Flyers Owner Allowed Soviet Refusenik Signs At 1976 Game, Documentary Shows

Ed Snider, who owned the Philadelphia Flyers from the club's start in the late 1960s until his death in 2016, worked with outside groups to display signs about Soviet Jews inside the Spectrum during a January 11, 1976 exhibition against the Soviet Red Army. The Flyers were the reigning Stanley Cup champions at the time.

The game and the events around it form the subject of the documentary 'Cold War in Philly,' which came out in May and was screened last week at the Betty and Milton Katz JCC in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The film was directed by Joe Amodei.

The Flyers won the game 4-1. After Flyers defenseman Ed Van Impe checked Soviet player Valeri Kharlamov, the Soviet team left the ice. They returned after Snider said they would not be paid otherwise. The signs about Soviet Jews were removed at the Soviet side's request before the opening faceoff.

Jimmy Watson, a defenseman for the Flyers that night, said he saw the signs during warmups. 'We were absolutely aware of it,' Watson said. 'We were also aware of the politics. We saw the banners when we came out for warmups.' Larry Goodenough, who scored the Flyers' final goal, also saw the signs. 'We didn't really understand it at the time,' Goodenough said. Forward Bob Kelly said he did not see them. 'That wasn't in our paygrade,' Kelly said.

Amodei, the director, shows the Spectrum decorated with signs but does not cover their removal before the game. He has defended that choice, saying he chose to focus on the play. Orest Kindrachuk, a center for the Flyers who said he is Ukrainian, spoke about the era. 'This was during the Cold War and I'm 100 percent Ukrainian. So we hated them,' Kindrachuk said.

Lindy Snider said her father's concerns about the treatment of Jews were long dismissed by people around him. 'A lot of his peers might have thought he was like Chicken Little,' she said, adding that he predicted what was coming. She said the antisemitism since October 7, 2023 would have angered him. 'He would have taken action. For us as stewards of his legacy we're doing that,' she said.

The Snider family has continued to support causes related to the refuseniks, the Soviet Jews who were denied permission to leave the country. Lindy Snider said the family is united on this work. 'The whole family is aligned to this. We don't want to think about it. We want to do something. That's what he imparted [to] us,' she said.