We mourn the loss of one of the great goaltenders in NHL history. But many forget that Johnny Bower was a best-selling recording artist, too.
Chip Young, a CBC producer, had written a short Christmas story about a wild goose that ate so much that he couldn’t swim or fly, but in the end, saves Santa Claus. Encouraged by ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ broadcaster Ed Fitkin, who was also a prolific hockey author, Young turned the story into a song with the help of composer Orville Hoover, then approached Toronto’s coach Punch Imlach to get permission for one of the Maple Leafs to record the song he had written.
