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Bernie Parent
19627
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Height
Weight
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
170 lb (77 kg)
Teams Boston Bruins
Philadelphia Flyers
Toronto Maple Leafs
Philadelphia Blazers
Nationality Flag of Canada Canadian
Born April 3, 1945,
Montreal, PQ, CAN
Pro Career 1965 – 1979
Hall of Fame, 1984

Bernard Marcel Bernie Parent (born April 3, 1945), is a retired Canadian professional goaltender who played 13 National Hockey League (NHL) seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, and Toronto Maple Leafs, and also spent one season in the World Hockey Association (WHA) with the Philadelphia Blazers. During the 1973–74 and 1974–75 seasons, Parent backstopped the Flyers to two Stanley Cups and won the Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy both seasons. A 1984 inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Parent was rated number 63 on the List of 100 greatest hockey players by The Hockey News in 1998.

Playing Career[]

Parent played for the Niagara Falls Flyers of the OHA Junior A league. A two-time winner of the Dave Pinkney Trophyy (lowest goals against average or GAA), he wrapped up his junior career by backstopping the team to the OHA championship and the Memorial Cup championship in 1965.

1965-Parent Green Balon

An injury to Eddie Johnston resulted in Bernie Parent playing the majority of the Bruins games in the 1965-66 season.

Parent began his career with the struggling Boston Bruins in the 1965–66 season, appearing in 39 games. The following season was split between Boston and the Bruins farm club in Oklahoma.

Left unprotected for the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft, Parent was chosen by the Philadelphia Flyers where he and Doug Favell, another former Bruin prospect, split the netminding duties for the Flyers' first season. Parent recorded a solid 2.48 GAA with 4 shutouts in helping the Flyers finish first in the NHL’s West Division. Over the next two seasons, with Favell performing inconsistently or injured, Parent became the Flyers #1 goalie and appeared in 58 and 62 games for the offensively weak Flyers. Looking for help up front to improve the club’s offence, the Flyers dealt Parent to the Toronto Maple Leafs in January, 1971.

The move proved to be beneficial to Parent, as he joined his boyhood hero, Jacques Plante, who at 42 was having an all-star season. Plante was a wealth of knowledge and experience, a true student of the game. Under his tutelage, Parent became a more consistent and technically proficient goalie. Parent played well for the Leafs through the 1971–72 season, gaining valuable regular season and playoff experience as the team’s workhorse goalie facing the top teams and shooters in the league.

BParentBlazers

Bernie Parent with the Philadelphia Blazers.

Without a contract with the Leafs in the summer of 1972, Parent signed a large contract with the Miami Screaming Eagles of the newly forming World Hockey Association. He was the first player to ‘jump’ to the WHA. The Miami franchise fizzled and became the Philadelphia Blazers. Parent faced a barrage of shots in 63 regular season games for the Blazers in the defensively weak league. After leaving the team over a contract dispute during the 1973 WHA playoffs, he sought a return to the NHL but did not wish to return to the Leafs. Toronto traded Parent’s NHL rights back to the Flyers for Doug Favell and a first round pick in that summer’s (1973) amateur draft.

The next two seasons were the greatest of his career. Playing 73 games in a 78 game schedule, Parent sparkled in leading the league with a 1.89 GAA and 12 shutouts. He shared the Vezina Trophy with Chicago's Tony Esposito and was named a first team all-star in leading the Flyers to a first place finish in the West Division. He finished the year in fine style, taking the Conn Smythe Trophy while leading the Flyers to the first of two Stanley Cup Championships. The following year was much of the same, adding another Vezina Trophy to a second Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup. A lost statistic is the fact that Parent played on a team that lead the NHL in penalty minutes thus killing penalties (Dave Schultz alone had 472 in one season). “Only the Lord saves more than Bernie Parent” became a catch-phrase and bumper sticker in the city of brotherly love in those years.

Following the championship seasons, Parent was sidelined by injury and appeared in only 11 games in 1975–76. Over the next three seasons, he played well overall but experienced difficulties at times. Jacques Plante, although in retirement, continued to have a strong influence on Parent's career. Parent, like Plante, was always a stand-up type goalie. At one point Parent was playing poorly and considering retirement. Plante watched him practice in Philadelphia for two days, then told Parent exactly what he was doing wrong - sitting back on his heels, backing into his crease and losing concentration. Parent heeded Plante's advice and rebounded to form.

Bernie parent cover-of-time-magazine1

Bernie Parent on the cover of Time.

In February 1979, Parent's career was cut short by a career ending eye injury in a game against the New York Rangers. An errant stick entered the right eye hole of his mask causing permanent damage to his vision. This incident is significant as it caused many NHL goalies to switch from fibreglass facemasks toward the cage and helmet style, and resulted in many amateur and junior leagues banning fiberglass masks altogether, mandating the helmet/cage combo.

Post-Career[]

After Parent's retirement, the Flyers retired his jersey #1 in his honor.

