The hockey world mourns the loss of Bernie Parent, considered one of the best goalies of all time and a key player in the Philadelphia Flyers’ two Stanley Cup championships during their golden era. Parent passed away at the age of 80.
The announcement was made on Sunday, although no immediate details were provided about the circumstances of his death. Joe Watson, star defenseman for the Flyers on the Stanley Cup teams, reported that Parent died in his sleep.Bernie Parent, with his steely gaze behind his hockey mask, even appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1975, when the Flyers were one of the most prominent teams in the sport. He won the Stanley Cup, the Conn Smythe Trophy, and the Vezina Trophy in consecutive seasons, as the Flyers won the Stanley Cup in 1974 and 1975, being the first NHL expansion team to achieve the championship.
After debuting in the NHL with Boston in 1965, Parent was left unprotected by the Bruins in the 1967 expansion draft and selected by the Flyers. After 3 and a half seasons, he was traded to Toronto, but returned to Philadelphia before the 1973-74 season. He won 47 games that season, leading the league, and again led the NHL in wins the following season with 44.
He retired from the Flyers in 1979 with 271 wins, 231 of them with the Flyers, over a 13-year career. Parent was accidentally hit in the right eye with a stick in 1979 and was temporarily blinded. He never played again.
