Canadiens Bring Back Sour Memories of Russia : Hockey: ‘Friendship Tour’ marred by fights, a thrown bottle.

For the Montreal Canadiens, the good will of its “Friendship Tour” of the Soviet Union was shattered by a vodka bottle on the ice.

The longtime power of the National Hockey League had its first venture into the Soviet Union. For Montreal Coach Pat Burns and his players, it could not end soon enough.

“We’ve been stalled. We’ve been lied to. We’ve been almost shafted in every corner in nearly every place we’ve been,” Burns said. “We can’t go away with good memories.”

A final memory will be of the vodka bottle that landed near the Montreal bench after five players had been ejected for fighting in its final game against the Central Army Sports Club.

The Central Army team, league runners-up last year, came out hitting . . . and hitting.

Fights interrupted Tuesday’s contest twice and Burns pulled his club off the ice after the fans started pelting the Canadiens.

“The crowd starting throwing things--bottle caps, coins,” Canadiens defenseman Matt Schneider said. “When that vodka bottle broke in front of the bench, Coach Burns said, ‘Let’s get out of here.’ ”

More than 10 minutes passed before Montreal returned. Soviet ice hockey chief Leonid Kravchenko appealed to the crowd to settle down.

“It hasn’t been much fun here,” Burns said of the weeklong trip to the Soviet Union punctuated by the final loss that brought Montreal’s record to 2-2 for the Soviet part of the tour.