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Ed Chadwick, the last Maple Leaf goaltender to play every game in an entire season, who ranks 17th in both games played and wins in franchise history, died this week at age 90.
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The Leafs announced his passing Tuesday on social media.
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The Fergus, Ont., native played for the St. Michael’s Majors before embarking on a pro career that took him to minor league stops in Pittsburgh, Sault Ste. Marie, Buffalo and Winnipeg, where he was recalled in February of 1956.
He debuted in a 1-1 tie against Montreal and won the job outright the next season. In a 70-game season when NHL clubs did not employ full-time backups, the 5-foot-11 Chadwick did not miss a minute of play in the 1956-57 and 1957-58 seasons, splitting the next year with newcomer Johnny Bower.
“Eddie was eight years younger than me, but accepted me like a long-lost brother,” the late Bower wrote in his book The China Wall. “We were rivals for a position, but there was no bitterness whatsoever. I wanted to help him any way I could and he felt the same towards me.”
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