1958-59 Parkhurst 46 Johnny Bower Hockey Card (Front)
1958-59 Parkhurst 46 Johnny Bower Hockey Card (Back)
1958-59 Parkhurst NHL Checklist
Card Notes
Last year Johnny Bower was the outstanding goalie in the American Hockey Association. In fact he had won the most valuable player award for three consecutive years in that league. Johnny has had previous National Hockey League experience with the New York Rangers but he never seemed to be able to stay with them for any length of time with the exception of 1953-54 when he played all of the 70 games. Johnny’s big advantage is his vast experience and this will be a big advantage in the National Hockey League. Bill Rea will probably alternate him with Chadwick as the season progresses.
En Français
Johnny Bower fut remarquable comme gardien dans l’Association du Hockey Américain. Du fait, il remporta la récompense pour le joueur de plus de valeur dans cette ligue. Il a eu précédemment de l’expérience dans la Ligue Nationale avec les New York Rangers, mais il semble qu’il n’a jamais pu y rester pour un certain temps, sauf en 1953-54, quand il y joua 70 joutes. La vaste expérience de Johnny, c’est le grand avantage qui l’aidera dans la ligue nationale. Billy Rea l’emploiera probablement tour à tour avec Chadwick comme la saison avancera.
Details
Johnny Bower and Ed Chadwick split the play for the Toronto Maple Leafs fairly evenly during the 1958-59 NHL season. Bower appeared in 39 games while Chadwick played in 31. By the following season, Bower was seeing the bulk of the action for the Buds while Chadwick mostly rode the pines. By 1960-61, Johnny had his name on the Vezina Trophy for the first of two times during his career.
Bower won the Les Cunningham Award as MVP in the American Hockey League for three consecutive seasons from 1955-56 to 1957-58. The first two years were with the Providence Reds and the last season was with the Cleveland Barons. Johnny and Fred Glover are the only two players to win the award three times and Bower is the only to win his in consecutive seasons.
There is a slight ERROR on the back of this 1958-59 Parkhurst hockey card. Billy Reay’s name is misspelt. Reay would last 20 games into the 1958-59 season before getting canned by the Buds in favour of Punch Imlach.
Between 1953-54 and 1969-70, Johnny Bower appeared in 552 regular season and 74 playoff games in the National Hockey League with the Rangers and Maple Leafs. As impressive, he appeared in 592 regular season and 55 playoff games in the AHL with the Providence Reds and Cleveland Barons. Bower was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1976.