Emma Kahle

I wrote this historical feature during a sportswriting class in Fall 2023. The piece was published by the Watertown Daily Times on December 19, 2023. Link to Watertown Daily Times article.

On a freezing night in December of 1991, the St. Lawrence University men’s hockey team, a team that typically played against players from Yale with last names like Duffy, Ferguson and O’Brien, faced off with a ragged, chain-smoking group of Russians with names like Gorbachev, Khamrakulov and Zatevakhin.

The Yaroslavl Torpedoes traveled to Canton, New York, to play against the Saints in an exhibition game over the holiday break. Despite their tattered uniforms and old, foul-smelling equipment, Yaroslavl defeated the Saints 7-3.

Former Saints’ head coach and Legend of Appleton Joe Marsh knew that Yaroslavl would be significantly better than his team, but eagerly added them to the schedule when the opportunity presented itself.

“I wasn’t the least hesitant to schedule them because I knew we had a real good team, and when you have a real good team it’s nice to keep them humble,” Marsh said.

Marsh had led the Saints to ECAC titles in 1988 and 1989, with NCAA Tournament appearances in 1987, 1988 and 1989. But it had been two years since the Saints had earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament field.

With the goal of returning to the ECAC championship in the spring, Marsh wanted to ensure his players did not become overconfident or stop working hard. He decided to use the game against Yaroslavl as a wake-up call to remind his team that there was still a lot of room for improvement.

“It was great. I loved it. It was just the right touch for me to be able to go in and say, ‘Hey guys, you’re a pretty good team, but there’s always somebody a lot better that we need to be conscious of,’” said Marsh.

The Torpedoes were professional hockey players who competed in the Soviet League, which existed in Russia before the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. How did a team from the Soviet Elite League even end up in Canton in the first place?

Wally Johnson, St. Lawrence’s director of sports information at the time, explained that Yaroslavl and Burlington, Vermont, were “Sister Cities,” an alliance formed in 1988 to promote more understanding and connections among the communities. Yaroslavl was scheduled to play a friendly game against the University of Vermont in Burlington. Marsh was good friends with UVM head coach Mike Gilligan, so he arranged for the Torpedoes to come to Appleton afterwards.

Yaroslavl’s trip to the U.S. was also aided by Cold War tensions dissipating and the Soviet Union being on the brink of collapse. The Torpedoes returned from the United States to Russia on the cusp of a revolution, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union taking place just five days after their game against the Saints.

While those living in the Soviet Union were about to get a taste of Western culture, things Americans took for granted were still novelties for the visiting Soviet players. Just about every student at SLU had a few pairs of jeans hanging in his or her closet, but back in the Soviet Union, Communist Party officials viewed denim as an American influence that clashed with the unified, distinct culture they wanted to create. So it should come as no surprise that, like countless other Russians, the Yaroslavl players jumped to get their hands on some as well.

Johnson recalls when the Torpedo team went to Ames, a department store in Canton.

“They just went in and cleaned out all the jeans,” said Johnson. “Apparently they did the same thing at Burlington. They found another store and bought them out of jeans too.”

In addition to having a hunger for denim, Yaroslavl was hungry for other things too… like an enormous amount of food from the Best Western.

“We’ve never seen people eat like this,” Marsh recalled the staff at the Best Western saying at the time.

“These guys consumed so much food it’s like they had never eaten before.”

Several members of the 1991-92 St. Lawrence hockey team exchanged texts in an iMessage group chat in November of 2023. Cade Blackburn started the thread by bringing up the game against Yaroslavl to see what his teammates remembered.

“I remember they were quiet, didn’t seem to have any joy on the rink, were pretty skilled, and seemed strong,” said Mike Terwilliger. “I think we won???”

“We got killed!” John Roderick corrects Terwilliger. “I remember lots of stick work.”

“And this is weird that it stuck with me, but I remember their gear smelled horrible!” said Terwilliger. “Hockey gear in general smells awful but this was more than normal.”

