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“Johnny and the goalies in that era without masks, they were 30 years old, but looked 100,” said Leafs teammate Dick Duff. “Johnny would laugh about having yellow, black, blue and red bruises from September to July.

“He and all of us, we didn’t make a lot of money. But we were respected. I like to think Johnny and our group represented the people of Canada, hard workers from the north or his home in Saskatchewan, playing for people’s entertainment at a time when they didn’t have much money or many things to do, either.”

Born in Prince Albert, Sask., Bower was quite content to play minor league hockey in Cleveland for a decent wage when the New York Rangers called him. He was back in the AHL when Imlach brought him up to the Leafs.

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“He was older when he came to us (almost 34), when we were trying to chase down Montreal and Detroit,” Duff recalled. “Johnny knew Toronto was a special place and that he could be part of the team that we put together with the St. Michael’s College players; Dave Keon, Frank Mahovlich and myself. Johnny was the guy you could depend on back there. He had to take all those pucks in practice, too, and no one could complain about the pay or the injuries because there was a carload of other players ready to take your job.”

Playing until his 40s, Bower became a scout until leaving the club in the Harold Ballard era. But he ran hockey schools and kept up his many charitable endeavours such as aiding the Candian Kidney Foundation and the Arthritis Society. When he recorded Honky The Christmas Goose in the mid-60s, the novelty children’s song became a hit and raised some money for kids, another of his passions.