"The late Johnny Bower was not only one of the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs players on the ice, but he was also one their biggest fans off the ice when his Hall of Fame career ended. The final thought in Elliotte Friedman's weekly 31 Thoughts column for Sportsnet contained one of thousands of Johnny Bower stories that will bring a smile to your face. «In Kevin Shea's book, Toronto Maple Leafs: Diary of a Dynasty 1957-1967, the late Johnny Bower told a great story in the introduction. When the Maple Leafs won their last Stanley Cup in 1967, Bower grabbed two bottles of champagne and took them home, saving them for the next victory. He admitted to drinking one on November 3, 1998, his 50th wedding anniversary to the beautiful Nancy. There was no clarity about the second until the service, when grandson Johnny Bower III told Christine Simpson the bottle is still unopened, awaiting its intended use.» Hopefully Mike Babcock, Auston Matthews and company give the Bower family a reason to finally pop that cork in the very near future….say…..like the second week of June this year! "
