VIDEO: Poor Len: Habs' carrots not quite cooked yet

Poor Len here, barely able to contain myself after last night's excellent game between the Montréal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning, in le Centre Bell, the Vatican of hockey, in Montréal. When the two teams last met, in Florida a week ago, the Lightning had no trouble beating the Habs, who scored only one goal.

In fact, in their last five games prior to last night's encounter, les Glorieux managed only four goals, a goals-per-game average of 0.80. You don't win many games that way, even if you do have the world's best goaltender between the pipes, and it was beginning to look to YVT and many other fans as if the Habs' carrots were cooked, for this season at least. [Readers baffled by that idiom may e-mail Walt at the usual address, and all will be explained. Ed.]

Every Tim Hortons, every pub in Montréal and across Canada -- excepting Toronto which doesn't count -- is alive with discussions and debates about what to do. Trade rumours abound. References to the parentage of Montréal General Manager Marc Bergevin are heard. Complaints about the performance of certain players are rife, none more loud and nasty than those about Habs captain Max Pacioretty. That Mad Max is an American who can't learn to speak French has not helped his cause.

Last night, however, Pacioretty redeemed himself, temporarily at least, scoring the Canadiens' first goal (and only) goal of regulation time, early in the 2nd period, on a beautiful pass from Phillip Danault. TB scored the equalizer about a minute later. Both goalies, Carey Price and TB's Alexandre Vasilevskiy, were in top form, and so the game remained tied 1-1 until the final siren.

Five minutes of three-on-three overtime ensued. That the score remained 1-1 was due almost entirely to the heroics of Carey Price as seen in this short video.



That is what I call a "Gump Worsley save". Fans of the late, great (and funny) goalie, who played some of his best hockey for the Habs, will know what I mean. With no result in the overtime, the teams went to a shootout, in which Montréal's Paul Byron potted the only goal. Final score: Montréal 2 - Tampa Bay 1!

Is it possible that la Sainte Flannelle, which turned in a huge effort born of desperation, can play like that for another 40 or 41 games? Frankly, I doubt it. But at least the flame of hope has not yet been extinguished.

RIP Johnny Bower (obituary by Poor Len Canayen)

So farewell then, Johnny Bower. You were the greatest goaltender to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the modern (post-WWII) era. You helped the Leafs win their last Stanley Cup, over half a century ago. You hoped you would live to see them win another... but you didn't.

Poor Len Canayen here. Regular readers of WWW will know that I am a lifelong fan of the Montréal Canadiens. I call the Habs "Canada's team" but there are many, especially in Ontario, who take issue with that appellation, claiming "Canada's team" is really the Toronto Maple Leafs.

What I can say is that there is no greater hockey rivalry than the Habs vs the Leafs, and no team I would rather see le Canadien beat than the Leafs. And if les Glorieux can't carry off Lord Stanley's silverware, then let the victors be the Leafs, and I will congratulate them and be happy.

That's what happened in the spring of 1967 -- I remember it well -- when Johnny Bower, along with the estimable Terry Sawchuk, backstopped the Mapleos to a surprise win over a strong Montréal club. Bower was the old man of the team, officially 43, although there were those who said he was five or ten years older. During his long hockey career, his age seemed "flexible", but his family confirmed his age following his death from pneumonia yesterday. He was 93.

I can now reveal that Johnny Bower was a Ukrainian-Canadian. His real family name was Kiszkan. He grew up, with eight sisters, on a farm outside of Prince Albert SK, where I had the displeasure of living at one time. He taught himself how to play hockey, using a branch as a stick, and made goalie pads for himself out of old mattresses.

In 1940, when he was 16 (or perhaps 15), he lied about his age (not for the last time) and enlisted in the Canadian Army during World War II, where he served in England from 1940 to 1943. His service ended when he was discharged due to rheumatoid arthritis in his hands. "It's a good thing I didn't [see action]", he told an interviewer, "because the Germans were right there waiting. A lot of guys there were killed on the beaches. I know four or five good hockey players from Prince Albert who were killed. They never came back."

