'74 Flyers set to be honored

Forty years ago, the Flyers were the city's most popular team as they won the franchise's first Stanley Cup and were known as the Broad Street Bullies for their physical - opponents called it "dirty" - style of play.

Former Flyers center Terry Crisp smiles at the nickname, which was created by Jack Chevalier of the old Evening Bulletin.

Fact is, he loves the identity it gave to his team.

"I'm still in the game and no matter where I go, people say, 'Oh, you were a Broad Street Bully,' " Crisp, now in his 16th season as a Nashville broadcaster, said last Thursday before the Predators faced the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center.

Crisp said Chevalier "was going to call us the Blue Line Banditos or some other name. But think about how that name - Broad Street Bullies - just connected. And to this day, you don't hear any other hockey phrases, like the Flying Habs or the Big Bad Bruins. There's one phrase I still hear when I go to dinners or autograph signings. Someone will say, 'Oh, my grandpa said you were a Broad Street Bully.' Or, 'My dad says you played for the Broad Street Bullies.' These are kids or parents who weren't even born [in 1974] and they still remember that phrase to this day."

Crisp will be one of 10 players from that 1974 team who are able to attend the 110th annual Philadelphia Sports Writers Association banquet at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill on Monday. Along with several other honorees, the '74 Flyers will be saluted to commemorate the 40th anniversary of their first Stanley Cup championship.

Bernie Parent, Bob Clarke, Bill Barber, Don Saleski, Bill Clement, Dave Schultz, Orest Kindrachuk, Joe Watson, and Jimmy Watson will also attend the banquet.

In addition, Barber will be honored as the winner of the Living Legend Award.

Barber, a left winger who is in hockey's Hall of Fame, downplayed his selection, saying he was "lucky to play with so many great teammates and have great coaches. I had the opportunity to be with the greatest group of guys you could have ever been associated with."

Crisp, 70, known as a superb penalty killer during his playing days, said the Broad Street Bullies label is a "sense of pride" among him and his former teammates.

"Back then, it was us against the world," he said. "Let's be honest, we weren't the most beloved. But we filled every building when we went on the road. People came to hate us, and that was fine. Freddy [Shero, the coach] lived off of it and made it what it was for us. And we won two straight Stanley Cups and went for the third and got beat out in the Finals."

The Flyers were so dominating in '74 that their third line - Kindrachuk centering Saleski and Schultz - was a combined plus-66, even though it faced opponents' top lines on the road.

"People talk about the Broad Street Bullies, but we were a deep team," Saleski said.

As the players get older and further removed from the '74 and '75 Cups, "the stories and tales they tell become bigger," Crisp said with a laugh. "But we were a talented team. People forget that not only were we swashbuckling, but we had a lot of talent on those hockey clubs."

Crisp remembers coming home late after the Flyers won the '74 Cup and celebrating with his neighbors in Stratford, N.J. He said one of his neighbors, Jerry Burdulis, opened a battle of champagne and that the cork erupted and put a dent in the ceiling.

"And he left the dent there for 20 years" to commemorate the moment.

Earlier that day, Crisp picked up the puck when the horn sounded and the Flyers beat the Bruins, 1-0, to clinch the title.

"But I can't find it," he said. "I don't know where it is."

He paused.

"If I find it," he kidded, "it's going on eBay."

Ticket information is available at PSWAdinner.com.

Where are those 1973-74 Flyers today? Here is a list of the winners of the franchise's first Stanley Cup, the players' highlight(s) of that season in parentheses, and their current status:

Barry Ashbee (team-best plus-52): deceased.

Bill Barber (34 goals, plus-34): Flyers scouting consultant.

Tom Bladon (12 goals): owns two Tim Hortons franchises.

Bobby Clarke (35 goals, 87 points): Flyers senior VP.

Bill Clement (nine goals in 39 games): Flyers broadcaster.

Bruce Cowick (played in nine playoff games): retired policeman.

Terry Crisp (10 goals): Nashville Predators broadcaster.

Gary Dornhoefer (50 points in 57 games): Flyers ambassador.

Andre "Moose" Dupont (plus-34; set up Cup clincher): scout and agent.

Bill Flett (17 goals): deceased.

Bob Kelly (plus-10): Flyers ambassador.

Orest Kindrachuk (11 goals): insurance executive.

Ross Lonsberry (32 goals): insurance executive.

Al MacAdam (made playoff debut that year): Buffalo Sabres scout.

Rick MacLeish (32 goals; Cup winner): insurance executive.

Simon Nolet (19 goals in 52 games): Flyers scout.

Bernie Parent (1.89 GAA; 12 shutouts): author, public speaker, and Flyers ambassador.

Don Saleski (15 goals): partner with a health-care management company

Dave Schultz (20 goals, 348 PIMs): sales executive with energy company; public speaker.

Bob Taylor (3-3 record): Tampa Bay Lightning broadcaster.

Ed Van Impe (plus-31): semi-retired insurance executive.

Jimmy Watson (plus-33): part-owner of Aston hockey rink.

Joe Watson (plus-28): Flyers senior account executive.

- Sam Carchidi

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