Hi everyone! What exactly made Christmas Eve 1968 so significant, you ask? Well, I will get to that in just a minute, but first a little anecdote. So, this week is the second of my two weeks of holidays, and with my wife at work, and my son still at home awaiting school to start, I’ve been on duty taking care of him. Overall, it was an ok week if you take away the non-stop rain and stomach flu I suffered through the first two days. On Wednesday, I recorded a podcast episode with the Washington Capitals’ Mike Vogel (“Break the Ice”… more details on that in the coming days), and things started looking up. On Thursday, we played mini-putt, had some McDonalds, played outside a bit. Today, we had nothing really special planned so I decided to take him shopping at Canadian Tire, Dollarama, and any other store that struck our fancy at the Carlingwood Mall. We got all we needed to get done. I finally recycled that old car battery that died last winter, I got a new bin for my Hockey News back issues, and I even picked up a few new books for the kids’ bedtime. All in all, everything went smoothly until we get back home. Just as I’m about to unlock the front door, my son tells me he can’t find his favorite teddy bear, Snowy. He’s had this bear since he was one, and it is his most prized possession. He often takes it with him when we go places (against my wishes as I know that if he loses it, his world will literally come to an end). He goes back to the car to retrieve it, and, Jesus Murphy, it isn’t there! How could this happen? I’ve always been so careful to make sure that bear was within arm’s length of my son. This moment, standing at my front door holding my keys, I just kept thinking, “No, this can’t have happened!” So, after having suffered about four simultaneous heart attacks realizing my son is never going to ever sleep again, and that my wife is probably going to kill me when she arrives home from work, we jump back into the car praying that Snowy is still at the mall, somewhere. Of course, my son is six years old, so he has the memory skills of a 97-year-old man with a severe case of amnesia, so pinpointing Snowy’s last-known whereabouts proves to be a challenge the Criminal Minds team would be hard-pressed to overcome.

My son remembered last having Snowy at Dollarama, so we spend about 30 minutes scouring every inch of the joint without finding a trace of Snowy. The clerks have seen nothing. The shelves contain no Snowy either. Disappointed and feeling a fifth heart attack coming on, I desperately ask my son if he remembers having his bear at the book store we visited afterward. He finally remembers that he thinks he sort of maybe walked out of Dollarama with the bear after all. So off we go to the book store full of hope. Sure enough, there is the bear behind the counter. Never thought that finding a tattered, smelly old bear could be like being brought back to life by a defibrillator, but I learned something today. And Snowy is never coming in my car again!

Now, back to this week’s new article. On Christmas Eve 1968, some Seals fans may have felt a bit weak in the knees once they found out that their lovable losers had escalated the West Division ranks and were in a second-place tie with the Los Angeles Kings. After getting over that initial shock, the fans got used to the idea of their team actually deserving that spot as the Seals began winning games regularly and beating some impressive competition from the East Division. On the night of December 23, 1968, Gary Jarrett’s 15th goal of the season occurred at the 29-second mark of the opening frame, and the Seals never looked back. You can read all about the Seals’ big night here.

Anyway, that’s it for me this week. Hope you’ve all had a great summer and that you are able to have one great final long weekend before slipping into fall. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Not much going on in the hockey world these days, so let’s get right to this week’s update, shall we.

In this week’s update, we go back to 1973. At that time, Charlie Finley had been in charge of the California Golden Seals for almost three years, but he had finally had enough of his money-bleeding hockey team. His first season at the top was an absolute disaster, a 20-53-5 dumpster-fire season that started off with a nine-game winless streak and ended with the first-overall draft pick becoming Guy Lafleur and going to Montreal. Year two was much better, attendance was up, and the Seals flirted with a playoff spot, but finished the year on an eight-game winless skein. Then came 1972-73, which started with half the team bolting to the WHA, and cratered with a pathetic 16-46-16 record. I have to give Finley credit for putting up with that much misery and failure for that long. That said, the franchise had become a miserable wreck mostly due to his own managerial incompetence and staggering thriftiness, so maybe he deserved whatever fate he was subjected to.

In this week’s Seals article, we go back to the March 2, 1973 issue of the Hockey News where Geoffrey Fisher recaps what had been arguably the Seals’ worst-ever season (and that would have been an inarguable fact had the Seals not ended the year on a four-game winning streak, which happened after the article had been written). You can download the piece here.

