Hi everyone!

I’ve got a great trivia question for all of you today, so put your thinking caps on….

Ok, ready? Here goes…

Who was the first member of the Seals to be caught with an illegal stick? Take your time, it’s a tough one…

I won’t spoil it for you, and I won’t reveal the season in which the incident occurred, but if you want to find the answer you will just have to read the new article I’ve posted here. I will, however, give you a brief rundown of this Hugh McDonald piece from the San Mateo Times. The Seals were up against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were fighting for their playoff lives, and our heroes were up by a couple of goals, but blew the lead in the dying minutes of the contest. The illegal, overly curved stick wasn’t the actual culprit in the debacle, but it did prevent the Seals from perhaps scoring a last-minute goal to retake the lead. That’s all I’m revealing, so if you want the answer to this really hard trivia question, you will have to go read the article.

As my Montreal Canadiens slowly sink to the bottom of the standings, and their Stanley Cup dreams have all but evaporated, it got me thinking of Marty McSorley’s infamous curved stick that cost the Kings game two of the Final, all but pushing the door wide open for the Habs to storm back and take the series. So, personally, I’m not all that bummed when a player gets nabbed with an illegal stick. A rule is a rule, right? Yeah, it might be chintzy, but you do what you gotta do to win. Anyway, just in case anyone was wondering what my feelings were on the matter, knowing that an illegal stick remains one of the most important pieces of equipment in the history of my favourite (still-existing) team, there ya go.

On that note, I hope you all have a great weekend, and until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! After supper this evening, my wife was watching an old video of our son dancing like a crazy person at a Super Bowl party. We then realized that this was the 2020 Super Bowl party, which occurred about a month before the Covid-19 pandemic started. We then realized that this was the last actual party we’ve been to. I do miss going to parties. I wonder if this year my group of friends will be starting up the old Super Bowl tradition again. Even though we’ve been going back to restaurants for the last year or so, it just isn’t the same as being in a small room with a large group of people. It is especially heartwarming when the people organizing the party actually show up.

That said, this week we are heading back to Ohio to see what the Cleveland Barons were up to in the early days of the 1977-78 season. Needless to say, it did not start very well…

Before the season even began, the Barons had the brilliant idea of hosting a luncheon for some 600 of their fans. Not a bad plan in itself. The only problem was that when everyone sat down to eat their appetizers, the Barons were nowhere to be found. Awkward… When everyone started consuming their main course, still no Barons. And when desserts came around, the Barons were still conspicuously absent. Had they forgotten about their lunch date? Had a UFO flown over Cleveland and abducted the team? No, it was because the Barons had hired the wrong man to drive them to the luncheon. Head on over to the articles section to read this short, funny piece about the bus driver who also happens to be an inductee into the Hockey Hall of Shame.

About two weeks after the Barons were given an unwanted and unexpected tour of Cleveland, the Los Angeles Kings made their way to the Coliseum, and with a 2-0-1 record to start the season (not to mention a 2-0 opening night win over the Barons), they were feeling pretty good about themselves, but the Barons had some surprises in store for the purple-and-gold-clad Kings. You can read this article over here.

That’s about it for this week. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Glad to have you back again for another Golden Seals Hockey update. As I write this my annual Christmas holiday is coming to an end very shortly. Only one day left before I head back to work, which, much like last year at this time, will continue to be from the comfort of my basement. While the pandemic has waned, for the most part, other things have remained the same. I can’t complain though. I’ve grown accustomed to not having to drive half-way across town through snow and freezing rain just to get to the office. It was nice though to have some time to get out of the basement and do some shopping, get some chores off my to-do list, and finding new material to add to this site every week.

I was going through my archives this week, and came across an interesting piece about the Seals and Penguins 4-4 tie on February 11, 1976. The Seals absolutely needed to win this one just to remain close to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were sitting in third place in the Adams Division. Much like the current edition of the Montreal Canadiens entering their game tonight on a 7-game winless streak, the 1975-76 Seals had also gone seven straight without a win, so the club’s psyche was probably a little fragile. After all, losing begets losing. In the back of your mind, you believe it is just a matter of time before something will go wrong and ruin what looks to be a positive result. While the Habs held on to a one-goal lead to beat St. Louis tonight and finally end their miserable streak, the Seals, who were also up by a goal with seconds remaining, blew their opportunity, and they were once again well on their way to missing the playoffs. You can read all about this disappointing night right here.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Well, it’s been one helluva roller-coaster ride this year, hasn’t it? As we gleefully push 2022 off the edge of the proverbial cliff and greet 2023 like a white knight coming to save us from a smoking dragon’s fiery breath, let us take the time to celebrate! Subscriber Chuck Nan sent me a request to add a mention of some of the celebratory moments in Seals history, which sounded like a good idea to me. He wrote three short pieces about four moments when the hockey world celebrated the Seals, and I have posted them to the site. You can read Chuck’s pieces here. Thanks so much, Chuck!

