"The Hall of Fame goaltender, who won consecutive Stanley Cups with the Flyers in 1974 and '75, died Sunday at age 80. The Montreal native spent a decade with the Flyers, then stuck around the Philadelphia area for the rest of his life; he was a ubiquitous presence at Flyers events, on local TV, at charity auctions, down the shore, et cetera. Shoot a hockey puck anywhere in the Philadelphia area over the last 45 years and you might've hit Bernie Parent."
"Parent was born in Montreal in 1945. He took to hockey from a young age, with his older brothers shooting tennis balls at him in the backyard. "Once I stopped the first shot that settled it," he said. "The challenge to make a save was always there. It was just in me." He said he used to hide in the bushes to try to spot legendary Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante, who lived next to Parent's sister."
Bernie Parent was a Hall of Fame goaltender who led the Philadelphia Flyers to consecutive Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. He spent a decade with the team and remained in the Philadelphia area for the rest of his life, becoming a constant presence at games, local TV, charity events, auctions, and community gatherings. Younger fans remember him as an avuncular booster of local sports and causes, while teammates credit his goaltending as indispensable to the Flyers' Cup victories. Born in Montreal in 1945, he developed as a goalie from childhood, won a Memorial Cup in 1965, and began his NHL career with the Boston Bruins.
Read at Defector
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]