Upon his return, Bower played junior hockey with his hometown Prince Albert Black Hawks. When he turned pro with the AHL Cleveland Barons in 1945, he changed his name to Bower because he felt Kiszkan was too difficult to pronounce. He played eight seasons in the AHL, earning MVP honours three times, before getting a chance in the NHL.

Bower played all 70 games for the New York Rangers in 1953-54, but for the following year the team chose to go another of my old-tyme all-time favourites, Gump Worsley, and Bower was sent down to the minors for another four years, before being traded to Toronto in 1958. "I didn't even want to come to Toronto, to be honest with you," he said, "because I was 35 years of age at that particular time and I didn't know I could help them." (Let's see. 1958 minus 35 would make his birth year 1923.) "I had the experience, mind you. But I was happy in Cleveland, I enjoyed myself there and had a good job. When they picked me up, I didn't want to go. And [Cleveland GM James] Hendy said, if you don't go, they'll suspend you."

Johnny Bower went on to become a fixture with the Maple Leafs, finally retiring after playing just one game in the 1970-71 season, four months past his 45th birthday, or so he said. 1971 minus 45 is 1926! He was always coy about his age. When asked about it upon his retirement, he said, "If you don't know by now, you never will."

He played 552 regular-season NHL games with 250 wins, 195 losses and 90 ties. He posted 37 regular-season shutouts and had a goals-against average of 2.52. Combining his AHL and NHL appearances, he appeared in a total of 1207 regular-season games. He won the Vezina trophy twice and had his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup that one time, with the 1966-67 Maple Leafs. After his retirement, he stayed in the Toronto organization, working as a goalie coach and a scout.

In his later years, he was involved in numerous charity causes and made numerous appearances for the Leafs on special occasions, including his (supposed) 90th birthday, always to warm applause. Right up until his death yesterday, Johnny Bower remained one of the most beloved Leafs. He will be missed by his former teammates, Toronto fans, and all those who love the greatest winter sport of all, including... Yours very truly, Poor Len Canayen.

Footnote: The defenceman shown in the picture, No. 7, is Tim Horton. Canadians will know what that means.

VIDEO: Poor Len Canayen: Hockey at its best

So far it's been kind of a slow news day, so I'm giving more space to our old friend, Poor Len Canayen, who has another video which he says every hockey fan has to see. Ed.

Hello! Poor Len here again, with another video which every hockey fan has to see! In my earlier post (see below) I said that, thanks in part to people like (((Gary Bettman))), professional hockey today ain't what it used to be. A younger fan has asked me, "Gee Poor Len, what was it like, back then?" I have found another National Film Board of Canada video which answers the question.

"Blades and Brass" is a mashup of video clips shot at the old Montréal Forum in 1967 (notice the Expo 67 logo at centre ice), with musical accompaniment in the style of the Tijuana Brass. (What Mexican music has to do with hockey is beyond me, but it's a minor quibble.) Slowing the action down a bit to match the tempo of the music allows us to see the grace and beauty underlying what appears to be a fast and rough sport. Who calls soccer "the beautiful game"? It's got nothing on hockey!

1967 was the last year when the NHL comprised the so-called Original Six teams. That's something of a misnomer as only the Canadiens were there at the beginning, in 1917, and a number of teams (Montreal Maroons, New York Americans, and Philadelphia Quakers -- you can look it up) came and went in those first 50 years.

Here you get to see two of the players featured on the new Canadian stamps -- Gordie Howe and Jean Béliveau -- and two of my all-time favourite goalies: Montréal's Lorne "Gump" Worsley and Maple Leafs' Terry Sawchuk. Notice that most of the players, even the goalies, still didn't wear helmets or masks. Those "improvements" came later. To my mind -- and I remember it clearly -- this is hockey as it was meant to be played, by some of the greatest players of all time. It's not the same now... but what is....