Hockey Notes: Perani Dies, Wilkinson Down Under, Dewey Earns Fellowship
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Courtesy MNow.comFormer Saint All America Bob Perani died Sunday while on an international flight
In Requiem: Bob Perani '66, an All America goaltender for the Saints, died on a flight from Detroit to Tokyo on Sunday while en route his retirement home in Thailand. Perani earned All America honors in 1964, helping his team make the ECAC finals as a seventh seed. He shared the record for shutouts in a season (4) and saves in a period (23).
Perani had a .933 save percentage and a 2.22 goals against average as the starting goalie in 1964, taking over for graduated All America Richie Broadbelt. He finished his career with a 2.96 goals against average and a .912 save percentage in 63 career games.
Perani, who was 69 at the time of his death, was founder of a hockey equipment superstore chain Perani's Hockey World, which had stores in both the US and Canada. It is considered the largest independent hockey equipment distributor in the world. He moved to Flint, MI in the late 1960s and was a goaltender for the Flint Generals for five seasons, becoming part of an ownership group of that franchise in 2007. While the Generals played their last game in 2010, the arena in Flint bears his name as the Perani Arena and Event Center. More from MNow
Down Under: Former Saint player and assistant coach Bill Wilkinson '70 has accepted a coaching job with the Melbourne Mustangs of the AIHL in Melbourne, Australia. Wilkie has been coaching C.H. Jaca in Spain and won three consecutive championships there. He was head coach at Western Michigan and at Wayne State compiling 437 career victories between the two programs before becoming an international coach.
1st NHL Goal: Former Saint forward Brandon Bollig scored his first NHL goal, tying the game, in game two of Chicago's playoff series with Pheonix. Bollig played 18 games in the regular season for the Blackhawks. His goal was his first NHL point.
Kudos: Defenseman Jordan Dewey, who will captain the Saints as a senior, has been awarded a SLU fellowship for summer study. His research project is called "The Effects of Institutionalization on Developmentally Disabled Adults". He will be working with NYSARC in the area mostly Hermon, Canton and Massena doing some volunteer work and literature and case study research. Former Saint goaltender Mike McKenna, who played for the Binghamton Senators this past season was named the Senators' Man of the Year and 7th Player Award winner. McKenna played in 41 games for the Senators, compiling a 2.98 goals against average and a .918 save percentage.
A Taste of the Next Level: Saint captain Jake Drewiske played 14 games for the Gwinnett Gladiators in the ECHL. Other Saint seniors who got a taste of professional hockey in the ECHL included Pete Child (Wheeling) and Mark Armstrong (Trenton). Drewiske had two goals and three assists in 14 games including playoffs, Armstrong had a goal and three assists in six games and Child had two goals in 11 games.