Posted on 01/11/2011 7:52:46 PM PST by SMCC1
"PLAYING IT BACK, like a train wreck in slow motion, Ed Van Impe can vividly remember the hit that made the Soviets fold like a tent.
The date: 35 years ago today, at the Spectrum, with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Flyers facing the Red Army team in the final game of the 1976 exhibition Super Series..."
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
Shero’s heroes.
“...and the Soviets, who had smoked the Rangers and Bruins...”
Some of us remember those games. Essentially you had a professional Soviet all-star team that had played together since childhood trouncing two of the best NHL teams - and yes, they dominated those teams. It was only because the Flyers showed them another style of hockey that they had earlier patented (i.e., street hockey) that the Soviets were defeated.
So now you head into 1980. The same Soviet team plays a bunch of US college kids, and somehow gets defeated by them. Yep, kids that didn’t even know each other a few years earlier defeat the Soviet Red Army Team that had trounced two of the best NHL teams.
So, did the Soviet team throw that game in 1980, to try to induce the Americans to go to the Moscow Olympics (that summer) - maybe? And it nearly worked.
Totally Awesome.
The tie Soviets played against Montreal in that initial Super Series was possibly the best game I’ve ever seen
“That’s quite an accusation! “
Agree - but I followed hockey closely back then and there was NO WAY that a bunch of American pip-squeaks were going to beat the Red Army Team. I thought that from the moment the game ended. There has been a little talk that the game was thrown, but I really want to hear it from the Soviet players (and no, I haven’t heard that yet).
Ed Van Impe, Red Berenson’s personal bitch, made one hit in his career, not even in a league game.
Still mad about all those times you got whupped by the bullies, eh?
The Flyers have two cups and one internationally famous game, beating Russia when everybody else got clobbered. Plus they have a ton of trips to the finals. And St. Louis has won what exactly? Remind me again.
In fairness, that double hat trick by your boy Berenson was pretty amazing, and Ed Snyder got Schultz, Moose, and Cowboy Bob to go against the Plagers. Was a different breed of hockey back then.
I was two years out of college that year and was (and still am) a Bruins fan. And yes, we cheered for Philly that night. A rare sound in Boston indeed. Still is pretty rare, in fact.
Your post is the single most asinine thing that I’ve seen in my 12 years of reading Freerepublic.
But it did give me a big laugh. Thanks.
When it came time for the game against the Soviets, the stage was set for a historic upset. It helped that the games were in Lake Placid, so the US were playing to the "home" crowed. The crowds at those games were in an absolute frenzy and I'm sure that this gave the players on the ice a psychological boost.
During the last few minutes of that game, the Soviet players were clearly panicking as they struggled to tie the game. Clearly they were not "throwing" this game and I'm sure more than a few of them were fearing a one-way trip to Siberia when the final buzzer went off.
I have fond memories of that particular time as I was graduating high school that year, had just signed up for the Marines (on delayed entry) and had my driver's license so when the players returned home, I was able to drive to Winthrop, MA to see the Mike Eruzione victory parade. With Ronald Reagan on the campaign trail and the hourglass on the Carter presidency running out, it was a great time to be an American.
One other thing about this game, it was broadcast in prime time on "tape delay" so the game had already been played hours before Americans sat down to watch it that night. Now this was well before the Internet and the mass media at that time was so tightly controlled that it was possible to keep this "secret" from most Americans so that they were able to see the game in prime time without already knowing the outcome. It's amazing how different the world was just 30 years ago.
I have no problem with the Bullies except for Captain Hook himself, for whom NHL refs changed their enforcement of that particular penalty, and less problem with him than the officials.
Don’t forget, hockey isn’t the only sport in the country; we do have those 10 world series and one Super bowl from nowhere. So, we have those going for us, which is nice.
He could speak, and read Russian so he translated a few of the signs in the crowd,(except one that apparently called one of the players a fag)
“Your post is the single most asinine thing that I’ve seen in my 12 years of reading Freerepublic.
But it did give me a big laugh. Thanks.”
A lot of us were very young and in need of heroes back them. In my case, I was following politics (and hockey) very closely - so I could put two and two together.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.