Joey Payeur
Lorne McNay never became a professional hockey scout.
But even at 10 years old, he could tell one of his minor hockey teammates had a gift for the game.
The current Fort Frances resident grew up in Smooth Rock Falls, Ont., where he shared a dressing room for several years with Jean-Paul (J.P.) Parise, the former NHL star who died of lung cancer Jan. 7 at his home in Prior Lake, Mn.
“He was always our captain and everything about how he played was outstanding,” McNay recalled about Parise, who played for five NHL teams but was best known for his eight seasons with the Minnesota North Stars from 1967-75.
“He was at a level above everybody else.”
McNay recounted how his former schoolmate was a multi-sport talent, also excelling at football and baseball.
“He just had that talent that’s built into some people,” McNay noted.
Parise’s rugged style remains at the forefront of McNay’s memories about the two-time all-star forward.
“He was a guy who didn’t mind going into the corners but still has the great offensive skills,” McNay said of Parise, who finished his NHL career with 238 goals and 356 assists in 890 regular-season games.
He added another 27 goals and 31 assists in 86 playoff contests.
That aggression was on full display in the first period of the eighth and final game of the famous 1972 “Summit Series” between Canada and the U.S.S.R.
With Team Canada trailing 1-0, Parise was penalized for interference and then given a 10-minute misconduct for banging his stick on the ice.
That capped a run of several questionable penalties given to Team Canada early in the game by referee Josef Kompalla and ignited Parise’s frustrations.
He crossed the ice in the direction of Kompalla and reared back with his stick and chopped in Kompalla’s direction, but held back before making contact.
His intentions were enough to earn him a game misconduct.
But Team Canada rallied around their ejected teammate and fought back from the deficit—and eventually won the game and the series on Paul Henderson’s legendary game-winner with 34 seconds to play.
“That was pretty special for me to get to see [Parise] play on the same team as players of that calibre,” McNay said of the Canadian squad that featured the likes of Phil Esposito, Yvan Cournoyer, Bobby Clarke, and Ken Dryden.
McNay’s passion for hockey rivalled his eventually more well-known teammate’s.
“I spent all my time at the arena—it was my home away from home,” he stressed.
“If I wasn’t playing, I was scraping the ice.”
Parise was signed by the Boston Bruins as a 21-year-old and was assigned to the Bruins’ junior team, the Niagara Falls Flyers, in 1961.
“When he went into junior, I lost all track of him,” admitted McNay, who added with a laugh, “He went on to bigger things and I didn’t.”
McNay made it down to Minnesota several times to watch Parise play for the North Stars, but never got a chance to
reconnect with his old Smooth Rock Falls sidekick.
That didn’t make hearing about Parise’s passing any easier for McNay.
“I took it hard, it’s just terrible,” he mourned.
“I’m on Facebook with friends of ours back home and we’re passing around a condolence card on there.”
McNay takes a special pleasure in following the exploits of Parise’s son, Zach, who is in his third year with the Minnesota Wild after seven seasons with the New Jersey Devils.
“I’ll always watch how he’s doing because of that connection I had with his dad,” noted McNay, who admits his own playing days are well behind him.
“I haven’t put on the skates for seven years,” he chuckled.
“I started feeling it in my body too much after playing and said to heck with it, time to hang them up,” he remarked.
