Johnny Bower Autographed 8 x 10 Toronto Maple Leafs (Crowd Shot)

Johnny Bower Autographed 8 x 10 Toronto Maple Leafs (Crowd Shot)

Product Details

• We had Johnny Bower at our store signing autographs on August 8th, 2015.
• Puck includes an event ticket for the signing.

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.

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