, Betty. He had eight sisters. He taught himself how to play hockey, using a branch as a stick, and made himself goalie pads out of old mattresses. When he was 15, he lied about his age and enlisted in the Canadian Army during World War II, where he was stationed in England as a gunner with the 2nd Canadian Division from 1940 to 1943. His service ended when he was discharged due to rheumatoid arthritis in his hands.
After his discharge, Bower returned to Prince Albert in 1944 to play junior hockey there. In 1945, he turned professional and moved to the American Hockey League (AHL), where he spent 11 seasons playing mostly for the Cleveland Barons in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Kiszkan began to use his mother's maiden name, Bower, after his parents divorced in 1946.] He legally changed his surname during his first year of professional hockey, because sports writers often had trouble spelling "Kiszkan".
In the AHL, he proved himself the star goaltender of the circuit, winning numerous awards and leading his teams to three Calder Cup championships.
Johnny Bower in goal.
Despite being claimed by Toronto, Bower intended to stay with the Barons, as he was tired of moving all over the country. When the Leafs hired Punch Imlach, he visited Bower, and convinced him to give the NHL one more try, and became a strong supporter of Bower during his time with the Leafs, calling Bower "the most remarkable — and maybe the best — athlete in the world." The Leafs at this time were an up-and-coming team of young star players, and after Imlach traded for Red Kelly, the Leafs were ready for contention.
Bower won his first Vezina Trophy in 1961 for leading the Leafs to the lowest goals allowed in the 1960-61 season. The height of his NHL career came during the Maple Leafs' three consecutive Stanley Cup victories in the early 1960s: 1961–62, 1962–63, and 1963–64. Bower later said "When we won the Stanley Cup, my head went numb, my whole body went numb. That was my dream from Day One. You just can't explain the feelings inside you."
His career would be hampered by poor eyesight, but despite that he remained a top-tier goaltender. He was known for his hard-nosed, scrappy playing style and would win another Stanley Cup in 1967 in tandem with another Hall of Famer, Terry Sawchuk. Bower claimed, "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 when the Leafs allowed the fewest goals in the NHL in 1964–65. On April 22, 1967, in the second game of the Stanley Cup Finals, he shut out the Montreal Canadiens for his fifth (and final) career playoff shutout — four of them against the Canadiens. In the third game of the Stanley Cup Finals, on April 25, 1967, and in his last Stanley Cup Finals appearance, he became the second-oldest goalie to play in the Finals at the age of 42 years, 5 months, 17 days (Lester Patrick holds that record). The Leafs won in double overtime when Bob Pulford scored.
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.[ His last full season was 1968–69. He played his final 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 ever 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 both by Gordie Howe, Chris Chelios, and Jaromir Jagr]
On March 19, 1970, Bower publicly announced his official retirement — four months after his 45th birthday.
He played 11 full seasons in all with the Leafs. When asked, in light of his retirement, if he might reveal his true age, he replied "If you don't know by now, you never will". He subsequently revealed his birth date as November 8, 1924.
His regular season career statistics include: 552 games played, 250 wins, 195 losses, 90 ties, 37 shutouts and a 2.51 GAA. In addition, he remains the AHL career leader in wins.
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 1976–78. He retired from the organization in 1990, but continued to make public appearances on behalf of the organization for the rest of his life.
Bower was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1976, and 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. Bower also became a member of the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. Bower was married to wife Nancy with a son, two daughters, eight grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and previously resided in Mississauga, Ontario.
In January 2004, Bower was featured on a postage stamp. As part of the NHL All-Stars Collection, Bower was immortalized along with five other All-Stars.] 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, he 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, where he once lived for many years. Patika Avenue was ceremonially renamed Johnny Bower Boulevard to honour Bower for the time during the 1960s when he lived at 16 Patika Avenue. Bower proudly stated "It’s a great day for me and my family...this is a better ovation than I used to get at Maple Leaf Gardens."
Bower was once again immortalized on September 6, 2014, when the Leafs unveiled him, alongside Darryl Sittler, as two of the first three inductees of Legends Row (Ted Kennedy was the first, announced some months earlier), with statues outside Air Canada Centre depicting twelve of the greatest players in Maple Leafs history.
On December 26, 2017, Bower died at the age of 93 from pneumonia
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