Good day everyone, and Happy Black Friday to you all!  What a big week it has been in hockey.  I feel as though with the unveiling of the “Vegas Golden Knights”, the NHL has officially arrived in the desert.  Not sure how I feel about the name though… it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like California Golden Seals.  I’m also not a big fan of teams using shortened versions of their cities or team names in any capacity.  I don’t like the fact the Tampa Bay Lightning has “Bolts” written across their fronts, or the fact that the Golden State Warriors sometimes have “The City” written on their jerseys, or that sometimes you’ll see teams with “ATL,” “SAC,” or “PHX” right there for all to see.  Those are not abbreviations!  Never were!  Stop trying to make these things catch on; they never will.  NY? Fine.  LA? Cool.  Other than that, nuh uh!  Just had to get that off my chest once and for all.

Anyway, huge update today!  Three new articles have been posted, and they are a mix of nostalgia and embarrassment.  First, the nostalgia… a brand new article written by yours truly on the old Wrecking Crew Line of Dave Hrechkosy, Butch Williams, and Ron Huston.  For a very brief time, the Wrecking Crew took the Bay Area by storm and seemed to signal the Seals were heading in the right direction, but then everything took a turn for the worst, and a little over a year later, none of the three were playing professional hockey at its highest level.  Seals fans still remember that line fondly though, so I thought it was time to write a short piece on this, one of the few line combinations that actually worked for the Seals.

Another bit of nostalgia for all you old school Oakland Seals fans is the heated rivalry that once existed between Chicago’s Keith Magnuson and the Seals’ Carol Vadnais.  I found this article online a few years ago, and kept it in my archives, but I forgot to write down where I found it.  If anyone has any information on its origin, please let me know, and I’ll be sure to post it.

Finally, the embarrassment… I had to post this article on one of the lowest moments in franchise history: March 28, 1975, a date that will live on in infamy.  This was the night the first-year Washington Crapitals (not a typo) visited Oakland with a 0-37 record on the road, and defeated the Seals, who were in the midst of an 8-game winless streak to finish off the season.  The Caps justifiably treated this victory like it was the Stanley Cup.  Considering they won all of 8 games that season, they didn’t enjoy many greater moments than this.

I’ve also added a new induction to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame: a review of the 1995-96 Upper Deck Be a Player set, which, somehow, is actually worse than last week’s induction.  Venture into the Hockey Hall of Shame to see what I mean, if you dare!  Until next week, stay gold!

I must declare that this week’s Overexposed induction is my personal favourite.  Sure, Doug Gilmour sitting in a toxic waste zone was fun.  Carol Vadnais as a cartoon character was a delight.  Glen Hanlon scratching his crotch was a little weird, but this week’s induction has them all beat.  It is so bad that I actually could not decide on which card to feature.  If I had to go though them one at a time, I would have enough cards to last the entire Trump presidency, even if he miraculously manages to not get himself impeached before January.  This week, feast your eyes on the 1994-95 Upper Deck Be a Player set.  That’s right, an entire set gets inducted today!

Also some big news on the Seals front.  Seals fan Jeff Searls is organizing a dinner for die hard Seals fans on January 6, 2017, and he needs 100 people to attend to make it happen, so if you’re in the Bay Area around that time, sign up for this rare event.  The following night, on Saturday, January 7, the San Jose Sharks will be playing the Detroit Red Wings, and there is going to be a special salute to the Seals: a throwback t-shirt night!  Special guests in attendance include Seals legends Gilles Meloche, Gary Simmons, and Dennis Maruk.  For more info, please contact Jeff at jsearls@sbcglobal.net.

For all you Seals fans, there is a new article on the short-lived but beloved Wrecking Crew Line coming soon, so come back soon.  Until next time, stay gold!

It’s only been three days since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, and it feels as though the world will never be the same.  There is a certain malaise wafting through the air, even way up here in Ottawa.  Hopefully, Mr. Trump proves himself to be a more competent President than Presidential candidate, but only time will tell.  If you’re feeling a tad depressed these days, don’t despair, for there is lots of new stuff on the site this week.  Check out a brand new induction to the Hockey Hall of Shame, an induction that was much overdue.  I’m talking about the infamous FoxTrax Puck.  For all you young whippersnappers out there who don’t remember an NHL before salary caps and that God-awful trapezoid behind the net, the FoxTrax Puck was one television network’s attempt at being ahead-of-their-time.  That television network failed… badly.  Also be sure to check out the latest induction to the Overexposed wing of the HHOS, where we get to see what Olaf Kolzig’s favourite in-game snack is!  Enjoy, and stay gold!

Well, in case this is my final post before President Trump declares war on North Korea and makes the entire Western hemisphere nothing more than a memory (much like the California Golden Seals), I’d just like to declare that since my beloved Habs are still undefeated in regulation, and sitting in first place overall, I believe they should be given the world’s final Stanley Cup championship.  That’s what we call taking the lemons life gives you (in this case President Trump… uh, I can’t believe I’m typing that and NOT quoting The Simpsons) and turning it into lemonade, which is something that I believe is (surprisingly) missing in this week’s new Overexposed induction.  Today, we delve deep into the archives of Upper Deck and dissect the legendary Mike Grier “pizza couch” card.

For all you Seals and Barons fans out there, go check out this site’s new section: Seals Literature.  Here, I’ve listed all of the books I can think of that mention interesting blurbs about the Seals or Barons.  Obviously, this is not a complete list, but I’ll be adding more titles as I become aware of them.  Of course, if anyone knows of any books with interesting Seals/Barons facts in them, please let me know, and I’ll add them to the list.  There are a few titles I would recommend you check out first: Brad Kurtzberg’s Shorthanded is the gold standard, and probably the easiest book to find on the list.  Bobby Baun’s autobiography, Lowering the Boom has a full chapter on the Seals, so does Wayne Gretzky’s new book, 99: Stories of the Game, Alan Bass’s The Great Expansion, and Stephen Laroche’s Changing the Game.  Reggie Leach has an autobiography out as well titled The Riverton Rifle, which has a few pages describing the Seals portion of his career.  Then there are some oldies like Gene Kiczek’s High Sticks and Hat-Tricks, Gerald Eskenazi’s Hockey and the excellent Hockey! The Story of the World’s Fastest Sport by Richard Beddoes, Stan Fischler, and Ira Gitler, but good luck finding those cheap on Amazon!  If you’re more of a Charlie Finley fan, I can’t recommend more highly Michael G. Green, and Roger D. Launius’s Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball’s Super Showman.  I found my copy used on Amazon, so it’s pretty easy to find, and well worth the read.

Until next time, stay gold!