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Joe Watson Won't Go Easy If Putin Plays For Russia vs. Flyers Alumni

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Joe Watson was one of the first Flyers to ever wear the orange and black and now he and a group of Flyers are heading to Russia for a series of exhibition games and may face Vladimir Putin.

"I think it would be a boost for hockey," Watson said. "They don't release his schedule til 24 hours prior, so we don't know if he's going to play or not, but there's a possibility he could play."

Will they take it easy out there is Putin plays?

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"Well, I was always taught, somebody wins and somebody loses and I like to win," Watson said.

Getting the group together wasn't easy. "It took me a long time because a lot of players were skeptics about going there with all the problems they're having over there," he said.

The last time the Flyers played a team full of Russians, it didn't go well for the Soviets. The Flyers bear the Red Army Team at the Spectrum in 1976. Making the team an international sensation.

Joe is the only former Flyer on this tour to have played in that game and he remembers the bad blood between the two teams.

"We almost created a third World War when we beat them badly and they walked off the ice."

 

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