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The Flyers–Red Army game was a famous international
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
game played on January 11, 1976, between the
Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...
of the
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
-based
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
(NHL), and
HC CSKA Moscow HC CSKA Moscow (, ''Central Sports Club of the Army, Moscow'') is a professional ice hockey club based in Moscow, Russia. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). It is referred to in the West as "Central R ...
(Central Sports Club of the Army Moscow, Russian: ХК ЦСКА Москва, also known as the "Red Army Team", as all players were superficially members of the
Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...
) of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. The game was notable for an incident where, after a body check delivered by the Flyers' Ed Van Impe, CSKA's top player, Valeri Kharlamov, was prone on the ice for a minute. When officials did not call a penalty, the Red Army coach, Konstantin Loktev, pulled his team off the ice in protest. Flyers' Chairman Ed Snider told CSKA to return to the ice and finish the game, which was being broadcast to an international audience, or the Soviet Hockey Federation would not get paid the fee to which they were entitled. However, according to NHL President Clarence Campbell, he denied he ever told Koloskov or Loktev about the money. Campbell said "Somebody on the periphery mentioned it, that's all." They eventually complied and lost 4–1. The Flyers were the only NHL team that managed to defeat the Red Army that year.


Background

HC CSKA Moscow was one of the most dominant sports teams in history, winning the Soviet championship for 13 consecutive years between 1977 and 1989. CSKA played many games against NHL clubs, including a North American tour in 1975 and 1976. In total, the Red Army Club played 36 games against NHL teams from 1975 to 1991 and finished with a record of 26 wins, 8 losses, and 2 ties. The 1975–76 series between various NHL teams and two touring Soviet teams, the powerhouse Red Army team and the somewhat lesser Soviet Wings squad, was another pivotal moment in the tenuous relations between the NHL and the Soviet hockey program. The games, like the subsequent
Canada Cup The Canada Cup () was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that a ...
Tournaments which also began in 1976, were not treated like exhibitions. Coming into the final match of their NHL series, the Red Army was still undefeated, having tied the
Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...
3-3 and beaten the other NHL teams they faced (the Rangers 7-3, and the Bruins 5-2). Their final game was to be played in the
Spectrum A spectrum (: spectra or spectrums) is a set of related ideas, objects, or properties whose features overlap such that they blend to form a continuum. The word ''spectrum'' was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of co ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
against the two-time defending
Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...
champion Flyers. Both Soviet teams were supplemented by other All Stars from their league. Before CSKA had arrived in Philadelphia, the Soviet players and hockey leaders were aware of the rough reputation of the "
Broad Street Bullies The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Wells ...
." A
Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...
cartoon had portrayed the Flyers as
Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...
thugs wielding clubs instead of sticks. Flyers captain
Bobby Clarke Robert Earle Clarke (born August 13, 1949) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played his entire 15-year National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Philadelphia Flyers and is currently an executive with the team. Popular ...
's reputation was already cemented due partly to his actions in the 1972
Summit Series The Summit Series, Super Series 72, Canada–USSR Series (), or Series of the Century (), was an eight-game ice hockey series between the Soviet Union and Canada, held in September 1972. It was the first competition between the Soviet nation ...
, where he delivered an infamous slash to the ankle of Valeri Kharlamov in Game Six. Flyers owner Ed Snider had several reasons to dislike the Soviets, in addition to Soviet-Western political tensions. Tough, often contentious, negotiations took place with Soviet officials before the series became a reality, in which Snider was actively involved. The Flyers' owner found his patience tried by the difficult negotiating process with the Soviet officials. (Snider was criticized by some as being hypocritical for allowing his hockey team to participate in a series that would pump money into Soviet coffers.) Finally, there were strictly hockey-related reasons for Snider to dislike the Soviets so strongly. The diametrically opposite styles of hockey practiced by the Flyers and Red Army Team created an instant source of conflict. Although the Flyers of the mid-1970s were actually a very skilled team (with the likes of future Hall of Famers
Bobby Clarke Robert Earle Clarke (born August 13, 1949) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played his entire 15-year National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Philadelphia Flyers and is currently an executive with the team. Popular ...
,
Bill Barber William Charles Barber (born July 11, 1952) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played twelve seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers in the National Hockey League (NHL). As part of the famed LCB ( Leach, Clarke, Barber) line, ...
, and
Bernie Parent Bernard Marcel Parent (born April 3, 1945) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played 13 National Hockey League (NHL) seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, and Toronto Maple Leafs between 1965 and 1979, an ...
plus all-star caliber talents such as
Reggie Leach Reginald Joseph Leach (born April 23, 1950) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins, California Golden Seals, Philadelphia Flyers, and Detroit Red ...
, Rick MacLeish, and defensive defenseman Jimmy Watson), they were best known for their aggressive brand of physical play. Snider's competitive fires were stoked by the realization that the chance to play the Soviets represented a chance to prove that his club was the best team in the world and much more than a "goon squad."


