In a moving ceremony, the Flyers paid tribute to the legend Bernie Parent, who was the team’s star goaltender.
Each victory this season, the Flyers celebrate their star with a replica of Bernie Parent’s goalie mask. The white mask with the team logo on both sides of the temples resembles the one Parent used in the 1970s when he was on the cover of Time magazine, a time when the Flyers were much more than a hockey team.
On Saturday night, before the game against the New Jersey Devils, the team displayed the mask in the net of the goal, as a final tribute to Parent, the Hall of Fame goalie who was honored by the franchise two months after his death at age 80.
“Forever our number 1,” said Lou Nolan, the Flyers’ announcer since 1972.
Lou NolanThe ceremony featured the presence of the banner with Parent’s number 1, hanging high in the stadium, right in front of the two Stanley Cup championship banners, the only ones in the franchise’s history.
Parent was the Flyers’ key goalie during the team’s golden era, winning the Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe and Vezina trophies in consecutive seasons in 1974 and 1975.
Before Saturday’s game against New Jersey, a photo of Parent smiling and showing off his two Stanley Cup rings was projected on the stadium’s giant screen, next to the 9-foot bronze statue of Ed Snider, the Flyers’ founder, who died in 2016.
“We have two Stanley Cups thanks to Bernie,” said Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke at an event honoring Parent.
Bobby Clarke
Los Flyers honraron la vida del portero del Salón de la Fama, Bernie Parent, en parte mostrando su icónica máscara blanca de portero y colocándola sobre una de las redes.Flyers fans gathered over the weekend to remember Parent, in a two-day celebration that began with a service on Friday and extended to Saturday’s tribute game. Fans wore jerseys with Parent’s number 1, and celebrated every moment of his glory years.
The loudest cheers were for the Stanley Cup highlights.
The Flyers defeated the Boston Bruins in six games to win the Stanley Cup in 1974 and the Buffalo Sabres in 1975. Parent achieved shutouts in the decisive games of each season.
On the return flight from Buffalo, the Flyers placed the Stanley Cup in the middle of the aisle. For almost 90 minutes, they couldn’t take their eyes off hockey’s most coveted prize.
“We were able to sit down, look at the Stanley Cup and savor it,” Parent said in 2010. “It was a special moment.”
Bernie Parent
With Parent as the unstoppable force in goal, “Only the Lord saves more than Bernie Parent” became a popular sticker in Philadelphia that remained a lifelong slogan, and a popular autograph request, during his retirement and his many years as a team ambassador.
Parent was also an ambassador for the Ed Snider Youth Hockey and Education program, created in 2005 for underprivileged youth in Philadelphia.
The program announced on Saturday that it would honor Parent’s legacy with the Bernie Parent Goaltending Development Program, aimed at preparing young people for success on and off the ice. Flyers Charities presented a donation of $50,000, which was matched by Snider’s children.
Parent, team captain Bobby Clarke, and Dave “The Hammer” Schultz became Flyers stars under Snider during an era when the team was known for its rough style of play, earning them the nickname Bullies. They embraced their nickname as the toughest team in the NHL and won the hearts of Flyers fans. More than 2 million fans thronged the streets of Philadelphia for each of their championship parades.
Most of the living members of the Stanley Cup teams attended Saturday’s game, and Clarke held back tears in the tribute as he listed other Flyers from the championship teams who have since passed away. Barry Ashbee. Ed Van Impe. Bill Flett. Ross Lonsberry. Rick MacLeish.
“And now, may God bless Bernie, because he will join them,” Clarke said. “And the rest of us, until we go to join them, we will speak together forever.”