I hope all of you had yourselves a very Happy Holiday, and that you were able to spend some quality time with family and friends. Happy New Year to you as well! Be sure to celebrate and drink responsibly. And if you are like me and your significant other is working an evening shift, and you are responsible for giving your offspring a bath and putting them to bed on New Year’s Eve, and celebrating the New Year is almost completely out of the question, I hope you enjoy a little hockey, whether it be NHL style or the World Junior level. Either way, you really can’t go wrong. Just make sure to set the PVR so you don’t miss anything. Little tip from one Dad to all the other parents of young children out there.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! I’m sure that by now you have all seen the NHL’s new batch of reverse retro jerseys. As you all know well, I’m generally not a fan of third jerseys, mainly because they are a cash grab, and that teams really don’t need to change uniforms every six weeks. Case in point, most of the league’s Original Six teams are still wearing essentially the same uniforms they wore some fifty, sixty, seventy years ago, with just a few tweaks here and there. I dare you to find someone who thinks the Detroit Red Wings logo needs to be rearranged, or that the New York Rangers should trade in the red, white, and blue for a little black, grey, and road-cone orange.

It’s also kind of annoying that the New York Islanders brought back the old Captain Highliner logo for their reverse retros, which everyone absolutely despised back in the day, and now, somehow, like magic, it has come back from the dead, and people suddenly like it. Huh?

That said, a couple of teams really hit the ball out of the park with their reverse retros. The L.A. Kings’ return to purple and yellow is lovely.

So is the Minnesota Wild’s homage to the Minnesota North Stars. Very classy look indeed.

But what about these beauties? You just knew these were coming up…

Yowza! You can probably imagine how delighted I was to find out the San Jose Sharks were turning back the clock to 1974-75 and bringing back the last uniforms worn by the California Golden Seals. These really pop on an HD TV. The Sharks could bring these out every night from here on in, and I will wholeheartedly support that initiative.

Anyhoo, what do you guys think of the the Sharks’ new Seals-inspired jerseys? Drop me a message in the “Contact Steve” section, and let me know, and I’ll post some of your responses on the site.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! This week, I went through my archives and found an article I had dug up at Queen’s University some 20 years ago when I was still doing research for my book about the Seals. This, of course, was during the days when finding any article on the Seals was a big deal. I hadn’t yet discovered sites like Newspaper Archive or Newspapers.com (if they even existed at the time), so I was more than thrilled to find this piece from the July 29, 1970 Newsweek. It truly was a rarity when the Seals appeared in a mainstream sports or news magazine. Hockey wasn’t terribly popular at the time, and whenever anyone reported on hockey, it was usually the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, or Montreal Canadiens that got the attention. To the mainstream media, Oakland was about as far away as the Moon.

This week’s article goes into great detail about what was going on behind the scenes in the summer of 1970. Of course, this is the period in which Charlie Finley and Jerry Seltzer were duking it out over ownership of the Seals. Of course, we all know how this turned out (If you don’t, well, “Spoiler alert”: It was all bad.). It is truly amazing how many wild, cockamamie ideas Charlie Finley was throwing around (including the idea of white skates), and it is mind-boggling just thinking about how hockey would have been affected if he had been given carte blanche to do what he wanted. You can read all about that tumultuous summer right here.

If anyone happens to be in the Ottawa area this Sunday, December 11 I will be selling and signing copies of my books (as well as a few hockey cards) at the Sports Card and Comic Book Show at the Nepean Sportsplex (1701 Woodroffe Ave., Hall B) from 10am-3pm. If you are a collector, it should be a lot of fun, and you will likely find something that you didn’t know you needed. Hope to see you all there!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone!

This week, we go back to March 16, 1970 as the Seals are fighting desperately for the final West Division playoff spot. Things were not looking so good for our green-and-blue clad heroes, but luckily things were going just as badly in Minnesota and Philadelphia. Both of the Seals’ rivals just couldn’t seem to break a tie that year, costing them numerous points in the standings, so the Seals still stood a chance at making the playoffs despite being several points off their pace from a year earlier. All the Seals needed to do was pick up a few wins in the closing weeks of the season, which, as you all know, is exactly what they did. This 2-1 win over Philadelphia in mid-March, the Seals’ first win since February 21, was a huge turning point in the season, and you can read all about it here.

