January 11, 1976, 50 years ago: For once, there were a lot of Americans rooting for the Commies. But those Reds were shown just how tough Americans -- or, at least, Canadians -- could be.
First, let's take a step back, to 1972. A "Summit Series" was set up between National Hockey League All-Stars under the name "Team Canada" and an all-star team from the Soviet Union. It was set for 8 games, 4 in each country, and the Soviets shocked the Canadians by winning Game 1 rather easily.
After 5 games, it was Soviets 3 wins, Canada 1 win, and 1 tie. Canada won the last 3 games in Moscow to take the series, salvaging their pride, but the Soviets, previously ridiculed for being professionals in all but name picking on amateur teams in the Winter Olympics, had served noticed: They were as good as the free world's best.
There was another series in 1974, this time between the Soviets and a team of all-stars from the World Hockey Association. Given the lesser competition -- only 3 players from Canada '72, including Paul Henderson, who scored the winning goal of the series, played for this WHA team -- the Soviets won 4 games, Canada just 1, with 3 ties.
Super Series '76 was scheduled, with 2 Soviet club teams taking on NHL teams. One was the reigning Soviet Champions, CSKA Moscow. Translated into English, "CSKA" became "Central Sports Club of the Army." It was a team sponsored by the country's Red Army, and that's what they were called in the American media: "The Red Army."
The other was Krylya Sovetov, translated as "Soviet Wings." This suggests they were sponsored by the country's Air Force. Not quite: They were sponsored by the country's aircraft builders.
The Super Series began on December 28, 1975, at Madison Square Garden, and the Red Army pounded the New York Rangers, 7-3. This was understandable: Despite celebrating their 50th Season, the Broadway Blueshirts were in total disarray, having recently fired their head coach and general manager, Emile Francis; and traded away several key players, including goaltender Eddie Giacomin, defenseman Brad Park and center Jean Ratelle.
On December 29, the Soviet Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-4. Also not a surprise: The Pens were not a good team at the time. The next game got people's attention, though: On New Year's Eve, at the Montreal Forum, the Red Army took on the Montreal Canadiens, a team loaded with future Hall-of-Famers and one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. It ended in a 3-3 tie, and has been called one of the greatest games in the sport's history.
On January 4, 1976, an NHL team finally got a win. The Buffalo Sabres, who had advanced to the previous season's Stanley Cup Finals, beat the Wings, 12-6 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. But the Russians re-established their dominance: On January 7, the wings went into the Chicago Stadium, and beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-2.
On January 8, the Red Army went into the Boston Garden and, playing a Boston Bruins team with Bobby Orr injured, Phil Esposito traded to the Rangers for Park and Ratelle, and Park and Ratelle not really settled in yet, dominated the Beantown Brats, 5-2. And on January 10, the Wings went out to Long Island, and beat the rising New York Islanders, 2-1.
There was one game left to play. On January 11, the Red Army went into The Spectrum in Philadelphia, to play the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Flyers had won the Stanley Cup in 1974, beating the Bruins in an upset, and again in 1975, beating the Sabres. They had a well-balanced team led by Captain Bobby Clarke and goaltender Bernie Parent. But they were also the most violent team hockey had ever seen, known as "The Broad Street Bullies."
There was a game in 1972 in Vancouver, when they were pelted with garbage by Canucks fans. Some of the players went into the stands to fight the fans, and got arrested. After the next game, which they won, along with some fights in the game, one of the players who had been arrested, defenseman Andre "Moose" Dupont sat for an interview in the locker room. He said, "It was a good night for us. We beat up their chicken forwards, we didn't get arrested, we scored goals, and we won. Now, the Moose drinks beer."
Philadelphia fans, enjoying their image as a city for tough people, loved this shit. They loved Dupont, and Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, and Ed Van Impe, and the brothers Jimmy and Joe Watson, and Tom "the Bomber" Bladon, and Bob "Hound" Kelly, every bit as much as they loved skill players like Clarke, Parent, and Bill Barber, all of whom ended up in the Hockey Hall of Fame, along with coach Fred Shero, general manager Keith Allen, and founding owner Ed Snider.