There won’t be an update next week as I will be on holiday with the family and lucky to have the slightest Internet connection. Might be able to check the occasional email or catch up on the daily Wordle, but not much more.

Hope you all have a great final two weeks of summer. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Yes, this week we are channelling our inner Rodney Dangerfields and heading back to November 1973. In this week’s article, the Seals’ Bob Stewart is a tad upset that his team kept getting dumped on every time they miraculously came away with a win. Every time the Seals won, it was a fluke, or the other team was having an off night, and on and on. Of course, everyone’s hatred of Charlie Finley may have played a role in the Seals’ lack of respect, but I’ll let you debate that. Either way, Stewart had a front row seat for all of the the Seals’ troubles, but even he had no idea how bad things would get by the end of the season. You can read all of Stewart’s thoughts on the media’s bias (Geez, I’m starting to sound like one of those conspiracy theorist nut bags… God help me!) right here.

In closing this week, if you have picked up or read a copy of my new book, When the NHL Invaded Japan, I ask that you take a couple of minutes to review or rate the book on one of your favourite websites, whether it be Amazon, Goodreads, or somewhere else that carries or promotes books. Every positive review helps and gets others reading. You can also pass along a link to this website, more specifically this page which describes the book in greater detail, and contains a nice poster and bookmark which you are free to download and distribute. Thanks in advance for your efforts in helping promote the book. It might even help get a few more people to contribute to this here site!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! If you are like us here in Ottawa, you’ve been experiencing some pretty intense summer heat these last few days. So let’s dive into a little Seals history, notably December 6, 1967, when the weather was a little cooler and Billy Harris was taking care of business against Philadelphia. Harris had endured a pretty miserable season up to that point, and it didn’t get much better in the next month or so, but for one night, everything clicked and he was on cloud nine. I’ve posted a new article from the San Mateo Times‘ Hugh McDonald about that very game, and you can find it here.

As an added bonus this week, you can also check out a nice piece that was written about my new book on the Washington Capitals, Kansas City Scouts, and their 1976 trip to Japan. It came about after an interview I did with Calvin Daniels of SaskToday.ca, and you can find it here, along with a nice shot of me and my book posing in front of some Bristol board which I propped up against a china hutch just behind my dining room table. Because I’m classy and resourceful in that way, and I had no other real, non-Christmas or non-family photos where I could just crop myself out of them. I know folks love that kind of behind the scenes revelation these days, so there’s a little somethin’ extra for ya’s.

Until next time, stay gold, and please find yourselves some air conditioning or a pool!

Hi everyone! I hope you all enjoyed last week’s audio bonanza, because this week we’ve got lots more classic clips for you. This week, we skip ahead a few years to January 26, 1978, during the dying days of the NHL Cleveland Barons. The Eastern United States was hit by several massive snowstorms in 1977 and 1978, and on this night Chicago was particularly hard hit, so much so that only 527 fans took their seats in the near-17,000-seat Chicago Stadium. You read that right. Five hundred and twenty-seven. The Hawks were determined to make sure they hadn’t made all that effort to get to the rink for nothing, taking the game 5-0. The audio quality is not great, but it is still a wonderful snapshot of a very unique game. When you listen to the clip, you can just tell that something isn’t normal, even without knowing exactly how many people are in the stands. You can download the clips here or click on this link to YouTube. Enjoy, folks!

In closing this week, I’d like to once again thank everyone who has purchased a copy of my new book, When the NHL Invaded Japan: the Washington Capitals, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, 1975-76. It is starting to climb the Amazon charts (at least in the “hockey books” and, strangely enough, the “Japanese history” category!) so it’s pretty exciting for me. If you haven’t got yourself a copy yet, you can find it on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca, where you can also leave some feedback. Feedback helps sell books, or anything else for that matter, so if you’ve got 30 or 35 seconds, please leave some comments.

