Johnny Bower obit

Johnny Bower, Hall of Fame hockey goalie, dies at 93
He was not on the list.

Johnny Bower, a Hall of Fame hockey goalie who helped the Toronto Maple Leafs win four Stanley Cup titles in the 1960s, died Dec. 26. He was 93.

In a statement, his family said the cause was pneumonia. Further details were not available.

Mr. Bower played minor-league hockey, mostly with the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League, and was in his 30s before he caught on permanently with Toronto in the National Hockey League.

At 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, he was small for a goalie, yet he was known as the “China Wall” for the fearless way he blocked shots — before most hockey players wore helmets and masks. Mr. Bower twice won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s outstanding goaltender, first in 1961 and again in 1965, when he shared the award with teammate Terry Sawchuk.

Mr. Bower was playing happily in Cleveland when Toronto acquired him in 1958. He said he only showed up to avoid being suspended.

“They just wanted me for one year, but I had a good team in front of me,” he said in 2014. “I was there for 13 years, so it turned out really nice for me.”

The Leafs hoisted the Stanley Cup in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967, and Mr. Bower remained a standout into his 40s despite nearsightedness and painful arthritis.

He pioneered the poke-check, brazenly diving head first at opposing players to knock the puck off their sticks. The move came at a cost — Mr. Bower suffered cuts and lost teeth by throwing himself into the action.

“I got a couple hundred stitches in the face,” he said during a 2005 interview.

He played in 475 regular-season games and retired in 1969.

John William Kiszkan was born Nov. 8, 1924, in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He made his first goalie pads out of old mattresses.

After serving in the Canadian army during World War II, he changed his last name to Bower, his mother’s maiden name.

He joined the Barons in 1945 and played eight seasons before signing with the NHL’s New York Rangers in 1953. He played parts of two other seasons with the Rangers and other minor-league clubs before joining Toronto in 1958.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1976.

Survivors include his wife of 69 years, Nancy Bower; three children; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Bower told various stories about his name change, including that "Bower" was his mother's maiden name, or that he was adopted. Biographer Dan Robson was also told that Barons management may have asked him to, to avoid the post-war discrimination against eastern Europeans while other sources claim that it was because sports writers often misspelled "Kiszkan". His parents' break up may also have been a factor, suggests Robson, as Bower rarely talked about the situation. His surname was legally changed during his first year of professional hockey. Robson's 2018 book, Bower: A Legendary Life, dedicates a chapter to the topic.

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 1953–54, 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 1954–55 and 1956–57.

In the 1958 Inter-League draft he was claimed by the Toronto Maple Leafs. 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." 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 allowing the fewest goals in the 1960–61 season. The height of his NHL career came during the Maple Leafs' three consecutive Stanley Cup victories from 1962 to 1964. He 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.

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 1964–65.

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.