PHILADELPHIA — Of all the memories wrapped up within the 45-year rivalry between the Rangers and the Flyers, the one that remains an open wound in New York is the one from May 5, 1974, when Dave Schultz laid a whuppin’ on Dale Rolfe in Game 7 of the Cup semifinals while his teammates stood by and did nothing in what became a 4-3 elimination defeat.
Schultz was here yesterday as a Flyers’ ambassador for the outdoor alumni game that preceded tomorow’s Winter Classic. Rolfe was not here.
Neither was Brad Park, a member of that 1974 team, but Park previously had e-mailed the The Post to correct the record of that day of Rangers’ infamy after a reference to the club “meekly” standing by.
“Let’s get it straight once and for all,” Park wrote of the bout that Dropyourgloves.com scored with Schultz throwing 17 blows to Rolfe’s two. “We did not meekly stand by; we were forced to stand by.
“It was Game 7, [the league] had brought the third-man-in rule, so someone would have gotten thrown out of the game [with a game misconduct for intervening, so who did you want to want to lose; Rod Gilbert, Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield, or myself?
“I did [finally] decide to go, but Dale looked me in the eye and said to stay out of it. Sorry you weren’t on the ice to hear it.”
* The Flyers won yesterday’s alumni game 3-1 in front of 45,808 at the Phillies’ ballpark without a single glove being dropped or a single punch being thrown. Bernie Parent, making his first appearance in net since being forced into retirement after taking a stick to his eye during a Rangers-Flyers match at the Spectrum on Feb. 17, 1979, was as spry and spectacular while making six saves playing the opening 5:32 as he was winning consecutive Conn Smythe Trophies during the Flyers’ 1974 and 1975 Cup championship runs.
* Pat Hickey, who was the primary left wing for Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson during the Swedes’ first season on Broadway in 1978-79, is auctioning the jersey he wore yesterday with the proceeds going to Ice Hockey in Harlem, which celebrates its 25th anniversary on Feb. 25.
* Yesterday was the second outdoor alumni game for Mark Messier, who played in the Oilers-Canadiens match prior to the 2003 Heritage Classic in Edmonton during his final season as an active player with the Rangers.
“The feeling is very much the same,” Messier said. “You have kids here who never saw their fathers play, and for them to be here and see their dads, I know how big of a thrill that is for me.
“There was a tremendous amount of respect on the ice on both teams, not only for the guys you played with, but for the Rangers who came before you and you watched, just as it was for the Flyers.”