I’ve also got sitting in my office a bit of a stockpile of books that I am more than happy to part with for a much more reasonable price than what you will find online. I live in Canada, so I am selling copies for $35 Canadian (about $27 US) + shipping and handling ($15 CDN to Canada, $22 CDN to the U.S.). Let me know who the book is for, and I’ll autograph it as well. If you’d like to make a deal, write to me at stevecurrier@goldensealshockey.com.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! What’s this? Steve updating his site on a Monday? Has Hell frozen over? Nope, just wanted you all to know that my interview with Tim Hanlon of Good Seats Still Available is now up and available for download. We had a great conversation (over an hour and a half!) about my new book, When the NHL Invaded Japan: the Washington Capitals, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, 1975-76. If you haven’t picked it up yet, maybe this interview will get your fingers clicking that old mouse or laptop touchpad, or if you’re not a virtual dinosaur like myself, your cellphone. Just click right here and you’ll be magically transported over to Tim’s site. I have also posted the interview to the Video and Audio section of this here website as well. Hope you enjoy it!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Well, it’s surprise time! I promised all of you a treat this week, and I’ve come to deliver on that promise. If you head on over to the Video and Audio section of the website, you will find a truly rare piece of Seals history, something you might not have come across in almost 50 years. I’m talking about 12 minutes of the Seals post-game recap show immediately following their historic 11-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks! Much, much thanks to Jim Shattock who graciously transferred this clip to a digital audio format, and for allowing me to post this clip to the site for all of you to enjoy.

In case you would like to read up on what was undoubtedly the most lopsided victory in the history of the Seals, head on over to the 1972-73 season articles and scroll down to “Charlie O’s Angry Blast,” a piece penned by the Oakland Tribune‘s John Porter the day after the massacre. If any of you reading this were at the game, I’m sure the audio clip and article will bring back some warm memories.

Thanks to everyone who has purchased my new book When the NHL Invaded Japan: the Washington Capitals, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup. Not much of it is Seals-related (at least not much that wasn’t already mentioned in my book on the Seals), but need to promote it anyway I can. And this is my site, after all, so I’m going to bend the rules of the site just a bit. The good news is that Amazon seems to have got a bit of a stock now, so you shouldn’t have any problems ordering it now. If you do buy the book, from Amazon or from somewhere else, I would really appreciate it if you left some feedback. Amazon, of course, is a great place to do so, but anywhere else is also greatly appreciated and only helps promote the book. If you have any questions about the book, you can head on over to HF Boards where the Society for International Hockey Research has given me a place to interact with hockey fans. Just click on this link to my book forum and ask away!

Finally, be sure to check out my interview with Tim Hanlon of Good Seats Still Available, where we talk about the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, how the whole thing went down, why the Capitals and Scouts were chosen to represent the NHL, and why in the world I keep writing about teams that never seemed to go anywhere (unless you mean the cities to which they uprooted themselves in the hope of finding solid financial ground). The interview (episode #269) will be posted early Monday morning so mark your calendars (by that I mean the alarm on your cell phone or some other doo-dad on Facebook). Until then, head on over to Tim’s site to check out some of his other episodes.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Well, it’s that time of year again, time to find out who is going to become the newest members of the Seals Hall of Fame. The vote was close again this year, but three candidates stood out as clear winners: Krazy George Henderson, Fred Glover, and Charlie Burns. All three men are indeed worthy, and long-overdue candidates who greatly contributed to the Seals’ history. You can find their Hall of Fame biographies here.

In case you are interested in how the entire vote ended up, here is the final tally:

Krazy George Henderson – 22%

Fred Glover – 17%

Charlie Burns – 16%

Bob Murdoch – 14%

Doug Roberts – 9%

Wayne Connelly – 5%

Nick Mickoski – 5%

Al Nicholson – 4%

Len Haley – 2%

Tom Thurlby – 2%

Rick Smith – 1%

Charlie Finley – 1%

Ralph Klassen – 1%

Charlie Hodge – 1%

Thanks to everyone who voted this year! Thanks for helping make this site the success it has been! It has been a great six-year ride, so let’s keep it going!

And now, it’s promo time! As you all know, my new book When the NHL Invaded Japan: the Washington Capitals, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, 1975-76 was released some three weeks ago, and it is starting to gain some momentum. I’ve already recorded an interview with Tim Hanlon at Good Seats Still Available (more on that in the coming days!), and I’ve got another interview scheduled for next week, not to mention a member bio in the next Society for International Hockey Research newsletter, and a guest spot on the History of Hockey forum of HFBoards this Sunday (link here, scroll down to the very bottom), so I’ll be posting updates on all of these happenings in the next few weeks. If you haven’t picked up your copy of my book, you can find it on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com. I have been informed that there is a bit of a paper shortage in the United States, so if you can’t get order yourself a copy today, let me know; I may have a couple copies kicking around at the homestead.

