Hall of Famer Bernie Parent, a Flyers great, dies at age 80

PHILADELPHIA — Bernie Parent, the Hall of Famer considered one of the great goalies of all time who anchored the net for the Flyers’ only two Stanley Cup championships during their Broad Street Bullies heyday, has died. He was 80.

The Flyers made the announcement Sunday but provided no immediate details. Parent died overnight in his sleep, said Joe Watson, a star defenseman on the Flyers’ Stanley Cup teams.

Watson said by phone that he saw Parent and other former Flyers players at a function on Friday night in Delaware.

“Bernie was in such pain, he could hardly walk,” Watson said, citing Parent’s bad back. “We had a great time, but I felt bad because he was in such terrible pain. To see this happen, it’s very sad.”

Parent’s steel-eyed stare through his old-school hockey mask landed him on the cover of Time magazine in 1975 when the Flyers reigned as one of the marquee teams in sports. He won Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe and Vezina trophies in back-to-back seasons when the Flyers won the title in 1974 and 1975, the first NHL expansion team to win the championship.

“The legend of Bernie Parent reached far beyond the ice and his accolades,” the Flyers said in a statement. “Bernie had a deep love for Philadelphia and fans of the Flyers. He was passionate about his role as an ambassador for Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education and inspired an entire generation of hockey fans. He dedicated his time, energy and enthusiasm to not only grow the game, but also to spread joy to anyone he encountered.”

After he made his NHL debut with Boston in 1965, Parent was left unprotected by the Bruins in the 1967 expansion draft and was selected by the Flyers. After 3½ seasons, he was traded to Toronto but ended up back in Philadelphia ahead of the 1973-74 season. He won a league-high 47 games that season and led the NHL in wins again the next season with 44.

He retired with the Flyers in 1979 after 271 wins — 231 of them with the Flyers — over a 13-year career. Parent was accidentally struck in the right eye with a stick in 1979 and was temporarily blinded. He never played again.

The Flyers beat the Bruins in six games to win the Stanley Cup in 1974 and beat the Buffalo Sabres in 1975.

On the flight home from Buffalo, the Flyers plopped the Stanley Cup in the middle of the aisle. For close to 90 minutes, the Flyers couldn’t take their eyes off the ultimate prize.

“We were able to just sit back, look at the Stanley Cup and just savor it,” Parent said in 2010. “It was just a special time.”

With Parent the unstoppable force in net, “Only the Lord saves more than Bernie Parent” became a popular slogan in Philadelphia that stuck with him through the decades.

“We used to joke about it in the dressing room. We’d say, ‘Bernie, how many goals do you need?’ He’d say, ‘One, two, that’s it, and we’ll win the game,'” said Gary Dornhoefer, a winger on the two Cup teams.

Parent, team captain Bobby Clarke and Dave “The Hammer” Schultz all became stars for the Flyers under owner Ed Snider in an era when the team was known for its rugged style of play that earned it the Bullies nickname. They embraced their moniker as the most despised team in the NHL and pounded their way into the hearts of Flyers fans. More than 2 million fans packed city streets for each of their championship parades.

“We always felt comfortable with Bernie in the net,” said former Flyers winger and enforcer Bob Kelly. “He would challenge the guys in practice. He’d stop the puck and throw it back at you and say, ‘go ahead, try and catch this one.’ He was the first guy to jump in line to help another teammate if they needed it. He was a real testament to what a team player is all about.”

Parent’s No. 1 was retired by the Flyers and still hangs in the rafters of their arena. In 1984, he became the first Flyers player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Parent is still the Flyers’ career leader in shutouts with 50.

Parent was one of the more beloved Flyers and remained connected with the team over the years as an ambassador.

“He was so good with people,” said Watson, who first met Parent in 1963. “A lot of athletes don’t get it or don’t give fans the time of day. Bernie gave everyone the time of day. He’d always have his rings on. He’d show them to the people and people loved to see them. This past Friday in Delaware, people were coming up, they wanted to see the rings. People were so excited to see him. He had a great sense of humor. Bernie was a funny guy.”

Flyers coach Rick Tocchet, who played 11 seasons over two stints with the team, choked back tears at the New Jersey practice rink as he described Parent’s influence.

“As a young kid, you’re stressed trying to make the team. When he would come in, he’d just break the room up. He really helped me out when it came to that,” Tocchet said. “It seemed like every day was a great day to him. I don’t know if he ever had a bad day. But that (Stanley Cup) group was very close, and Bernie was kind of the glue. Bob Clarke obviously unreal, and Billy Barber and all those guys, they came around a lot. Bernie was one of those guys, he would just, we’d lose three in a row, somehow he’d come in there and loosen us up the Bernie way.”

The final career highlight came in 2011 when Parent was in the net for an alumni game outdoors at Citizens Bank Park ahead of the NHL Classic. “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!” echoed throughout the park for the affable goalie, who played 5 minutes, 32 seconds and stopped all six shots. Each save made the “Bernie!” chants return.

Parent was the third Hall of Fame goaltender to die this month. Ken Dryden, who helped the Montreal Canadiens win six Stanley Cup titles in the 1970s, died at 78 after a fight with cancer. Ed Giacomin, one of the faces of the New York Rangers’ franchise in the 1960s and ’70s, died at 86 of natural causes.

“They’re big losses,” Kelly said. “They were just prime, super goaltenders.”