Johnny Bower 1961-62 Parkhurst #3

John Kiszkan is one of the most loved hockey players in Toronto Maple Leafs history. Perhaps, Kiszkan can be found within a list of top ten National Hockey League goaltenders of all-time. Seemingly old before he was young, John Kiszkan is better known as Johnny Bower and is one of very to belong to both the Hockey Hall of Fame and AHL Hall of Fame.

Johnny Bower – 1961-62 Parkhurst #3

The third card in the 51 card 1961-62 Parkhurst NHL set belongs to Bower. Valued at four times that of a common card, it is the lowest valued hockey card of the big three goalies found in the set. Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens leads the way, followed by Terry Sawchuk of the Detroit Red Wings.

The back of the card celebrates Bower’s stats from the 1960-61 National Hockey League season. It was Johnny’s third year as the number one goalie for the Maple Leafs. He played in 58 games, recording a 2.50 goals against average, two shutouts and a .923 save percentage. He was backed up that year by a young Cesare Maniago who played seven games and Gerry McNamara who played in five games.

Johnny Bower – Minor Pro

From 1945-46 to 1952-53, Bower played in the AHL before getting his first shot at the NHL in 1953-54. It was in his first year that the name change from Kiszkan to Bower occurred. He was returned to the WHL for most of the 1954-55 season, playing 63 games for the Vancouver Canucks and just five in the NHL with the Rangers. Johnny then spent the next three years in the AHL before going back up to the NHL for good.

Best known as a four time Stanley Cup champion with the Maple Leafs, Bower was also part of four Calder Cup winning teams in the American Hockey League. His first three came with the Cleveland Barons while, ironically, his fourth came as a member of the Providence Reds, beating Cleveland in the finals.

In 1947-48, the Barons swept the Buffalo Bisons in four in the finals. In 1950-51 and 1952-53, Cleveland met up with the Pittsburgh Hornets in the finals, winning both with each series going the full seven games. In 1955-56, it was Bower’s last run at the Calder Cup with Providence sweeping Cleveland in four.

Bower was awarded both the Harry ‘Hap’ Holmes Memorial Award as the AHL’s top goalie and the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL’s MVP on three occasions. In 1956-57 and 1957-58, he was awarded both in the same season. In 1956-57 with the Reds, Johnny played in 57 games, posting four shutouts and a GAA of 2.42. The following year, he returned to the Cleveland Barons, playing in 64 games with eight shutouts and a 2.19 GAA.

In 2006, the American Hockey League inaugurated their own Hall of Fame. Johnny Bower was inducted in that first year.

Johnny Bower – NHL

Because he spent most of his NHL career with Toronto and the Maple Leafs were one of the first teams to introduce a real two goalie system, the only year Johnny played each game for his NHL team was in his rookie year with the Rangers. In 1953-54, Bower played in all 70 games for New York, earning five shutouts and a 2.60 goals against average. However, it was teammate Camille Henry that was honoured with the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year.

His NHL action would be severely reduced over the next several seasons. Johnny played five games with the Rangers in 1954-55 and just two games with the club in 1956-57. After being picked up by the Maple Leafs, Bower found regular work starting in 1958-59. He remained Toronto’s top goalie for the next decade.

With Toronto, he won four Stanley Cup champions. After the three-peat from 1961-62 to 1963-64, Bower took one last championship with the Maple Leafs in 1966-67. However, in that 1966-67 season, he shared the load equally with Terry Sawchuk.

By the 1968-69 season, Bower’s time between the pipes was reduced to just 20 games with Bruce Gamble taking over the number one spot. In his final year, 1969-70, Johnny played just one game, a 6-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on December 10, 1969. That year, Gamble was still number one but Marv Edwards had taken over as the number two guy. In an interesting twist, Gerry McNamara, who had backed up Bower in 1960-61 with five appearances, played two games for the Maple Leafs. Those would be the only seven NHL games McNamara would ever play.

Johnny was the recipient of the Vezina Trophy in 1960-61 and 1964-65. That, in itself, is an interesting fact. Those were the two years surrounding Toronto’s three year run at the Stanley Cup but Bower did not win the reward while the Maple Leafs were champions.

In 1976, Johnny Bower was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In March, 1995, the Toronto Maple Leafs honoured, but did not retire, number one for Johnny and Turk Broda.