Bernie Parent, legendary Flyers goalie who brought Philadelphia its only two Stanley Cups, has died at 80

Bernie Parent, the stone-wall Flyers goalie for the consecutive Stanley Cup championship teams for the Broad Street Bullies in the 1970s, died Sunday. He was 80.

A Hall of Famer, Mr. Parent clinched both championships with shutouts in the final game as he blanked the Boston Bruins, 1-0, in 1974 and the Buffalo Sabres, 2-0, in 1975. Mr. Parent played 10 of his 13 NHL seasons with the Flyers and also spent a season in the World Hockey League with the Philadelphia Blazers. He retired in 1979 at 34 years old after suffering an eye injury during a game against the Rangers.

He grew up in Montreal and spoke French as his first language before becoming a cultlike figure at the Spectrum as cars throughout the region had “Only the Lord Saves More Than Bernie Parent” bumper stickers. Mr. Parent even had one on his own bumper in the 1970s.

“Bernie was one of those lucky people who never had a bad day,” said Bobby Clarke, the captain of those Stanley Cup teams. “Every time you see him, whether it was, in my case, the hockey rink, or away from the rink, he was laughing and cackling and teasing people and just an extremely happy man. And, obviously, the Flyers don’t win two Stanley Cups unless we have Bernie. Bernie was the one person that we could not win without.”

Mr. Parent was born on April 3, 1945, as the youngest of seven children to Emilie and Calude Parent. He grew up in a working class Montreal neighborhood and his father was a machine operator for a cement company. His father didn’t make a lot of money, Mr. Parent said, but they had enough. He played hockey in his backyard with his brothers, who noticed that Mr. Parent had the balance to be a goaltender.

Mr. Parent’s first taste of the position he one day mastered came when his brother Yvan needed a replacement netminder for the youth team he coached. He was 9 years old and had never skated before, but Mr. Parent gave it a try.

“Somehow, I played OK,” Mr. Parent wrote in his 1975 autobiography.

Mr. Parent first came to Philadelphia in 1967 as one of the original Flyers. The team reached the playoffs in its first season and Mr. Parent stopped 63 of 64 shots in an overtime win over St. Louis before the Flyers were eliminated two days later.

» READ MORE: Mike Sielski: Bernie Parent was the best of the Flyers and the best of Philadelphia. RIP.

The Flyers traded Mr. Parent to Toronto in February 1971 and he left the arena in tears. Mr. Parent returned in May 1973 as the Flyers traded Doug Favell — the goalie Mr. Parent shared the net with in Philly — to Toronto for the future Hockey Hall of Famer. A year later, the Flyers were champions and Mr. Parent was the Stanley Cup MVP. The trade is remembered as perhaps the greatest in Philadelphia sports history.

» READ MORE: Bernie Parent was the Broad Street Bullies’ brightest star. Now he’s the Flyers’ de facto mascot.

Mr. Parent was a premier goalie, but his ability to connect with Philadelphia elevated him to another level. He spent the last week of his life in the community, like he always did. He did a question-and-answer session with Ray Didinger after the premiere of Didinger’s new play in Wilmington and appeared at one of the Flyers’ caravan events with other former players.

“He was an incredible ambassador to the Flyers,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “When you talk about the Flyers, who do you talk about? I can name five guys, but Bernie’s the guy, right? It’s a family. Bernie’s been part of the Flyers for years. He’s been here. He does charities, a million charities. He spends a lot of time, and he represents the Flyers.”

Like Mr. Parent, the Broad Street Bullies were a bunch of Canadians who immersed themselves in Philadelphia.

They lived in Delaware County and South Jersey, rode the train to practice, hung at Rexy’s on the Black Horse Pike, and spent the summer in Avalon. A generation of Philadelphians fell in love with hockey as the Bullies played every night to a sold-out crowd in South Philly. Kids played street hockey in every pocket of the city as they paused the game when cars drove through and acted like Mr. Parent when they stood between the pipes.

“Bernie Parent’s foreboding white mask was the last sight you wanted to see if you were an opposing shooter with a big game on the line,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “The grinning, welcoming face that mask protected was the first you wanted to see when you walked into a room. At his unbeatable, unflappable best on the ice when the stakes were highest, Bernie was a warm, gregarious bear of a man off the ice who was venerated in Philadelphia and adored throughout the hockey world.”

The team’s 1975 Stanley Cup parade stopped while Mr. Parent took a rest stop in a Broad Street rowhouse. A team official asked Peter Chille if Mr. Parent could use the bathroom of his apartment near Broad and Tasker. The parade paused for a few minutes and Chille gave Mr. Parent a glass of water before he returned to his float.

But since Mr. Parent was larger-than-life, the story soon grew into legend. Mr. Parent, the story went, saw a woman hanging out her window and asked if he could use the bathroom.

“Do you know, that lady had the toilet bronzed,” former Flyer Terry Crisp told the Tampa Bay Times in 1992. “The part he sat on, not the whole thing.”

Mr. Parent’s career ended in February 1979 when an errant stick slid through his mask and jabbed his right eye while Flyers and Rangers players scuffled in front of his net. First, doctors told Mr. Parent that he would be able to return in a week. But the prognosis soon grew worse.

Mr. Parent said his blurry vision felt like “when you’re at sea and the fog rolls in.” He announced his retirement in June at 34 years old and the Flyers hung his No. 1 in the rafters of the Spectrum. The team doctor said the injury was a “freak occurrence.”

Mr. Parent became a mentor in retirement to Pelle Lindbergh, the dynamic goaltender who grew up idolizing him and debuted for the Flyers in 1981. Lindbergh won the Vezina Trophy — given yearly to the NHL’s top goalie — in 1985 and credited Mr. Parent, then the team’s goaltending coach. Lindbergh died later that year in a car crash.

“Bernie taught me all I know about playing hockey in America,” Lindbergh said after Mr. Parent presented him with the award that Mr. Parent won twice. “I want to thank him for helping me win this award.”

The sudden end to his career caused Mr. Parent to abuse alcohol, which eventually led him to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Mr. Parent was sober for 46 years at his death. He was a motivational speaker, Flyers ambassador, appeared regularly in the media, and worked for 20 years with the Ed Snider Youth Hockey and Education.

Mr. Parent, who lived for a time on a houseboat in Wildwood, hosted an annual fishing tournament and made appearances throughout the year to help thousands of young men and women who came through the Snider Hockey program.

“He was a representative of the Philadelphia Flyers until last night when he died,” Clarke said. “He was always very proud, a little bit showing off his rings. Always in a nice way, never a bragger. He didn’t brag about himself. And he was pretty proud of the Flyers.”

Mr. Parent is survived by his wife, Gini, son Bernie Jr. and daughter Kim. He had six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral information is pending.

Staff writer Jackie Spiegel contributed to this story.