ClassicHockey
Registered User
- May 22, 2005
- 595
- 6
Some of the comments you make even prove my points.
There is so much more to be learned about what happened in that era than listing some isolated quotes. I'll bet if you spoke to the players and heard their thoughts, that even you might temper your enthusiasm for your Flyers.
It amazes me that faced with all the evidence of the dirty play of those Flyer teams, that anyone would still consider their victories a result of a great team and not realize all the intangibles that helped the Flyers win. You even admit that the Flyers players were like a wolf pack. Is that something to be proud of?
I'm not French-Canadian but you sound like Don Cherry when you downgrade a race like that. There is no room for that sort of thing. You talk about the skill the Flyer players had, then when faced with the fact that players like Perreault were more skilled (better skater, stickhandler etc.) you say that the Flyers 'played' better. Well, which is it? Better skilled or played better? To me, the Flyers were not better skilled. But yes, they played better. That's obvious because they won the Cups. What I've been trying to say here and you don't seem to understand me, is that they were able to overcome any deficiency in total team skill by using their methods of intimidation and interference. That's the whole point of this.
Regarding the Schultz-Rolfe fight. Schultz jumped Rolfe to start the fight. And, for some reason, in this fight, the linesmen decided not to jump in and break it up and let it go on and on. That seemed more strange to me than why another Ranger didn't want to risk being thrown out as a 3rd man in such an important game.
Did I tell you that even the officials were intimidated by the Flyers?
It might help if you had the chance to research that era by talking to officials and players what their real thoughts are - and not some newspaper quotes.
The point is: The Flyers were not the best team in those years. They were good, but they won because of the extra stuff and that included the intimidation. It was obvious then and obvious now when looking back.
There is so much more to be learned about what happened in that era than listing some isolated quotes. I'll bet if you spoke to the players and heard their thoughts, that even you might temper your enthusiasm for your Flyers.
It amazes me that faced with all the evidence of the dirty play of those Flyer teams, that anyone would still consider their victories a result of a great team and not realize all the intangibles that helped the Flyers win. You even admit that the Flyers players were like a wolf pack. Is that something to be proud of?
I'm not French-Canadian but you sound like Don Cherry when you downgrade a race like that. There is no room for that sort of thing. You talk about the skill the Flyer players had, then when faced with the fact that players like Perreault were more skilled (better skater, stickhandler etc.) you say that the Flyers 'played' better. Well, which is it? Better skilled or played better? To me, the Flyers were not better skilled. But yes, they played better. That's obvious because they won the Cups. What I've been trying to say here and you don't seem to understand me, is that they were able to overcome any deficiency in total team skill by using their methods of intimidation and interference. That's the whole point of this.
Regarding the Schultz-Rolfe fight. Schultz jumped Rolfe to start the fight. And, for some reason, in this fight, the linesmen decided not to jump in and break it up and let it go on and on. That seemed more strange to me than why another Ranger didn't want to risk being thrown out as a 3rd man in such an important game.
Did I tell you that even the officials were intimidated by the Flyers?
It might help if you had the chance to research that era by talking to officials and players what their real thoughts are - and not some newspaper quotes.
The point is: The Flyers were not the best team in those years. They were good, but they won because of the extra stuff and that included the intimidation. It was obvious then and obvious now when looking back.
John Flyers Fan said:Just wondering if Clarke won those 3 Hart trophies because he intimidated the voters ???
Were the Sabres more talented because they had pretty French Canadians ??? How about that Clarke was better than Perreault, Martin or any Sabre, and Parent was miles better than Desjardin/Crozier.
There was one skirmish in the entire series Schultz/Kelly vs. Dudley/Schoenfeld.
I'll take the comments of Eddie Giacomin and Bobby Orr after losing series in 1974:
Giacomin - after giving up a goal "I can't spend all my time slashing at guys like Dornhoeffer, if I do that the puck gets by me. I need some help. You don't see our forwards screening their goalie."
after the series - "Every time you think you're about to gain some ground on them, they kick everything out from under you, they won because they were all over us all the time.
Orr - after Barber won game 4 in the 3rd period "The best wrist shot I've ever seen .. maybe the best ever."
after the series "We went in spurts, when you go to the finals, you don't play in spurts. Call it momentum or desire, whatever it was, they had more of it than we had."
Rolfe shoved Kindrachuk early in game 7, and Schultz pummelled him. The rrest of teh rangers stood there and watched, not one attempted to jump in to the aid of a teammate, to me that is disgraceful. Flyers outshot the Rangers 37-19 through the first 40 minutes of that game 7. Flyersgoals against was more than a full goal better than the Rangers during the season ... that also had just a bit to do with the victory.
while you're watching those old videos put in a tape from the 1974 finals, and take a look at the Bruins using Esposito for shifts that often exceeded 2 minutes, while the Flyers would have 2, and sometimes three different lines out for one Espo shift. There is a reason Clarke dominated Espo in that series, and embarassed him in the face-off circle. The Flyers used their entire team ... Espo had nothing left in the tank.
Would the Flyers have defeated the Habs in 76 with a healthy Parent & MacLeish ??? Possibly. It certainly would have gone at least 6, and quite possibly 7.