PHILADELPHIA – This evening was supposed to be a final farewell to the late, great Bernie Parent.
Instead, Friday night’s “Celebration of Life” turned out to be a true celebration, an occasion to remember all the wonderful things about the greatest goaltender in Flyers’ history.
They came from far and wide, from Hockey Hall of Famer Bob Clarke to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly to Parent’s widow, Gini, to Flyers CEO Dan Hilfirty to pay their final respects.
They were joined by several thousand other Flyer/Parent fans at Xfinity Mobile Arena to watch and listen to tributes for Parent, who passed away on Sept. 21 at the age of 80.
“Bernie had a great life,” said Clarke as the evening’s final speaker. “He was a great man. To win two Stanley Cups, it takes the best that everybody on that team can give.
“Bernie’s best was better than the rest of our bests. We got two Stanley Cups because of Bernie.”
A dozen or so members of the 1973-74 and 1974-75 championship teams stood behind Clarke as he spoke.
Clarke pointed out that Parent now joins a list of players from those two teams who are no longer with us, including Barry Ashbee, Eddie Van Impe, “Cowboy” Bill Flett, Ross Lonsberry and Rick MacLeish.
“Now, God bless Bernie, because he’s going to join them,” Clarke said. “And the rest of us, until we go join them, we will walk together forever.”
That was a reference to the message – “Win Today and We Walk Together Forever” — the late Flyers coach Fred Shero wrote on the blackboard in his office prior to Game 6 of the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals, which the Flyers won, 1-0, over the Bobby Orr-led Boston Bruins.
Some of the Flyers current hierarchy also spoke (via video), including president Keith Jones, general manager Daniel Briere and coach Rick Tocchet.
“I remember as a young player, you had a bad game and Bernie would come to your stall,” Tocchet said. “And he would go, ‘you’re playing really well!’ He always made me feel important.
“I think that really helped me and it helped my growth as a player. I owe a lot to Bernie for that.”
Briere couldn’t help but smile as he spoke. These two French-Canadians knew how to have a good time.
“He was always happy, always in a good mood,” Briere said. “Whenever you were in a conversation with him, you felt like you were the only thing that mattered at this moment.”
Briere also alluded to Parent’s work with the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation.
“It was amazing,” Briere said.
Then with a grin, he added, “I have many stories with Bernie but nothing that I can really share.”
Jones has always been a master kidder and joker, so he and Parent fit in well together.
“Well, he made me smile,” Jones said. “I think he did that for every person that he ran into because of his joy for life. He represented the team with class. He really cared about people. When I worked at WIP radio, he always came in with so much energy but he was always willing to share his time with kids. He took the time to make sure he shared his success with everybody.”
In addition to Clarke, the alumni group was also represented at the podium by ex-Flyer greats Bill Clement, Joe Watson and Bill Barber.
“When I got here, I was six years younger than Bernie,” Clement said. “And thanks to Bernie’s leadership, all of our young players thought they were making contributions that were important, no matter how insignificant they seemed at the time.
“Our veteran players like Bernie made us feel that our contributions were really important. I think Bernie spent half of his life laughing and the rest of the time he spent getting everyone else to laugh.”
Be the first to comment