You Never Forget......

Calgary Flames v Philadelphia Flyers, April 22, 1981


The Spectrum, Sec ?

You never forget your first time.  I jumped on the Flyers bandwagon when they won the 1974 Cup.  It may be my first recollection of a Flyers game.  The neighborhood kids went nuts.  We played street hockey everyday after school during hockey season for years.  We knew every player.  Every number.  Every stat.  But none of us have ever seen a Flyers game live.  We only knew they played in the same building as the 76ers and across the street from where the Phillies played.  They were the only 2 teams we could afford to see.  Plus, our fathers didn't grow up with hockey so there was no allegiance there.  Heck, we didn't even have cable (Flyers were only on Prism in those days) so we mostly listened to them on the radio.  

I went down South for school and was up for the Penn Relays.  My mom arranged for me to leave the team, be picked up for a Flyers game and to get me back to the team hotel.  She bought a relative's tickets who had seats behind the goal where the Flyers shot twice.  So here I am.  In the same building where the Broad Street Bullies once played.  The players changed but the uniforms were the same.

Hat Trick Propp

The season prior the Flyers were jipped out of a Cup by a blown Leon Stickle off sides which resulted in a Bob Nystrom Cup winning goal.  It was a dirty Cup for the Islanders to accept.  This season the team already dispatched the Quebec Nordiques 3-2 in the opening Best of Five series. 

This series was knotted at 2-2.  And who was in the building?  Linesman Leon Stickle.  Philadelphians don't forget quickly.  I remember someone yelling to Stickle after he made a correct off sides call; "Nice call......1 year too late!".

The FlamesWilli Plett couldn't even wait one whole minute of play to get himself in to the penalty box.  With Plett in the box, the Flyers Rick MacLeish scored with assists going to Bill Barber and Big Behn Wilson.
The next three goals were all scored by the Flyers.  All by Brian Propp for a Natural Hat Trick.  The Flames scored once in the 1st but Bill Barber countered with another to put the Flyers up 5-1 after a 13 shot 1st.

The 2nd period the Flyers added 2 more to the Flames 1 goal.  Glenn Cochrane and Tim Kerr both scored for the home team.  A better story were the penalties:

Penalties - CALG - Plett (Hi stick) 1:56 ; PHI - Glen Cochrane (Hi stick) 1:56 ; CALG - Murdoch (Charging) 3:53 ; PHI - Mel Bridgman (Board check) 7:59 ; CALG - Holt (Slashing) 13:17 ; CALG - Holt (Spearing) 13:17 ; PHI - Mike Busniuk (Slashing) 13:17 ; PHI - Mike Busniuk (Spearing (maj)) 13:17 ; PHI - Reid Bailey (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; PHI - Reid Bailey (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; PHI - Tom Gorence (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; PHI - Tom Gorence (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; CALG - Lever (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; CALG - Lever (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; CALG - Russell (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; CALG - Russell (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; CALG - Plett (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; CALG - Plett (Game misconduct) 13:55 ; CALG - Plett (Game misconduct) 13:55 ; CALG - Murdoch (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; CALG - Bench (served by Hindmarch) (Not leaving zone during fight - bench) 13:55 ; PHI - Glen Cochrane (Holding) 13:55 ; PHI - Glen Cochrane (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; PHI - Mel Bridgman (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; PHI - Bench (served by Flockhart) (Not leaving zone during fight - bench) 13:55 ; CALG - Peplinski (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; PHI - Behn Wilson (Holding) 14:33 ;

And that was just the 2nd period.

Each team scored 2 more in the 3rd with the Flyers prevailing 9-4.  Little remembered Rick St Croix got the win between the pipes for the Flyers.