'Terrific Guy, Terrific Friend': Tom Reid Remembers J.P. Parise
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Fans and friends of J.P. Parise are mourning the loss of a hockey legend.
Gregg Pendy, a fan, said Thursday that he knew the best place to honor Parise, who died at his home Wednesday night. The place was Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub in St. Paul.
Pendy described Parise as "the hardest working guy out there."
"Just move, move, move, never stop...he was inspiration to anybody out there playing," he said.
Pendy says that Parise was one of the greatest players ever to take to the ice. He said that after hearing news of his death, he had to be around people who understood Parise's impact on the game.
Tom Reid is one of those people.
He played along-side Parise on the Minnesota North Stars, and was his friend for 45 years. The walls of his pub document the memories and laughs they shared.
"Terrific guy, terrific friend," Reid said. "Always had your back all the time."
Reid says that while Parise loved the game of hockey, he cared about people more. And there was nothing more important to him than his family.
"The most important thing was his relationship with his two boys," Reid said.
He believes that the last year of Parise's life was truly special, because it was spent with the people he loved most.
His son, Zach Parise, a star player for the Minnesota Wild, was able to spend time with his father after he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
"I think the relationship they had as father and son was tremendous," Reid said.
He also said that he's honored that Parise's sons asked him to speak at the funeral. They said it's what their dad would have wanted.