They were to take on the Red Army team with Vladislav Tretiak in goal, Viktor Kuzkin on defense, Boris Mikhailov and Vladimir Petrov at center, and Valeri Kharlamov on left wing. Each of these players would be elected to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame, while Tretiak and Kharlamov were elected to the main Hall of Fame in Toronto.
The Flyers were the most hated team in hockey -- and, along with the Canadiens, 1 of the 2 best. But the other team was the Soviet Red Army. The Communists. America's enemy. On the other hand -- the third hand? -- of the 28 players who appeared in regular-season games for the Flyers that season, only 1 was an American, rookie right wing Paul Holmgren. The other 27 were Canadian. True, Canada is America's closest ally, but was it really patriotic to root for 27 Canucks and 1 American rookie who might not even get into the game?
Yes, yes it was. It in America. It was 1976, the Bicentennial year. And it was Philadelphia, birthplace of the nation through the Declaration of Independence, and birthplace of our system of government through the Constitution. And, as they so often did when they needed some good luck, the Flyers played Kate Smith's recording of "God Bless America" rather than "The Star-Spangled Banner." (Smith herself had sung in person a few times, but was not there on this occasion.) And the Philly fans belted it out along with the recording. Game on, you Commie bastards.
Shero had 2 slogans. One was, "We will win together now, and we will walk together forever." The other was, "Take the shortest route to the puck, and arrive in ill humor." In the 1st period, Van Impe was sent to the penalty box for hooking. When his penalty ended, with the score still 0-0, he went right at Kharlamov, and elbowed him in the head.
The referee, Lloyd Gilmour, did not call a penalty. Red Army coach Konstantin Loktev decided that his players were not going to be treated fairly, and, with the clock reading 11:21 of the 1st period (in other words, 9:39 to go), pulled his them off the ice. Bob Cole, calling the game for CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), yelled, "They're going home! They're going home!"
Legend has it that Snider went to Vyacheslav Koloskov, the president of the Soviet Hockey Federation, and told him that his team would not get paid unless they returned to the ice. It wasn't true: NHL President Clarence Campbell, and tournament organizer Alan Eagleson (who later went to prison for embezzling from many of the players he represented) talked to Koloskov, and he talked to Loktev, and the Red Army players returned, taking a delay of game penalty.
And just 30 seconds into this power play, Reggie Leach deflected a shot past Tretiak to make it 1-0 Philadelphia. Toward the end of the period, Rick MacLeish scored to make it 2-0. Early in the 2nd period, the Red Army were on a power play when Joe Watson, known as a defensive defenseman, scored a shorthanded goal to make it 3-0. Shero told Joe he had "set Soviet hockey back 25 years."
Victor Kutyorgin scored for the Soviets in the period, but it was merely a consolation, not the start of a comeback. In the 3rd period, Larry Goodenough -- whose nickname, naturally was "Izzy" Goodenough -- tallied to make it 4-1. This would be the final score. And the Flyers, who had so deeply relied on Parent to win back-to-back Cups, did this with Wayne Stephenson playing the entire game in goal.
Tretiak said the Flyers won by playing "rude hockey." Loktev called them "a bunch of animals." They were both right. But the Flyers had won, and came away believing the Russians were skilled by soft. They were right, too.
The Flyers made it 3 straight trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, and printed up memorabilia reading, "HAT TRICK IN '76." But the Canadiens put a stop to that, sweeping them in 4 straight, for the 1st of 4 straight Stanley Cups.
The Flyers have never won another Cup. From 1976 to 2021, they were in 6 Stanley Cup Finals, and lost them all. And it wasn't because they got soft: For the rest of the 1970s, into the '80s, and even through the '90s, they were still one of the dirtier teams in the game. But bad management and bad luck have combined to give them a Cup drought that, even if they do it this season, will have lasted 47 years.
But their teams of 1974, '75 and '76 will always be remembered, for beating the Big Bad Bruins, and also for beating the Red Army when no one else could.
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