Hockey Hall of Fame member Bernie Parent, who guided the Philadelphia Flyers to their lone Stanley Cup championships in franchise history, died Sunday. He was 80.
No cause of death was given.
The legendary goaltender helped to clinch both titles with shutouts in the final game of each series, blanking the Boston Bruins in 1974 and the Buffalo Sabres the following year.
A Conn Smythe (playoff MVP) and Vezina Trophy (best goaltender in NHL) recipient in both 1974 and 1975, Parent played 10 of his 13 NHL seasons with the Flyers. He also spent a season in the World Hockey Association with the Philadelphia Blazers.
“As a fan who watched his excellence in net and witnessed him parade down Broad Street on two occasions, these marked a pair of moments I will never forget,” Flyers governor Daniel J. Hilferty said in a statement. “… His love for the game was clear, but what struck me was his pure love of life and improving the lives of others around him. That was his passion and that’s what I will always remember him by.”
A popular figure in Philadelphia, bumper stickers were created with the phrase: “Only the Lord Saves More Than Bernie Parent.”
“Bernie Parent’s foreboding white mask was the last sight you wanted to see if you were an opposing shooter with a big game on the line,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “The grinning, welcoming face that mask protected was the first you wanted to see when you walked into a room. At his unbeatable, unflappable best on the ice when the stakes were highest, Bernie was a warm, gregarious bear of a man off the ice who was venerated in Philadelphia and adored throughout the hockey world.”
A Montreal native, Parent made his NHL debut with the Bruins at age 20 before joining the expansion Flyers in 1967. He reportedly left an arena in tears upon hearing that he was traded from Philadelphia to the Toronto Maple Leafs in February 1971, but he’d return to the City of Brotherly Love with the WHA’s Blazers (1972-73) before rejoining the Flyers for the 1973-74 season.
He then proceeded to post what Bettman called “two of the finest consecutive seasons by a goalie in NHL history.”
Parent had a 271-198 record with 119 ties, 54 shutouts, a 2.55 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage in 608 career regular-season games with the Bruins, Flyers and Maple Leafs.
Parent’s career came to an untimely end as an errant stick entered the right eyehole of his mask during a game against the New York Rangers on Feb. 17, 1979. He sustained permanent damage to his vision and retired at age 34.
The Flyers retired his No. 1 in 1979. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984 and was named to the list of 100 Greatest NHL Players in 2017.
“The legend of Bernie Parent reached far beyond the ice and his accolades,” the Flyers said in a team statement. “Bernie had a deep love for Philadelphia and fans of the Flyers. … He dedicated his time, energy and enthusiasm to not only grow the game, but also to spread joy to anyone he encountered.
“Anyone who had the pleasure of being around Bernie always walked away with a smile. He will be dearly missed. We offer our condolences to his beloved wife, Gini, and the entire Parent family.”
–Field Level Media
