Joe Watson, a former member of the Philadelphia Flyers in the Broad Street Bully days of the 1970s, has organized a loose gathering of team alumni to play a series of games against Team Russia alumni next week, including an outdoor game in Moscow’s Red Square, according to the Philadelphia Courier-Post.
And they’ve invited Vladimir Putin to take part.
Watson could only actually get nine Flyers alumni to make the trip to Russia, which he attributed to the political climate between the United States and Russia at the moment. The rest of the roster will be made up of Watson’s nephews and former Flyers who already live in Russia.
Putin has got attention for his involvement in celebrity/alumni games before. In a 2015 exhibition game, Putin’s team won 18-6 and he was credited with eight goals. In 2014, he made an appearance in a pick up game that appeared to have some very weak defence. In another 2014 game, with former NHL stars Pavel Bure and Vyacheslav Fetisov on his team, Putin was credited with six goals and 11 points in a 21-4 win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUdYCzdpzdY
Watson was asked if the former players will give the same kind of layups to Putin.
“I don’t know about that,” Watson told the Courier-Post. “He’ll have to earn it from us as far as we’re concerned. We may be stuck in Siberia, but what the hell? We’ll have a good time.”
It’s still not clear if Putin will actually participate because, as Watson notes, his schedule is not released until 24 hours before hand.
“I think a lot of people were skeptical about it when I first started doing it,” Watson said. “They thought it was a waste of time, but I didn’t think it was a waste of time because they’re excited about the Flyers coming. The Flyers are a big name in Russia.”
