Robert F. Perani (August 7, 1942 – April 15, 2012) was a professional ice hockey

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

for the Flint Generals in the International Hockey League. He was also the founder of Perani's Hockey World sports retail chain in 1976, and owned the naming rights for the Perani Arena and Event Center. Perani died on April 15, 2012, while traveling on an international flight from

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. Perani was born in Italy in 1942 and moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

with his family in 1953, settling near

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. He attended St. Lawrence University where he was a member of

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity in North America. As of 2021, it had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 118,000 alumni. The fraternity is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded on February 26, 1897, at Vincennes Uni ...

fraternity. He played for a number of leagues in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. He and his wife Kris moved to Flint in the late 1960s and never left. Kris died from cancer in 2006.The following year, as part of the 'Perani Group', he bought the Flint Generals. He retired as a player after the 1974 season and went into the pizza business and in 1976 started "Bob Perani's Sports Shop". Perani retired to

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and died on a flight from Detroit to Tokyo en route to Thailand.

Career

OHA * Hamilton Tiger Cubs 1959-1960 - 1 game *

Toronto Marlboros The Toronto Marlborough Athletic Club, commonly known as the Toronto Marlboros, was an ice hockey franchise in Toronto, Canada. Founded in 1903, it operated junior ice hockey and senior ice hockey teams in the Ontario Hockey Association and la ...

1960-1961 - 3 games * Whitby Mohawks 1961-1962 - 30 games

ECAC Hockey ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I college ice hockey, ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United ...

Division I (NCAA) NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

* St. Lawrence University

Saints In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Orth ...

1963-1966 - 63 games IHL * Muskegon Mohawks 1967-1968; 1968-1969 76 games * Flint Generals 1969-1970; 1970-1974 142 games AHL * Springfield Kings 1967-1968, 1968-1969 7 games OHA Sr *

1967-1968 - 0 games * Barrie Flyers 1969-1970 10 games Source:

Awards and honors

* James Norris Memorial Trophy - 1968/1969 with teammate Tim Tabor with the Muskegon Mohawks

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perani, Bob 1942 births 2012 deaths American men's ice hockey goaltenders American sportspeople of Canadian descent American people of Italian descent Canadian sportspeople of Italian descent Flint Generals players Ice hockey players from Michigan Ice hockey people from Ontario Sportspeople from Flint, Michigan AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans 20th-century American sportsmen Sigma Pi members