“I was on popcorn detail that night and so I had the vantage point from the stands,” said Paul Spagnoletti. “Besides the score, I remember 2 things: The Stink – Twiggy was spot-on – and Joe wearing the leather bomber jacket with the fur collar! It was priceless. There has to be a pic of Joe somewhere from that night with that jacket on.”

“Haha they definitely smelled,” said John Massoud. “Coffee from a silver urn they brought with them between periods, and yes the bomber jacket.”

“Oh boy!!! I got in a fight with a guy at the faceoff,” said Gerard Verbeek. “He cheap-shotted me and I hit him back and then he dropped the gloves. Won the fight since I was wearing a mask and he wasn’t.”

“I seem to remember Ted Beattie getting into a tussle with one of their guys too,” said Terwilliger.

“I remember they all had old equipment and sticks but were very strong and had good shots,” said Dave MacTavish. “I think we gave them some sticks after the game.”

“They were so poor, asking for gloves, sticks, etc., after the game,” said Verbeek. “I really felt bad for them.”

“They made [Randy LaBrake] jump through hoops with all the locker room demands like sliced oranges, tea and coffee,” said Roderick.

Blackburn, a first-year at the time, immediately recognized the age difference between the teams, as the 27- and 28-year-old Russians starkly contrasted his 19-year-old frame.

“I think they were physically just more mature than us,” said Blackburn. “You go to hit them and they wouldn’t go down and you’re like, ‘Wow, these guys are solid, I better go to the weight room more!’”

Johnson recalls a conversation he had with one of Yaroslavl’s players who spoke English.

“What do you guys do?” asked Johnson.
“We’re all in the military,” the player responded. “I hope when I finish my hockey career I will go into Spetsnaz [Russian Special Services].”
“Yikes.”
“Well, a lot of us do. They take care of us, but then we’re expected to serve afterward.”

The cultural differences between the Soviets and the Saints were extensive. Johnson recalls seeing every member of Yaroslavl smoking while getting off the bus.

“The locker room was also full of smoke before the game ever started,” chuckled Johnson.

The variance continued after the puck drop, with Marsh noticing Yaroslavl’s style of play.

“They emphasized skill and passing and they didn’t just throw the puck away or dump the puck into the other team’s zone and try to go after it – they controlled it,” said Marsh. “This was clearly the European-style game, which has morphed into the North American game, and now everybody pretty much plays the same way, but the skill level is still noticeable in the National Hockey League as a lot of the really skilled guys are Europeans.”

“Our kids were young and shapely and all that, but there was no comparison in the skill level and the experience,” said Marsh about Yaroslavl’s dominance on the rink. “They controlled the game to such a degree that they could modulate the score to whatever they wanted it to be.”

Marsh said the Torpedoes could seemingly score at will, as showcased by them scoring a goal one minute and 29 seconds after the Saints made it a one-goal game in the second period.

“It was a close game, but when they wanted to play they were able to stretch the score out whenever we were able to get close,” said former Saints forward Chris Wells, who is now the head women’s hockey coach at St. Lawrence.

The game took place over Christmas break, which meant the boisterous student section was not present. However, Canton locals and people from around the North Country filled Appleton Arena.

“There was a lot of interest with them being in town,” said Wells. “The ‘80 Olympics wasn’t that far off, and I think that certainly played into the excitement around a Russian team coming.”

“People were coming out of the woodwork to relive the glory of the Miracle on Ice game,” said Aaron Todd, a Canton native who attended the game as a 13-year-old. “Everyone who couldn’t be there in 1980 thought this was an opportunity to see the USA vs. the Soviet Union again.”

While it felt a bit strange having Soviet hockey players in the United States in a non-Olympic context, it wouldn’t be long before Russians would begin to change North American hockey forever.  Five days after the game was played, the Soviet Union was dissolved, and five years later, 55 Russians were playing in the NHL, led by a group of five Russians who played as a unit for the Detroit Red Wings.

But for about two hours, a brief moment in time on a Saturday night in December 1991, Russian hockey players dazzled a packed house at Appleton Arena in Canton, New York. And the next week, Ames had to order a new stockpile of jeans.