May 19th, 1974 - Flyers Win Their First Stanley Cup

Flyers take Cup as Parent Stymies Bruins

PHILADELPHIA - Every Flyer seemed to want to credit a teammate for winning the Stanley Cup. But the teammate most often mentioned in the minutes after the 1-0 conquest of the Boston Bruins was Bernie Parent.
The Flyer dressing room was wild, all shouts, congratulations, beer and champagne, but in the midsts of it all almost everyone found himself mentioning Parent. The bumper stickers that abound in this city say "Only the Lord Saves More than Bernie Parent" and after yesterday most any witness would find it difficult not to agree, sacrilegious or not.
Rick MacLeish tipped Andre Dupont's shot late in the first period for the only goal. Bruin goaltender Gilles Gilbert had it lined up all the way. "Then it hit his stick and whoosh it was in. Nothing I could do about it"
Gilles Gilbert mention Parent too. "I have lots of respect for this guy; he is Mr.Vezina with Tony Esposito and he great again in the playoffs.
Parent allowed himself thoughts of the Stanley Cup only at 17:38 of the third period when Bobby Orr took a debatable penalty for checking Bobby Clarke to the ice on a breakaway.
"He is definitely the most dangerous man on the ice, the man who takes care of their offense and regroups the attack. When he went off into the penalty box it was a tremendous break for us."
Orr : "I didn't think I fouled him on the play. He was in deep. I caught him and as I went to dump the puck off his stick he shifted and it may have looked as though I was holding him with my arms"
But Orr mentioned Parent too. The goaltender the Leafs lost to the World Hockey Association in 1972, offering him only $45,000 compared to $750,000 he got from the new league for 5 years, was named the Conn Smythe trophy winner as the Most Valuable Player in the playoffs. The Smythe award was donated by the Leafs but members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association decide on the winner.
"Christ, how I feel", said Parent. "A year ago at this time I was between leagues. I didn't know where I was or where I was going. Money was the problem (the WHA Philadelphia Blazers had reneged on its contract with him) and money is what I had to be thinking about when I left them. But $100,000,000 isn't enough to buy the Stanley Cup. This is the greatest."
Then Parent lived up to the Flyers reputation by saying credit should go to the entire team, not just him. "And credit should go to coach Freddy Shero and his assistant Mike Nykoluk who built a new system of hockey that won the Stanley Cup."
Shero was typically himself, outspoken and unpredictable. While the team's chairman of the board Ed Snider poured champagne for his players Shero was saying, "I was very displeased with Snider for a few weeks - he was saying we were a year away from winning the Cup, or something like that. An owner shouldn't be saying that his team can't win the Cup"
Shero said he would like to play the Soviet Union's National team, "but just with the Flyers, no players from any other team. Mid- season would be perfect. We wouldn't have been ready this year. We will be ready by December or so."
Snider, the rich owner in the middle of the room full of players suddenly richer by $15,000 each, poured champagne into the Cup and called players individually for sips. Snider also slipped. Even his hair was soaked with champagne.
"The hell with this champagne", shouted Don Saleski. "Let's pour some good beer in that thing."
Flyers have been a beer drinking team with no sense of delicacy and no apologies for their lapses in manners. But yesterday they dropped the fighting, brawling and showmanship and concentrated on checking the Bruins deep into their own zone. They were making short crisp passes in front of Bruins' Gilbert that had earlier paid off for a 3-1 series lead (which shrank to 3-2 last Thursday in Boston where the Bruins impressed with a 5-1 win). The result was a superb game, full of end to end rushes and sharp playmaking around the goals, but with none of the dull warfare of Thursday.
"We knew where we went wrong in Boston", said Orest Kindrachuk, who was conspicuous after missing some of the first period with a cracked nose, courtesy of Carol Vadnais' high stick. "We hung back too much. Too careful. This was our kind of game. Two men in deep checking and one hanging back with the defense in case they break out".
Flyers emerge as the best team in the National Hockey League, although some critics still proclaim they have no right to that claim. Whether they won with inferior talent or not is a moot point. With Shero's coaching making the most of the players, they had the second most points in the regular season - just one point less than the Bruins 113. And in the playoffs they emerged from a physically, difficult semifinal with the New York Rangers to handle a well rested Bruins team.
Shero claims they'll be even better next season, as he adapts more of the techniques of Soviet team play which he so admires. The Flyers are young and ready and willing to accept Shero's new-to-the-NHL ideas and players such as Kindrachuk and Barber should continue to improve.
Even Harry Sinden, the Bruins' manager, admits he has seen points in the Flyers' play which he team will emulate.
One area in which the Bruins need no improvement is in goaltending. Gilbert was as brilliant as Parent yesterday. Opponents had expect him to be a weakness. They weren't alone. Wren Blair, as manager of the Minnesota North Stars, traded the 24 year old to the Bruins last summer, helping Bruins immediately and almost immediately putting the North Stars in a goaltending crisis, and eventually leading to his own firing.
Gilbert, Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and linemates Wayne Cashman and Ken Hodge, rookies Andre Savard and Richie Leduc all played effectively for the Bruins. There was no suggestions of the Bruins not being able to play well for 60 minutes. But it was true that the Bruins opened with a fantastic rush, outshooting the Flyers 7-2 in the opening minutes and true that the steady play of the Flyers eventually paid off.
Parent came up with some superb saves early, notably off Gregg Sheppard, and there were other less noticeable moments when he took control. Once in the third period he grabbed a Vadnais shot which was far wide of the net - just to break the Bruins' moment after the Flyers' checking had broken down. Once he snapped in stick in two, just to get a whistle to give his team a needed break.
Actually, Parent didn't have to be as spectacular as in some earlier games. He was merely the starting point and stopping point of an incredible team effort.

