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An NHL career is defined by many events, players present and past cherishing a single snapshot, a game or a broader body of work. Eight players reflect in our weekly eight-part series "Savour Every Moment" presented by Olymel, sharing a personal slice of what makes hockey a special part of their lives. Today: In the fourth part of the series, Class of 1981 Hockey Hall of Famer Bernie Parent, who won the Stanley Cup twice with the Philadelphia Flyers, discusses his 63-save 2-1 double-overtime victory against the St. Louis Blues in Game 6 of the West Division Semifinal on April 16, 1968.

It was a long, eventful road for goalie Bernie Parent to reach the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The career of the Montreal native began with ball hockey on his hometown streets, graduated to junior in Niagara Falls, Ontario and the minor pros in Oklahoma City, then to the NHL with the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, a pit-stop in the World Hockey Association then back to the Flyers, for whom he twice would become a Stanley Cup champion.
Parent would enjoy a historic double with the Flyers in 1973-74 and 1974-75, in each season winning the Stanley Cup, the Conn Smythe Trophy as the player voted to be most valuable to his team during the playoffs, and the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's statistically judged best goalie through the regular season. No other goalie has swept those three awards in consecutive seasons.

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Bernie Parent defends the Boston Bruins goal against Montreal Canadiens' Dave Balon, checked by defenseman Ted Green, during his 1965-66 rookie season.
He had many special games during his 14 years in the NHL, 679 regular-season and playoff games played between 1965-79, and on any given day, he might offer a different one that in some fashion helped to define his career.
But more than 50 years after the shooting-gallery fact, Parent still savors one game -- a career-high 63-save, 2-1 double-overtime victory in Game 6 of the Flyers' Stanley Cup West Division Semifinal at the St. Louis Blues on April 16, 1968.
"If you face 64 shots and are beaten by just one of them, you've been guided by the good Lord to make the right moves," Parent said. "I might have had better games in my career, but I've never been sharper."
The Flyers faced elimination in St. Louis that night, trailing the Blues 3-2 in the best-of-seven series to determine who would advance to the West Division Final.

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Bernie Parent in 1969 action against Toronto's Bob Pulford at Maple Leaf Gardens during his third season with the Philadelphia Flyers.
"St. Louis was a beautiful place to play," Parent said. "It was always packed, noisy, I always believed that a lot of noise picks you up as a player."
The 13,738 fans in the St. Louis Arena had plenty to cheer about before the first intermission, forward Gerry Melnyk giving the Blues a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 18:06.
The Blues peppered Parent in the second period with 16 shots, the Flyers managing three on future Hall of Famer Glenn Hall in the St. Louis net. But Philadelphia came alive in the third, outshooting its host 18-11, still trailing in the final minute of regulation time.
Flyers coach KeithAllen pulled Parent for an extra skater and with 15 seconds left on the clock, Andre Lacroix scored the equalizer, sending the game into overtime.

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And as luck/fate would have it, the game-winner was a fluke. Flyers forward Don Blackburn skated across the St. Louis blue line and fired an innocent-looking shot in Hall's direction. The goalie stumbled, losing his balance, and could do nothing to stop the puck that skittered through his legs at 11:08 of the second overtime period.
It was the Flyers' 43rd shot of the game and their second that period, sending the series back to Philadelphia for Game 7. Parent stopped 25 shots by St. Louis in extra time.
Blues forward Red Berenson had nothing to show for his 10 shots. Tim Ecclestone, Larry Keenan and Jimmy Roberts had six each.
It was the second double overtime of the series, the Flyers having prevailed 3-2 in Game 3 in St. Louis, Parent facing 57 shots that night.
The goalie recalls not exhaustion after each marathon win, but elation.

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"It's so exciting. After a game like those you're so pumped, not tired at all," Parent said. "You live with them the rest of your life. I'm so grateful that I could make the saves.
"I loved facing a lot of shots. I had great communication with our defensemen. Joe Watson was very intelligent about this. When a forward would come down on Joe, he'd always play the man, never the puck.
"So my anticipation, if the opponent had a left-hand shot, was to the stick side, a right-hand shot to the glove side. Instead of just blocking shots, I was anticipating and visualizing the game. My teammates were a great help."
Alas, there would be no fairytale ending for the Flyers, their first Stanley Cup championship six years away. The Blues won 3-1 in Game 7 at the Spectrum, moving on to defeat the Minnesota North Stars in a seven-game West Division Final before being swept by the Montreal Canadiens in the Final.

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Bernie Parent warms up before playing against the New York Rangers during the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game on Dec. 31, 2011 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
On the Blues roster was defenseman Noel Picard, whose brother, Roger, had been instrumental in having a young Parent become a minor-hockey goalie in Montreal, having watched him play nets in road hockey.
One season away from joining the Blues for 1968-69, out of retirement, was goaltending legend Jacques Plante, whom Parent had worshipped in his youth. Parent recalls living next door as a boy to Plante's sister, Therese, pulling back the living-room curtains to see his hero, then starring for the Canadiens, walk up the steps.
"Jacques would be wearing a big fedora and smoking a cigar like he was a king," Parent said. "Which he was."
It would be as teammates with the Maple Leafs for a season and a half in the early 1970s that Plante would take Parent under his wing "and teach me not just how to play goal, but how to be a pro. I was 25, he was 42. That changed my whole career. When you talk about miracles in life, that's one of them."

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Bernie Parent strikes a playful pose in goal at Laura Sims Skatehouse in Philadelphia on Feb. 24, 2019.
If the 1968 series against the Blues ended in defeat, it gave Parent a tantalizing taste of what was to come. His unforgettable shutout against the Bruins in Game 6 of the 1974 Stanley Cup Final gave the Flyers their first of two consecutive championships.
The historic win at the Spectrum came on May 19, 1974 -- the date both of the birth of the goalie's mother and her death a year before Philadelphia's victory.
"Some of the (30) saves I made that night … I wasn't the one stopping the puck," Parent said, the words catching in his throat.
His mood brightened when he recalled the Philadelphia hotel ceremony a few days later; he was presented a new car, his prize for having won the Conn Smythe Trophy. He immediately gave the keys to Flyers coach Fred Shero.
"The Stanley Cup is a team achievement, so I thought that Fred deserved the car. He took the keys, without any hesitation," Parent said with a laugh. "Then during the summer, he called to ask if he could bring his family for a visit. 'And I have another question,' Fred said. 'Are you going to pay the taxes on the car?'
"So of course I did."
Photos: Hockey Hall of Fame; Getty Images