Johnny Bower

John William "Johnny" Bower (November 8, 1924 – December 26, 2017), nicknamed "The China Wall", was a Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender.

Johnny Bower
Born	John William Kiszkan (1924-11-08)November 8, 1924 Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada
Died	December 26, 2017(2017-12-26) (aged 93) Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Johnny Bower Hockey Hall of Fame, 1976 Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Weight 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb) Position Goaltender Caught Left Played for New York Rangers Toronto Maple Leafs Playing career 1945–1969
Allegiance	Canada
Service/branch	First Canadian Army
Years of service	1940–1943
Rank	Gunner
Unit	II Canadian Corps 2nd Canadian Division
Battles/wars	World War II

Bower died of pneumonia on December 26, 2017 in Toronto at the age of 93.

Awards

• Hap Holmes Memorial Award (best AHL goaltender, 3 times)
• Vezina Trophy (2 times, at that time awarded for allowing the fewest goals throughout a season).
• NHL First Team All-Star in 1961.
• Les Cunningham Award as the AHL's Most Valuable Player three times consecutively, one of only four players in North American professional hockey history (Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Paul Polillo being the others) to do so at any level of play.

Regular season

Season	Team	League		GP	Min	GA	W	L	T	SO	GAA
1944–45	Prince Albert Black Hawks	SJHL		10	630	27	5	4	1	0	2.57
1945–46	Cleveland Barons	AHL		41	2460	160	18	17	6	4	3.90
1945–46	Providence Reds	AHL		1	48	4	0	1	0	0	5.00
1946–47	Cleveland Barons	AHL		40	2400	124	22	11	7	3	3.10
1947–48	Cleveland Barons	AHL		31	1880	83	18	6	6	1	2.65
1948–49	Cleveland Barons	AHL		37	2200	127	23	9	5	3	3.43
1949–50	Cleveland Barons	AHL		61	3660	201	38	15	8	5	3.30
1950–51	Cleveland Barons	AHL		70	4280	213	44	21	5	5	2.99
1951–52	Cleveland Barons	AHL		68	4110	165	44	19	5	3	2.41
1952–53	Cleveland Barons	AHL		61	3680	155	40	19	2	6	2.53
1953–54	New York Rangers	NHL		70	4200	182	29	31	10	5	2.60
1954–55	Vancouver Canucks	WHL		63	3780	171	30	25	8	7	2.71
1954–55	New York Rangers	NHL		5	300	13	2	2	1	0	2.60
1955–56	Providence Reds	AHL		61	3710	174	45	14	2	3	2.81
1956–57	Providence Reds	AHL		57	3501	138	30	19	8	4	2.37
1956–57	New York Rangers	NHL		2	120	6	0	2	0	0	3.50
1957–58	Cleveland Barons	AHL		64	3870	140	37	23	3	8	2.17
1958–59	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		39	2340	106	15	17	7	3	2.74
1959–60	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		66	3960	177	34	24	8	5	2.68
1960–61	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		58	3480	145	33	15	10	2	2.50
1961–62	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		59	3540	151	31	18	10	2	2.58
1962–63	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		42	2520	109	20	15	7	1	2.62
1963–64	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		51	3009	106	24	16	11	5	2.11
1964–65	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		34	2040	81	13	13	8	3	2.38
1965–66	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		35	1998	75	18	10	5	3	2.25
1966–67	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		27	1431	63	12	9	3	2	2.64
1967–68	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		43	2239	84	14	18	7	4	2.25
1968–69	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		20	779	37	5	4	3	2	2.85
1969–70	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		1	60	5	0	1	0	0	5.00
NHL totals				552	32016	1340	250	195	90	37	2.51

Post-season record

Season	Team	League		GP	Min	GA	W	L	SO	GAA
1944–45	Prince Albert Black Hawks	SJHL		3	180	23	0	3	0	7.67
1948–49	Cleveland Barons	AHL		5	329	23	2	3	0	4.19
1949–50	Cleveland Barons	AHL		9	548	27	4	5	0	2.96
1950–51	Cleveland Barons	AHL		11	703	32	8	3	0	2.73
1951–52	Cleveland Barons	AHL		5	300	17	2	3	0	3.40
1952–53	Cleveland Barons	AHL		11	745	21	7	4	4	1.69
1954–55	Vancouver Canucks	WHL		5	300	16	1	4	0	3.20
1955–56	Providence Reds	AHL		9	540	23	7	2	0	2.56
1956–57	Providence Reds	AHL		5	300	15	1	4	0	3.00
1958–59	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		12	746	38	5	7	0	3.14
1959–60	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		10	645	31	4	6	0	2.88
1960–61	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		3	180	8	0	3	0	3.00
1961–62	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		10	579	20	6	3	0	2.28
1962–63	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		10	600	16	8	2	2	1.60
1963–64	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		14	850	30	8	6	2	2.12
1964–65	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		5	321	13	2	3	0	2.43
1965–66	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		2	120	8	0	2	0	4.00
1966–67	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		4	183	5	2	0	1	1.64
1968–69	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		4	154	11	0	2	0	4.29
	NHL totals			74	4,378	180	35	34	5	2.47

Johnny Bower Media

• 

  Johnny Bower in goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs

• 

  An exhibit for Bower at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bower was inducted into the Hall in 1976.

• 

  Bower attends an autograph signing in Surrey, B.C. in 2013

• 

  Bower's star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

Other websites

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or ESPN.com, or Eurohockey.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database
• Age never got in Bower's way Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
• AHL Hall of Fame bio Archived 2007-07-04 at the Wayback Machine