The China Wall - The Timeless Legend of Johnny Bower

As a youngster, Johnny Bowers father told him if he worked hard every day and put passion into his profession, it would pay off in the long run. It was good advice, especially the part about the long run. Bower toiled in hockeys minor leagues for more than a decade, waiting for his chance at the big leagues and it wasnt until he was 33, an age when most players are winding down their careers, that he finally debuted in the NHL. Expected to be a stop-gap measure for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Bower instead became an institution in the city, tending goal for the club for the next 12 seasons, backstopping the Leafs to four Stanley Cups, the last one coming when he was 42-years-old. Bower appeared in four NHL All-Star Games, won two Vezina Trophies, and earned enshrinement to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bower was 45-years-old when he played his last NHL game on December 10th, 1969, becoming the first player in NHL history eligible to collect his pension while still on the active roster of a league club. Bowers story is more than just a tale of a man who defied Father Time and rated among the greatest puckstoppers of all time. Its about a boy who grew up in the small northern Saskatchewan town of Prince Albert, listening to Foster Hewitts call of Hockey Night in Canada on the radio, dreaming that someday he could emulate Frank Brimsek, the famous Boston Bruins goalie nicknamed Mr. Zero.