Bernie Parent, legendary goalie who helped lead the Philadelphia Flyers to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, died Sunday morning. He was 80.
Parent spent 10 of his stellar 13 NHL seasons in Philadelphia with the Flyers and was among the most feared members of the Broad Street Bullies—the name given to that era of Flyers players due to their aggressive and physically intimidating style of play. Throughout his career, Parent solidified himself as not only the greatest goalie the Flyers have ever known, but one of the best the game has ever seen.
Broad Street’s beloved Bully
The 1967 NHL Expansion Draft brought Parent to Philadelphia as an original member of the Flyers after he was left unprotected by the Boston Bruins. He split time as the team’s backstop during their inaugural season and quickly overtook the full-time role the following year, being named an All-Star in his second and third seasons with the team.
The following season, the Flyers traded Parent to Toronto in a three-team deal that brought the team Rick MacLeish, who, like Parent, played a major role in the team’s back-to-back championships. Just over two years later, after a brief break from the NHL that brought Parent back to Philadelphia to play with the Blazers in the World Hockey Association, Parent and the Flyers reunited after the team reacquired their former goalie by trading Doug Favell, who came with Parent from Boston during the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft to Toronto.
Reunited with both the National Hockey League and the Philadelphia Flyers, Parent would soon begin one of the most elite stretches of play a goalie has ever seen.
In the following two years, Parent won two Vezina trophies — awarded to the player judged to be the best goalie that season — two Stanley Cups, and two Conn Smythe trophies, awarded to the player deemed to be the most valuable player during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Parent made a total of five All-Star games, all with the Flyers, and remained in Philadelphia until he suffered an errant stick to his right eye during a game against the New York Rangers. The injury caused permanent vision damage and forced him to retire in 1979 at just 34 years of age.
Parent was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984.
Parent’s greatness after hockey
Life after hockey was a struggle initially for Parent. Dealing with a Hall-of-Fame career ripped from his hands too soon, he struggled with alcohol abuse. He later found his way to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and remaining sober for over 40 years at the time of his death.
Parent became a motivational speaker, a mentor to future Flyers and Vezina-winning goalies Ron Hextall and Pelle Lindbergh, who tragically passed in 1985. In his post-playing years, Parent also served as a Flyers ambassador, a position he filled until the day he died.
For over 20 years, Parent partnered with Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education. The organization, founded by late Flyers Chairman Ed Snider in 2005, aims to create opportunities for under-resourced youth of the Greater Philadelphia Region to prosper in life. His contributions to the foundation ranged from serving as an ambassador for the organization to making public appearances, hosting an annual fishing event and well beyond.
Parent was also heavily involved in other charitable organizations like the Fox Chase Center and the Darren Daulton Foundation and wrote motivational books, “Journey Through Risk and Fear” and “Unmasked,” using his life experiences to help others on their life journey.
Beloved by generations of Philadelphians, Bernie Parent’s impact went well beyond the sport he starred in, and even continues after his death. In their announcement sharing his passing, the Flyers organization stated that, in lieu of flowers, the Parent family has kindly requested donations be made to Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education.
A Hall of Fame career on and off the ice, Bernie Parent was not just larger than hockey; he was larger-than-life.