Celebration as clock hits zero

Skov's Ovation Rates with Kate's

PHILADELPHIA - Kate Smith's piano got a standing ovation. That's how excited, how zany and how ready the 17,007 fans in the Spectrum became yesterday, sure as they were that they were with a winner at last.
Philadelphia is not noted for winners.
Maybe that's why every good omen was either loud or big and bright before the Flyers gave life to the term "Philadelphia is number one".
The Flyers had won 12 games in a row refereed by Art Skov. So Skov's appearance got another standing ovation, almost as big as the piano-organ when it was slid onto the ice, confirming Miss Smith's appearance. The Spectrum almost fell to the noise when she walked down the red carpet to perform.
Lou Scheinfeld, a Flyer executive, first played her recording of "God Bless America" instead of the U.S. anthem back in the bad old days when Flyers were a timid collection of losers. It was a desperate pitch for a change of luck. However, including yesterday's live rendition she now has a 36-3-1 record.
Fans along the Spectrum board waved miniature U.S. flags as Miss Smith waved her arm in various victory signals. This was before the game began. It remained for Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito to steal the show by shaking hands with her at the conclusion of her song. It was the last portion of the show they stole.
"We're going to win the Cup", she said before the game. "I'm asking the Good Lord above to help make it happen".
The combination of prayer, song and hooplah stopped just short of the crowd demanding a Smith-Skov duet.
One fan's banner read "Nixon's a Bruins fan".
Another "Today is The Day".
Another "God Bless Kate, Bernie, Bobby Clarke and Section 23".
Another "Flyers, Kate and Skov - All No. 1".
The only person possibly objecting to all the noise was NHL referee-in-chief Scotty Morrison, who took exception to any suggestion about Skov's refereeing helping the Flyers.
By the end when Spectrum employees released balloons in Flyer orange and Flyer black from the ceiling to mix with the confetti, streamers, and shredded paper flowing down on the Stanley Cup, it was obvious. All the hooplah was floss-good fun but little to do with the hard work and superb goaltending that won the Flyers the Cup.
"What a place", said Joe Lamantia, the official timer for the day from Toronto. "Every NHL official should live long enough to work a game in here. What a crowd, what reaction, what an experience just to be here".

Champagne & beer flows in locker room

New Contract for Fred Shero

PHILADELPHIA (UPI)- Fred Shero, coach of the Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers, will receive a new contract shortly with a "good boost", club chairman Ed Snider said yesterday moments after the Flyers 1-0 victory over the Boston Bruins.
"He's done a fantastic job and will be rewarded appropriately", said Snider. "The entire organization has done a wonderful job. I'm very proud of every single member of the team and of every single member of our organization".

