The Red Army vs. “Animal Hockey”

Thirty-five years ago the Soviet Red Army hockey team concluded a series of exhibition games against NHL teams playing the Philadelphia Flyers.  It was a legendary confrontation.  The Stanley Cup champion Flyers (aka the “Broad Street Bullies”) had upended the sport with their aggressive, physical play. It was a style the Red Army did not appreciate; their coach called it “animal hockey.”

The key moment in the game occurred when Ed van Impe delivered a brutal hit on Valeri Kharlamov. The Soviet winger was knocked out cold and the Soviets left the ice in protest, refusing to return. As a story today on Philly.com recounts:

“We were feeling really good about ourselves,” Van Impe, the Flyers’ second captain, recalled with a laugh. “We were really dominating. I was absolutely shocked when they left the ice. I had never seen anything like that ever happen before at any level, anywhere, where a team quits because things weren’t going their way. But I knew they had to return, the game was being televised across Europe.”

[Flyers Chairman Ed] Snider knew the only way to bruise the Soviets more was to hit their wallet equally hard. Since it was the final contest of the four-game set, the Soviets were supposed to receive a fat check from Eagleson for $200,000, $50,000 per game.

“I told them that they wouldn’t get paid for the game,” Snider said. “And [NHL President] Clarence [Campbell] looked at me and said, ‘Hell, we were supposed to settle up for the whole series after this game.’ I said, ‘Tell them they’re not getting their money.’ They were supposed to get $50,000 for each game, so a total of $200,000 was on the line, plus we paid for all of their expenses and whatnot. That was a lot of money at the time, especially in Russia. So they huddled together and went back and forth and finally said very clearly, ‘We will play,’ and back onto the ice they went.”

After the 17-minute delay, play resumed.  The Flyers quickly scored two goals and went on to win, 4-1, handing the Red Army team it’s Soviets their first-ever loss in North America.  As the Philly.com story notes, that night was likely the first (and possibly last) time U.S. and Canadian hockey fans all cheered for the Flyers.

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