Current, former Maple Leafs honor Bower at memorial service

TORONTO -- For once, a delayed flight was a good thing.

It was Dec. 10, 2014, and I had just finished covering the magnificent tribute to Montreal Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau, who had died eight days earlier. The funeral in Montreal brought together a who's who of the hockey and political worlds, including former Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower.
At the gate where the flight back to Toronto was scheduled to leave 90 minutes late was Bower, sitting with fellow Hall of Fame goalie Ken Dryden and Mark Napier, then the executive director of the NHL Alumni Association.
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While waiting for the plane, Bower talked to people as if he'd known them for decades, not minutes. When fellow passengers came over, he shook the hands of young kids whose parents weren't even born when Bower hoisted the Stanley Cup for the fourth and final time with the Maple Leafs in 1967.
It didn't matter. Johnny Bower made anyone he came in touch with feel as if he was a lifelong friend.
That never was more evident than Wednesday at Air Canada Centre, where a celebration of Bower's life was held.
In the stands were school-age kids and men who long ago had reached pension age. On the arena floor, current Maple Leafs like defenseman Morgan Rielly sat in a row adjacent to one that featured former Bower teammates like Dave Keon, George Armstrong and Frank Mahovlich.

Generations linked together by this Maple Leafs Hall of Famer, who died Dec. 26 of pneumonia at age 93. And not just those from North America, either.
Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen, 28, was born in Herning, Denmark, on Oct. 2, 1989, 22 years after Bower and the Maple Leafs won Toronto's last championship. He said he never heard Bower's name growing up in Scandinavia.
Yet here he was on this icy Toronto afternoon, finding himself in the spotlight as the hockey world mourned one of its greats.
During the Maple Leafs road trip through Arizona, Colorado and Las Vegas to end December, Toronto director of media relations Steve Keogh asked Andersen if he would be a pallbearer for the event.
Andersen was blown away. He'd only known Bower for less than two years, having been acquired in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on June 20, 2016.
He immediately said yes.
"His legacy is going to go on forever," Andersen said after the ceremony, appearing to be deeply humbled by the entire experience. "He's a hero. He's going to be a role model on the ice and off the ice."

The Bower family was quite specific in its requests for the cast of pallbearers.
There was Cpl. Brian Trenchard and Master Warrant Officer James Clark, two members of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. Trenchard and Clark are from the same Winnipeg-based regiment Johnny served with in World War II.
There were a couple of Peel Regional Police officers who paid tribute to Bower. In 2003, Bower was named honorary chief.
And there were the Maple Leafs' current goaltenders, Andersen and Curtis McElhinney, who were seen by the family as carrying on the Toronto goaltending tradition that Bower was so proud of.
And though it may have been a symbolic gesture of passing the torch, Andersen said he has a long way to go to even scratch the surface of Bower's body of work.
"I don't think I can put myself in the same sentence as him yet," Andersen said.
Andersen told a story from NHL Centennial Classic weekend from about a year ago. The day before the Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings faced off at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium on Jan. 1, 2017, a group of past and present Maple Leafs goalies congregated in the dressing room after Toronto practiced.
Andersen and backup Antoine Bibeau were joined by Bower, Felix Potvin, Curtis Joseph and Mike Palmateer.
"Palmateer and I were talking about his old gear and we'd look over at Johnny," Andersen said. "He never played with a mask. I mean, Palmateer's gear was so old and Bower played way before that."
While Andersen was talking Wednesday, he took a quick glance as Wendel Clark and Darryl Sittler walked by.
"That's the thing that stands out the most about being a Leaf," he said. "You get to be around these legends. And when you go around the city, you meet people who have been Leafs fans for generations.
"It's like a religion. It's a great honor."

The lavish ceremony began with the 48th Highlanders leading a procession of dignitaries, including Canadiens great Yvan Cournoyer, a longtime friend of Bower. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman also was on hand, as was Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly.
Keon, Mahovlich and Ron Ellis, another former teammate, told the audience of Bower's idiosyncrasies off the ice and his fierce competitiveness on it. Specifically, Keon talked about the time his son Dave Jr., now a senior manager of communications with the NHL, took shots on Bower during practice one day.
The younger Keon, then a kid, scored once in an hour.
"Johnny told me afterward: 'Dave, I let him score once because he's your son,'" Keon said. "'He wasn't going to score after that.'"
Bower's grandson John spoke on behalf of his grandfather's three children, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He had the crowd chuckling with tales of Johnny's penchant for falling off ladders.
"He used to build three-legged ones," he said with a laugh.
Perhaps the highlight came when grandson John requested the crowd bust into one last chant of "Go Leafs Go" for his grandfather, which it gleefully did.
"That was special," Andersen said.
For the goalie from Denmark. For the Maple Leafs legends on hand. For the fans, young and old, in the stands.
Such is the influence Johnny Bower has, even after leaving this world.