Scoreboard says it all

Corn proves fodder for Flyers

PHILADELPHIA -"All this may sound corny but the team thing is very big with us", Flyer captain Bobby Clarke said yesterday after his team won the Stanley Cup.
"We lost Barry Ashbee and that hurt the team alot. But Tom Bladon came off the bench and was a big part of our winning. When Gary Dornhoefer got hurt, Bill Clement came back from an early injury to play regularly. Only four days after he got his leg out of a cast (partly torn ligaments) he was contributing. Same thing with Simon Nolet, who had been the odd man out. He came from the stands and played like a regular.
Ashbee, his injured right eye shielded by sunglasses was part of the dressing room celebration.
"This",Terry Crisp shouted to no-one in particular, "is sheer fulfillment".
There was even champagne stains on coach Fred Shero's blackboard over the message of the day. "A man with a dream of pleasure can go forth and conquer a crowd and three. With a new song's measure can trample a kingdom down".
Anywhere else the message would have been corny. For the Flyers it was real and right because it turned out to be true for them as it had never had been before, or for any other expansion team.
Rich Ed Snider's club is NHL have-nots no longer. By 8:05 last night at the start of the professional lacrosse opener. "Welcome to the Spectrum", shouted the announcer, "Home of the Stanley Cup".

Bernie waves to crowd

Philly 'going crazy' - Streakers show the way

PHILADELPHIA (UPI) - Thousands of Philadelphia Flyer fans took to the streets last night in a city wide celebration over winning the Stanley Cup.
Numerous streakers led a crowd of about 1,000 celebrators in the downtown area where police barricaded off a square block area near city hall.
Beer drinking, pennant waving fans broke out in a chorus of God Bless America to voice their approval of the Flyers' 1-0 win over Boston Bruins earlier in the day, which gave the Flyers the National Hockey League championship.
Two nude men dance atop a subway entrance in the downtown area as a huge crowd looked on but police said the throng near city hall was matched at a number of locations in the city.
"They're all over the city", said a policeman. "It's going on all over. The town is going crazy".
A group of five men rode around in a car and streaked at each red light in the centre of the city. When the light turned green they donned their clothes and waited for the next green light.
Philadelphia has not had a professional championship since 1967, when Philadelphia 76ers won the NBA title.
Police were confronted by traffic problems throughout the city as cars with horns honking drove slowly through the streets, but reported no serious injuries or arrests.
A motorcade was scheduled this morning starting at the Spectrum in South Philadelphia and passing through the downtown area at about noon. The city will honor the champions in ceremonies at the Judge Lewis Quadrangle.

Philly hold a parade for the champs

1973-74 Stanley Cup Champion Philadelphia Flyers
Bernie Parent, Ed Van Impe, Tom Bladon, Andre Dupont, Joe Watson, Jim Watson, Barry Ashbee, Bill Barber, Dave Schultz, Don Saleski, Gary Dornhoefer, Terry Crisp, Bobby Clarke, Simon Nolet, Ross Lonsberry, Rick MacLeish, Bill Flett, Orest Kindrachuk, Bill Clement, Bob Kelly, Bruce Cowick, Al MacAdam, Bobby Taylor, Fred Shero (coach), Keith Allen (General Manager), Frank Lewis, Jim McKenzie (Trainers)

Boxscore

Flyers 1 - Bruins 0

Boston

Goalie - Gilbert, Brooks

Defense - Smith, Vadnais, Sims, Orr, Edestrand, Simmons

Forwards - Sheppard, Schmaultz, Bucyk, Savard, O'Reilly, Marcotte, Leduc, Forbes, Esposito, Cashman, Hodge

Philadelphia

Goalie - Parent, Taylor

Defense - Jim Watson, Joe Watson, Van Impe, Bladon, Dupont

Forwards - MacLeish, Nolet, Lonsberry, Kindrachuk, Saleski, Schultz, Clarke, Flett, Barber, Crisp, Clement, Cowick

First Period

Scoring

1. Philadelphia - MacLeish 13th (Dupont) 14:48

Penalties

Dupont (interference) 0:32, Cowick (elbowing) 10:18, Clement (roughing) 10:18, O'Reilly (hooking) 13:58, Orr (roughing) 14:22, Clarke (roughing) 14:22

Second Period

Scoring

None

Penalties

Dupont (tripping) 0:40, Hodge (hooking) 1:15, Sims (cross checking) 5:44, Joe Watson (holding) 9:22, Joe Watson (tripping) 15:02, Vadnais (tripping) 17:46

Third Period

Scoring

None

Penalties

O'Reilly (hooking) 8:12, Schultz (holding) 11:15, Bucyk (tripping) 14:54, Orr (interference) 17:38

Shots On Goal

Boston...	16	9	5	-	30
Philadelphia...	8	14	3	-	25

Goaltenders-Boston,Gilbert ; Philadelphia, Parent

Attendance - 17,003