reckoning
Registered User
- Jan 4, 2005
- 7,021
- 1,268
One of the most enduring legends of 70s hockey is the "Philly Flu". It was during the height of the Broad Street Bullies intimidation tactics that supposedly some opposition players were so afraid of playing against the Flyers that they would conveniently come down with the flu when a game against them came up, causing them to either miss the game, or play but be very tentative and inneffective.
But for all the talk about it, there's very little evidence of any specific players who had it. You can find the odd anecdote. For example, in the Gary Mason book Oldtimers there's a story about once before a faceoff, Bobby Clarke looked at a young Pierre Larouche and said "If you touch the puck, we'll kill you." To which Larouche supposedly replied "No problem. The puck is all yours, Bobby."
I did a bit of digging through 70s articles and clippings, and the only reference to it I could find was Harold Ballard publicly accusing Inge Hammastrom of having it. But I don't put much faith in anything that comes from Ballard.
During the period from '73 to '76 when the Flyers "goon" style was at its peak, there were some teams whose records against Philly were far lower than usual. For example, Buffalo (4-18-2), Toronto (4-21-4), Vancouver (2-15-3), St. Louis (4-15-2). The Flyers owned those teams, and their rough style probably played a huge factor in that. But were there any actual players who could be singled out for avoiding them?
I find the notion that a team would tolerate a player "calling in sick" on a regular basis against a certain opponent highly doubtful. Though there certainly had to be guys who were too intimidated to play well against them.
My question is if anybody knows of specific players who could be called the most chronic victims of this so-called affliction, or is it something that's been a bit exaggerated over the years?
But for all the talk about it, there's very little evidence of any specific players who had it. You can find the odd anecdote. For example, in the Gary Mason book Oldtimers there's a story about once before a faceoff, Bobby Clarke looked at a young Pierre Larouche and said "If you touch the puck, we'll kill you." To which Larouche supposedly replied "No problem. The puck is all yours, Bobby."
I did a bit of digging through 70s articles and clippings, and the only reference to it I could find was Harold Ballard publicly accusing Inge Hammastrom of having it. But I don't put much faith in anything that comes from Ballard.
During the period from '73 to '76 when the Flyers "goon" style was at its peak, there were some teams whose records against Philly were far lower than usual. For example, Buffalo (4-18-2), Toronto (4-21-4), Vancouver (2-15-3), St. Louis (4-15-2). The Flyers owned those teams, and their rough style probably played a huge factor in that. But were there any actual players who could be singled out for avoiding them?
I find the notion that a team would tolerate a player "calling in sick" on a regular basis against a certain opponent highly doubtful. Though there certainly had to be guys who were too intimidated to play well against them.
My question is if anybody knows of specific players who could be called the most chronic victims of this so-called affliction, or is it something that's been a bit exaggerated over the years?
