Bernie Parent, Hall of Fame goalie who anchored Flyers, dies at 80

Bernie Parent, a Hall of Fame goalie who anchored the Philadelphia Flyers during their Broad Street Bullies era, has died at age 80, the Flyers announced on Sunday.

The team did not immediately disclose a cause of death. Former Flyers defenseman Joe Watson said Parent died overnight in his sleep. Watson, who joined the club during its Cup runs, said he saw Parent and other former Flyers players at a function Friday night in Delaware and recalled Parent was in terrible pain from a bad back. The Flyers issued a statement praising Parent as a legendary figure who helped grow the game and served as an ambassador for Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education.

Parent’s NHL career began with Boston in 1965. He was left unprotected by the Bruins in the 1967 expansion draft and was claimed by the Flyers. After three-and-a-half seasons with Philadelphia, he was traded to Toronto before returning to the Flyers ahead of the 1973-74 season. In that breakout year, he won a league-high 47 games and helped Philadelphia reach its first Stanley Cup final. He would again lead the NHL in wins the following season, finishing with 44.

The Flyers defeated the Boston Bruins in six games to win the 1974 Stanley Cup and then beat the Buffalo Sabres in six games to claim the championship in 1975. Parent posted shutouts in the clinching games of both series and became one of the era’s defining players in Philadelphia. On the flight home from Buffalo after the 1975 title, the Stanley Cup was placed in the middle of the aisle and the team celebrated as the prize sat within reach of every player’s gaze; Parent later recalled that moment as a time when the city’s passion for hockey became part of him.

Parent retired in 1979 after a 13-year NHL career, finishing with 271 wins, 231 of them with the Flyers. His career was briefly interrupted by a serious eye injury in 1979 when a stick struck his right eye, temporarily blinding him and ending his playing days. The Flyers retired his No. 1 jersey in his honor, and he became the first Flyers player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984. He remains the Flyers’ career leader in shutouts, with 50, a mark that underscored his influence in net during the club’s most successful stretch.

Beyond his on-ice exploits, Parent remained closely connected to the franchise as an ambassador. The Flyers noted that his legacy reached far beyond the ice and that his work with Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education helped spread the sport’s reach in Philadelphia and beyond. He was remembered by teammates, opponents and fans as a singular presence who combined elite performance with a generous, engaging personality.

For fans in Philadelphia and hockey historians alike, Parent’s impact endures as the goalie who defined a championship era for the Flyers and helped shape the sport’s popularity during a transformative period in the 1970s. His time on the ice is recalled not only for the wins and the cups but for the way he carried himself, the composure in the crease, and the way he connected with the city he helped propel into hockey greatness.