Next week, I’ve got a real surprise for all of you, but you’ll have to check back next week to find out what it is. I can tell you that it is a true Seals rarity that some of you may remember, but have not been able to locate in decades. Thanks in advance to Jim Shattock for passing the surprise along to me and for allowing me to share it with you.

Until next week, stay gold!

Hi everyone! This won’t be my usual light, casual update, I’m afraid, as I’m having trouble celebrating and rejoicing after the week I’ve had, but I promise it isn’t all bad, and that the summer is shaping up to be much brighter. I’ll start off with the bad. For one thing, my father passed away yesterday morning at the age of 75, which took us all by surprise, despite his terminal cancer diagnosis exactly one month earlier. We had been expecting 8-12 weeks more with Dad, but we only got four, the last of which was marred by my entire family’s Covid diagnosis. Our symptoms were never severe, more like a mild flu or cold, and we are all doing better now, but it was hard not being allowed to see Dad the last seven days of his life, but I at least got to see him twice the week before, and he was in good spirits, and surrounded by loved ones as he prepared to enter into hospice care. My mother also spent the last days of her life there, and the staff and volunteers were absolutely wonderful, making all residents feel comfortable and allowing them to die with dignity. I would have liked Dad to be able to read my new book (the gratis copies of which I received from McFarland Press the day he died), but I know he would have been proud. R.I.P. Dad.

Also, I should not forget to mention that the Seals lost another member of its family yesterday with the passing of former NHL great, and Stanley Cup winner, Jim Pappin at the age of 82. I would like to wish his family and friends my very best and express my deepest condolences. Not only did Pappin share the same given name as my Dad, but they also passed away within 24 hours of each other, so I’ll always remember the link between them when I think of either. I’ve posted an article from the November 11, 1975 San Francisco Examiner, which talks about the expectations the team and fans had for Pappin, and while he indeed had his moments, scoring a few goals here and there, he never became the player the Seals thought they had acquired. He did retire as a 2-time Stanley Cup champion and a 278-goal scorer over the course of his 767-game career. Pretty nice numbers indeed!

As usual, I’ll be taking next week off to prepare for the Seals Hall of Fame inductions, which are scheduled for July 15 this year. Voting is now officially closed. Thank you to everyone who voted this year! This year’s vote had, by far, the best turnout ever! I still haven’t calculated the results, but from what I can see, the votes are well spread out among all the nominees, and I haven’t the slightest idea who will be inducted this year, so I’m looking forward to finding out myself.

Finally, my new book, When the NHL Invaded Japan: the Washington Capitals, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, 1975-76 has been officially released, and is available in many online book retailers across North America, notably Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. If you liked my book on the Seals, I truly believe you’ll enjoy this one just as much. I will also be guesting on Tim Hanlon’s Good Seats Still Available podcast next Saturday, so I will let you all know when the interview is posted to his website. Like I said, June was a bummer, but the rest of summer is shaping up to be much better.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! This week, in anticipation of my new book, When the NHL Invaded Japan: the Washington Capitals, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, 1975-76 (whose release date, by the way, has been pushed up to July 2nd! Visit Amazon.com or Amazon.ca to pre-order your copy today!) I’ve uploaded an article from the February 10, 1975 San Francisco Examiner. The night before, the Scouts were in Oakland looking for win number 12, and their timing couldn’t have been any better as the Seals’ were in the midst of a 2-11-1 stretch that ultimately killed their playoff chances. It didn’t help matters that the once-potent Wrecking Crew Line of Dave Hrechkosy, Butch Williams, and Ron Huston was no longer connecting, and neither was the rest of the roster. The Seals did rebound after this game going 6-6-3 in their next 15 games, but by that point the Leafs were miles ahead in the standings. You can read all about the Seals-Scouts game right here.

This will also be the last time I will be inviting you to cast your votes for this year’s inductees to the Seals Hall of Fame. The voting closes July 1st, mainly because I will be heading out of town that weekend and I won’t be taking my computer with me. Besides, I’ve been posting this Jotform link on this here site the last several months now, so you’ve had your chances to exercise your democratic rights. That said, if you are new to the site, you can still get your votes in under the wire by clicking here. The new inductees will be announced July 15, so make sure to head on back to see if your favorites made it in.

Until next time, stay gold!