Sorry for the small update this week. It’s December again, which means a non-stop parade of birthdays and Christmas gatherings. And I mean a NON-STOP parade. It seems as though everyone got really busy in March over the last decade or so, if you know what I mean, because it seems as though every kid has a birthday in the 30 or so days before Christmas. And then you got Christmas itself, and all the prep that involves. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great time of year. The kids are excited, the food is great, and it’s fun to unwrap presents, but it truly is a time-consuming month.

So have yourselves some fun these next few weeks, and get out with the family a bit too. The Seals will be back next week better than ever! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Yes, you read that right. And you thought when the CN Tower was decked out in Montreal Canadiens colours to encourage the Habs in their failed quest to win the Stanley Cup a couple seasons ago was the first time the city of Toronto betrayed its own team. Not true. In fact, all the way back on New Year’s Eve 1975, the Leafs were gearing up to take on the Seals in a titanic battle for third place in the Adams Division. That game was postponed to the following afternoon, because Leafs owner Harold Ballard believed too many fans would choose to stay home to watch the Canadiens take on the touring Soviet Red Army. On TV. A 1975-era TV, which for most people would have had a screen that was something like a foot-and-a-half wide. Can you imagine having tickets to an NHL game today, but instead choosing to watch anything else on your cell phone instead? Who does that?

Of course, that Montreal-Red Army game turned out to be the legendary 3-3 tie between the world’s two most powerful hockey squads, and the Seals-Leafs game that went ahead the following afternoon, well, our Pacific Blue-clad heroes laid a gigantic egg and lost 5-1…

Wait, what? You still don’t believe me? You think all of this is just another one of Steve’s jabs at the ol’ Leafs? Come on, I have a little more class than that. I am a serious researcher, and I only speak the truth… OK, I see you still need more convincing. Well, then I have a little homework for you right over here. It’s the first thing on the page, you literally can’t miss it. Enjoy!

Well, that’s it for this week. I hope you all have yourselves a great weekend and catch a puck drop or two. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Finally, the weekend is upon us, and you know what that means: a trip in the way-back machine to when our favourite lovable losers were still skating in the NHL. This week, we go back to February 1969, one of those rare moments when the Seals had reasons to dream of success. The club was sitting pretty in second place, and a lot of that success was due to one William Hicke, who along with his linemates Ted Hampson and Gary Jarrett, was enjoying a career season. He had once been touted as a future star in Montreal, but things never quite worked out there. In 1967, however, after having been drafted by the Seals in the expansion draft, Hicke blossomed, scoring 21 goals in just 52 games. The following year, he would eclipse his goal record by tallying 25 and adding another 36 assists. It was a good time to be Bill Hicke, even if his asthma got in the way once in a while, but once he found himself a little good luck charm in the form of a Medic Alert medallion, it was all good. You can read this great feature on the Seals’ all-star winger right here.

Also, don’t forget about the big sale going on right now at McFarland Publishing. Click on this link. and punch in the coupon code HOLIDAY22! to get 40%, but act soon as you only have until November 28 before the discount drops to 25%. Happy holiday shopping to all of you! Until next time, stay gold!

P.S. Sorry for the crappy title, folks. At this point in my adult life, I really can do better. I think I can do better. I’m just a bit sleep-deprived these days that anything that rhymes kinda sounds good.

Hi everyone!

Normally, I wouldn’t post anything to the site on a Tuesday night, but I thought you might be interested in taking advantage of a book sale at McFarland Publishing. If you’re looking for some Christmas presents for the book lover in your family, head on over to McFarland to check out their stock:

From McFarland: Many of our customers look forward to our annual sales, including our traditional list-wide holiday sale. In years past, we’ve usually started that sale on or around Black Friday. This year, we’re trying something different: we’re opening up the sale two weeks earlier to give shoppers a head start. During this early access period, we’re even offering a deeper-than-usual 40% discount on all of our titles with coupon code HOLIDAY22! The early access sale runs through Cyber Monday, November 28, after which the discount drops to 25% through the remainder of the holiday season. If you’d like to help share the word, please do!  You’ll find sharable social media posts pinned to the tops of our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles, and the main landing page is here: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/holiday22/. To stay up to date on all of our latest news and promotions, please join our mailing list here: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/about-us/contact-us/join-our-mailing-list-catalogs/.  

Happy holidays from your friends at McFarland!

In case you’re interested, my latest book, When the NHL Invaded Japan can be ordered from McFarland by clicking on this link.

Until next time, stay gold!