Clever promotions would generate national and international exposure for a team that once produced the NHL’s top goal scorers Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny, and Sergei Federov.
 

“The Russian Penguins and U.S. Marketing team hired by the group has achieved the kind of success that
Madison Avenue executives can perhaps only dream about.”

-The Wall Street Journal Europe

(Marketers Aim Slapshot at Russian Hockey: Red Army Penguins 

First To Bask in Frantic Western Glitz) February 13, 1995

 

The ownership group included hockey hall-of-famer Mario Lemieux, film star Michael J. Fox, and Soviet Olympic mentor Viktor Vasiliivich, Tikhonov, and their TV Cappearances coincided with major on-ice promotions. 

    

• Deceased Legends Night: Paying tribute to the gods of Soviet hockey that were ignored by the evil empire, where individuals were never praised. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when widows and children proudly wore their husbands’ and fathers’ jerseys. And then the family members watched the legendary numbers hoisted to the rafters of the Ice Palace. 

• Vladislav Tretiak Night: Honoring arguably the world’s most famous hockey player and his family on this momentous evening, which showered Tretiak with love and international media exposure. The revered Soviet goal tender echoed the sentiments of New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig some 65 years earlier: “I’ve waited nine years for this (since retiring). Thank you so much.”

• Russian Bears Drinking Russian Penguins Beer: The team had its own licensed beer, which quickly became collector’s items in Russia and the U.S. While in town, the famous Moscow circus bears guzzled a six-pack in front of a delighted, sold-out crowd. Note: Free beer was also served to the 5,787 fans that braved the –27 degree F. temps.

• Guaranteed Chrysler Jeep giveaways: Delta Stanley Cup fantasy travel packages, Milka chocolate eating contests, Gorbachev/Yeltsin look-a-like contests, bikini/g-string competitions, and fan-fantasy penalty shots (where fans and even babushkas got the opportunity to go one-on-one with future NHL Stanley Cup champion goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to win valuable prizes) led the nightly mayhem on Leningradsky Prospekt.

• Red Army Legends Exhibition Games featuring triple gold medal winners Alexander Ragulin and Viktor Kuzkin entertained between periods to excite the overflow crowds. The Russian Penguins also featured exhibitions with the women’s Olympic team and kindergarten teams that showcased the cream  of Russia’s future NHL crop.

• Gordeeva & Grinkov: Double-gold medal figure skating champions, Ekaterina and Sergei, would test their ice dancing routines in full regalia to the delight of 6,000+ Penguins fans. The Olympic legends were poetry in motion. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” –John Keats

• Short-track speed skating: Featuring the fastest skaters in the Red Army hockey school. Each of the Apollo Ohno wannabes would wear the corresponding letters from each of the arena’s 12 sectors. The whistle would blow and the elbowing and jockeying would begin. Minutes later, the no-rules, no-holds-barred competition would leave one speed merchant standing, much to the delight of few hundred fans in the winning section, (who would all receive free ice cream cones courtesy of Baskin Robbins or free chocolate bars courtesy of Milka).