The game

A goodwill get-together before the game was fraught with tension. Flyers announcer
Gene Hart Eugene Charles "Gene" Hart (June 28, 1931 – July 14, 1999) was an American sports announcer for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League. Biography Hart was born in New ...
, who spoke Russian, taught Flyers owner Ed Snider to say a phrase in Russian wishing the best for both teams in the upcoming game. When the time came, there was no mingling whatsoever between the Soviet contingent and Flyers staff and players. When Snider took to the podium, he spoke tersely and omitted the phrase Hart had taught him. Snider later said, "when I looked at all those cold faces, I just couldn't do it." Clarke later said that he, too, "really hated those bastards" on the Soviet side and could not wait to take to the ice against them once again. The Flyers dictated the game's tempo and were able to take the body on the Soviet players and avoid getting caught in the Soviet up-tempo transition game. In the first period, with the game still scoreless, Flyers defenseman Ed Van Impe, who had just finished serving a penalty for hooking, left the box and immediately placed a hard hit that knocked out CSKA star Valeri Kharlamov. Kharlamov lay prone on the ice for a minute. Lloyd Gilmour, the referee, refused to call a penalty, maintaining that Van Impe's check was clean. He did call a delay of game penalty to the Red Army bench, and head coach Loktev protested by pulling the team from the ice. This memorably led to commentator Bob Cole saying, "They're going home!" repeatedly. Snider got into a shouting match with the president of the Soviet Hockey Federation, threatening to not pay for the series if they did not return to the ice. The Soviets prolonged the game stoppage by arguing to make their return to the ice conditional on the referee canceling their impending delay of game bench penalty. Eventually, they accepted the penalty and came back to the ice. The game delay tactic backfired on them as they returned to find the Flyers even more resolute than before. The Flyers scored quickly after play resumed and never looked back. One key contribution to the Flyers win was a technical decision made by Flyer head coach
Fred Shero Frederick Alexander Shero (October 23, 1925November 24, 1990) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, and general manager. Nicknamed The Fog, he played for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL), but spent most ...
, to stand up the Red Army attack at the Flyers defensive blue line rather than just back off the line, which caught the Red Army off guard since no other NHL team had tried this tactic. The Flyers ending up outshooting the Red Army 49–13 en route to their 4–1 victory. Soviet referee Yury Karandin officiated the game as a linesman.


After the game

Flyers head coach
Fred Shero Frederick Alexander Shero (October 23, 1925November 24, 1990) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, and general manager. Nicknamed The Fog, he played for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL), but spent most ...
jokingly told low-scoring defenseman Joe Watson that he had set the Soviet hockey program back 25 years by scoring a shorthanded goal on the great
Vladislav Tretiak Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak State Duma, MP ( rus, links=no, Владислав Александрович Третьяк, p=trʲɪˈtʲjak; born 25 April 1952) is a Russian former goaltender for the Soviet Union national ice hockey team. ...
. Amidst the Flyers' pride in their convincing victory against an outstanding team, the seeds of contentiousness had grown even further. To this day, Tretiak, who views the tie game in the
Montreal Forum Montreal Forum () is a historic building located facing Cabot Square, Montreal, Cabot Square in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Called "the most storied building in hockey history" by ''Sporting News'', it was an indoor arena which served as the home o ...
as the highpoint of the series, says that the Flyers won by playing "rude hockey". Coach Loktev called the Flyers "a bunch of animals." The Flyers, meanwhile, left with the belief that the Soviet team had confirmed their feelings that Russian players were skilled but soft. Milt Dunnell of the ''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...
'' had written this comment after the close of the series: "The Moscow Musketeers had to put a big fat zero on their aptitude test by pulling one of the dumbest tricks in sports. They hauled their team off the ice. Loktev knew the conditions before he came. Nobody loves playing in Philadelphia. Once he accepted a game with the Flyers, under NHL rules, with an NHL referee, he was in the same boat as the
Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...
or
Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...
when they come to town. Loktev wanted his team to know what's it's like to play the Flyers in Philly under NHL conditions. Well...that's what it's like."


Legacy

A little more than a decade after the showdown in the Spectrum, the Soviet Union was crumbling politically. In order to raise funds, the Soviet hockey program started to negotiate to auction off selected prominent national team veterans to be dispersed to NHL teams. The Sniders refused to get the Flyers involved in seeking to acquire any Soviet players, citing the fact that the Soviet officials were demanding a large portion of the players' NHL salaries be diverted into their hands rather than being given to the players. Eventually, the Flyers would scout and draft players from the Soviet Union and its successor states on the same basis as they did players from any hockey country. In a 1993 Halloween episode, ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'' depicted the team as demons in Hell, serving on the "Jury of the Damned".


See also

* Super Series * Super Series '76 * Super Series '76-77 *
CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...
*
Summit Series The Summit Series, Super Series 72, Canada–USSR Series (), or Series of the Century (), was an eight-game ice hockey series between the Soviet Union and Canada, held in September 1972. It was the first competition between the Soviet nation ...
*
Canada Cup The Canada Cup () was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that a ...


References


External links


Broad Street Bullies vs. The Red Army - CBC Digital ArchivesFlyers History writeup on the gameVideo clip of the game
* {{DEFAULTSORT:1976 Flyers-Red Army game Flyers-Res Army game, 1976 HC CSKA Moscow Flyer Philadelphia Flyers games Politics and sports Soviet Union–United States relations Super Series Philadelphia Flyers-Red Army Ice hockey games Philadelphia Flyers-Red Army game Nicknamed sporting events