Parent spent several years in the Flyers organization as goaltending coach, and is credited with mentoring future Vezina-winning goalies Ron Hextall and the late Pelle Lindbergh, the latter of whom idolized Parent as a youngster from afar in his native Sweden.

Parent was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984. In 1998, he was ranked number 63 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

Records[]

  • Previously held the mark for most wins in a season (47), surpassed by New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur during the 2006–07 season with 48 wins, though Parent didn't have the benefit of overtime or shootouts in his era. Because of this his 47 win season in 1973–74 is still the record for most regulation time wins in a single season.
  • Fourth hockey player and third goalie to appear on the cover of Time Magazine. (Lorne Chabot was first.)

Career Statistics[]

Regular Season[]

Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% G A PIM
1962–63 Rosemount Bombers Met Mtl - - - - - - - - - - - -
1963–64 Niagara Falls Flyers OHA 28 - - - 1680 80 4 2.86 - 0 0 0
1964–65 Niagara Falls Flyers OHA 34 - - - 2004 86 2 2.58 - - - -
1964–65 Niagara Falls Flyers M-Cup 13 10 2 0 700 19 2 1.63 - - - -
1965–66 Boston Bruins NHL 39 11 20 3 2083 128 1 3.69 - 0 0 4
1965–66 Oklahoma City Blazers CPHL 3 1 1 1 180 11 0 3.67 - 0 0 4
1966–67 Boston Bruins NHL 18 4 12 2 1022 62 0 3.64 - 0 0 2
1966–67 Oklahoma City Blazers CPHL 14 10 4 0 820 37 4 2.70 - 0 0 10
1967–68 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 38 16 17 5 2248 93 4 2.48 .926 0 1 23
1968–69 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 58 17 23 16 3365 151 1 2.69 .923 0 0 4
1969–70 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 62 13 29 20 3680 171 3 2.79 .920 0 3 14
1970–71 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 30 9 12 6 1586 73 2 2.76 .912 0 2 5
1970–71 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 18 7 7 3 1040 46 0 2.65 - 0 0 0
1971–72 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 47 17 18 9 2715 116 3 2.56 - 0 1 6
1972–73 Philadelphia Blazers WHA 63 33 38 0 3653 220 2 3.61 .886 0 1 36
1973–74 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 73 47 13 12 4314 136 12 1.89 .933 0 3 24
1974–75 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 68 44 14 10 4041 137 12 2.03 .919 0 0 16
1975–76 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 11 6 2 3 615 24 0 2.34 .908 0 0 2
1976–77 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 61 35 13 12 3525 159 5 2.71 .897 0 0 0
1977–78 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 49 29 6 13 2923 108 7 2.22 .912 0 0 4
1978–79 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 36 16 12 7 1979 89 4 2.70 .893 0 2 8
NHL totals 608 271 198 121 35136 1493 55 2.55 - 0 12 112
WHA totals 63 33 38 0 3653 220 2 3.61 .886 0 1 36

Post Season[]

Season Team League GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% Goals Assists PIM
1963–64 Niagara Falls Flyers OHA 4 0 4 240 26 0 6.50 - - - -
1964–65 Niagara Falls Flyers OHA 8 6 2 480 15 1 1.86 - - - -
1967–68 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 5 2 3 355 8 0 1.35 .963 0 0 0
1968–69 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 3 0 3 180 12 0 4.00 .872 0 0 0
1970–71 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 4 2 2 235 9 0 2.30 - 0 0 0
1971–72 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 4 1 3 243 13 0 3.21 - 0 0 0
1972–73 Philadelphia Blazers WHA 1 0 1 70 3 0 2.57 - 0 0 0
1973–74 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 17 12 5 1042 35 2 2.02 .933 0 0 4
1974–75 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 15 10 5 922 29 4 1.89 .922 0 0 0
1975–76 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 8 4 4 480 27 0 3.38 .892 0 0 0
1976–77 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 3 0 3 123 8 0 3.90 .814 0 0 0
1977–78 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 12 7 5 722 33 0 2.74 .891 0 0 0
NHL playoff totals 71 38 33 4302 174 6 2.43 - 0 0 4
WHA playoff totals 1 0 1 70 3 0 2.57 - 0 0 0

Awards[]

Award Year(s)
Class Guy Award (Philadelphia Flyers team award) 1979
Conn Smythe Trophy 1974, 1975
NHL First All-Star Team 1974, 1975
Stanley Cup Champion 1974, 1975
Vezina Trophy 1974, 1975
WHA Second All-Star Team 1973

Gallery[]

External Links[]

Preceded by
Yvan Cournoyer
Winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy
1974, 1975
Succeeded by
Reggie Leach
Preceded by
Tony Esposito
Winner of the Vezina Trophy
tied with Tony Esposito (1974)

1974, 1975
Succeeded by
Ken Dryden
Preceded by
Joe Watson
Winner of the Class Guy Award
1979
Succeeded by
André Dupont
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Bernie Parent. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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