THE MISSISSAUGA NEWS
Leaf great added to Walk of Fame
Dave Winer
Mar 6, 2007
The China Wall will soon be a piece of the Canadian Walk of Fame.
Mississauga's Johnny Bower will be among eight new inductees added to the Walk of Fame on June 9.
Known as the China Wall during his great hockey career with the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, Bower will be part of the 10th annual gala event in Toronto, hosted by veteran comic actor Eugene Levy.
Canada's Walk of Fame acknowledges achievements of successful Canadians. It consists of a series of stars in 13 designated blocks of sidewalk in front of Roy Thomson Hall, The Princess of Wales Theatre and The Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. Created in 1998, the list of over 100 honourees includes a variety of Canadian personalities from sports figures to entertainers, models, authors, playwrights and cartoonists.
Each inductee gets a paving stone etched with a star, the name of the artist and his or her signature.
Past inductees include singers Paul Anka, Celine Dion and Joni Mitchell; actors Mike Myers, Shirley Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland; dancers Rex Harrington and Karen Kain; filmmaker Norman Jewison; pianist Glenn Gould and sports stars Maurice Richard, George Chuvalo and the Crazy Canucks ski team.
Bower is now in that illustrious group. The 82-year-old Lisgar resident backstopped the Maple Leafs to their last Stanley Cup, in 1967.
And that Cup win was as much about Bower's perseverance as it was his talent. It wasn't until Bower was 34 that he became a starting NHL netminder. Once there, the native of Saskatchewan had no intention of leaving. Bower remained the Leafs' goaltender for 15 seasons, retiring one game into the 1969-70 campaign, at age 46.
Before his 25-year professional career was over, Bower won many awards and trophies in both the American Hockey League (AHL) and NHL.
In the AHL, Bower won both the Les Cunningham and Hap Holmes awards for best player and best goaltender three times, was first-team all-star five times, captured four Calder Cups, is the winningest goaltender (359 wins), has the most shutouts (45) and was inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame.
With the Leafs, Bower was a first-team all-star in 1961, won the Vezina Trophy in 1961 and 1965 as the NHL's best goalie, won four Stanley Cups, his last as a 43-year-old, and was elected into the NHL Hall of Fame.
Bower remains the oldest goalie to ever play in the NHL, and the second oldest player, behind Gordie Howe.
The other seven Canadians being inducted are Rick Hansen, Jill Hennessey, Catherine O'Hara, Nickelback, Gordon Pinsent, Ivan Reitman and Lloyd Robertson.
