The Seals family was struck hard this week as both Bobby Sheehan (1971-72 season) and Rick Kessell (1973-74 season) sadly passed away.

This week, I thought it would be fitting to draw your attention to a previously posted article from October 16, 1971. The night before, the Seals, playing just their fourth game of the season, lost 9-6 to Vancouver. Bobby Sheehan scored his one and only Seals hat-trick that night. It should have been a cakewalk for the Seals, but somehow turned into a disaster. The Golden Ones had 4-0 and 5-1 leads before the first period was over, and yet managed to squander these huge leads to the second-year Canucks, who had beaten the Seals 11-5 and 7-2 the last two times they met the previous year. Sheehan was on fire the first few months of 1971-72, playing at a 35-40 goal pace around mid-season, but like the rest of the Seals, the second half was not nearly as successful, and Sheehan finished with a disappointing 20 goals. Hopes were high for 1972-73, but Sheehan secured a lucrative deal with the New York Raiders of the WHA, and he remained in the rebel league the next three years before returning to the NHL. His first season in New York proved to be his career peak: 35 goals and 53 assists, good for second in team scoring. The Weymouth, Massachusetts native retired from hockey after the 1982-83 season, but fans still remember his lightning speed and reckless abandon on the ice. He finished his NHL career with 48 goals and 63 assists in 310 games and another 75 goals and 110 assists in 245 WHA contests. Sheehan passed away November 7 at the age of 77.

Rick Kessell, like Bobby Sheehan, spent just one season in Oakland. Kessell scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game, March 21, 1970 as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but goals would become harder to come by over the years. In Oakland, he would score just 2 goals and 6 assists over 51 games, but on January 16, 1974, Kessell notched a goal and two assists in a 5-5 tie versus Toronto, and you can read all about his big night here. He would remain in the Seals system a few more years, but he would never play another NHL game. He would finish his professional career with 4 goals and 24 assists in 135 games. Kessell passed away on November 7 at the age of 77.

In closing this week, just a reminder that I will be signing copies of Mucking in the Corners at the Indigo Books store at the Kanata Centrum (west end of Ottawa), so if you are in the neighbourhood, feel free to stop in to say hi and pick up a few Christmas presents. If you’ve already purchased (or pre-purchased) a copy, thanks so much for the support! If you’ve got a few minutes, please leave some positive feedback on Goodreads, on a social media platform you like, on Amazon.ca, or on Amazon.com. Positive feedback makes a huge difference, so don’t be shy to encourage others to at least thumb through a copy. I would very much like to see the book fly past all those crappy AI (or AI-ish) hockey romance books that are polluting the sports literature best-sellers list, and I’m sure you do too, am I right?

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! It’s been a whirlwind day for yours truly, but not in a bad way. I had my first book signing today, and I was incredibly touched to be greeted by a few friends and family, not to mention some other customers I had never met before and who purchased a copy of Mucking in the Corners. It was a special “Hockey Day” at Indigo Books, so I wore my Seals jersey (circa 1974-76) to the event, which got me a few compliments. The best part, however, may have been when I saw this on my way out of the store…

Seeing one of my books on the shelf of a book store is the fulfillment of a personal 40-year-old dream. I’ve already been published twice, but this time it feels just a bit sweeter because it feels like the big leagues, like if I had been plying my trade in the AHL for an entire career and then finally getting called up to the NHL. I might not score 50 goals or 100 points, but if I get a cup of coffee in the bigs, that’s more than okay with me.

On our trip down memory lane this week, we’re going back to that infamous night when former Seal draft pick Chris Oddleifson scored four times against the Seals in a 8-1 shellacking courtesy of the Boston Bruins. It would prove to be the high point of his brief tenure in Boston as he scored just one more goal there before being shipped to Vancouver in a huge multi-player deal. It wasn’t a banner night for the Golden Ones, but you can read about the game right here.

In closing this week, if you happen to be in the Ottawa area in the next few weeks, I will be signing books at Indigo Books in Kanata on November 15 from 12-3, and I will have a table at the Capital Trade Show at the Nepean Sportsplex on December 6 from 10-3, so come on down!

And if you’re a podcast aficionado, well, I’ve got good news for you! My interview for Hockey Time Machine is now streaming on YouTube and you can take a look by clicking on this link. Tracy Wilson, Glenn Dreyfuss and I discuss all sorts of stories from Mucking in the Corners including Ross Brooks’ amazing winning streak, the Cleveland Crusaders’ incredible comeback win, and the two-week Ottawa Civics. I’m sure you find the episode a hoot and a holler. Enjoy!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Just a quick update today unfortunately as a few important personal matters have come up and will keep me pretty busy this weekend.

Please be aware that my book signing Saturday, October 31 at Ottawa’s Barrhaven location has unfortunately been postponed to early in the new year. That said, if you still want to come out, pick up a signed copy of Mucking in the Corners, or if you just happen to be in the area between 12-2pm and want to drop in to say hi, I will be signing copies of my book November 7 at Ottawa’s South Keys location. I will also be signing copies Sunday, November 15 at the Kanata Indigo location, and am tentatively scheduled to appear at the Capital Trade Show (Sports cards and memorabilia event) on December 6 from 10am-3pm.

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween, and that the weather holds up in your neck of the woods if you’re dragging a little one around from house to house!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Yes, as you can see from this week’s title, the countdown is definitely on. It’s been a very interesting week as I’ve been gearing up for the Canadian release of Mucking in the Corners. I’ve got my first ever book signing set up for Halloween afternoon, and I’m greatly looking forward to it and getting to see my book on actual book shelves. Last Friday, I was interviewed for the hockey history podcast Hockey Time Machine, and just this past Tuesday, I had a conversation with Tim Hanlon of Good Seats Still Available. Both interviews went well, and even though it has been about four years since I last sat down for an interview, I was able to shake off the rust quickly. The Hockey Time Machine episode will be dropping the first week of November and the Good Seats episode will hit the web 2-3 weeks later, right around the time of the book’s U.S. release, but I will of course let you all know in advance so you can be the first on your block to check them out!

With that out of the way, let’s get back to the subject of this here website. This week, we’re going back to the end of the 1970-71 season for a recap and commentary of the big trade between California and Minnesota. The Seals sent then-all-time leading scorer Ted Hampson and defenseman Wayne Muloin to the Stars for Tommy Williams and Dick Redmond. The Seals managed to get a bit younger in the trade, which is almost always a good thing when you’ve just endured your worst-ever season and were led by a large number of players over 32 years of age. It was really just a first step (OK, second after Harry Howell was dealt to L.A. 18 days earlier), but a necessary one as everyone would find out the following year when other greybeards Bill Hicke, Earl Ingarfield, and Gerry Ehman were also discarded in favour of younger talent like Walt McKechnie, Joey Johnston, Stan Gilbertson, and others. It hurts to let veterans go sometimes, but the only way a team can survive is by bringing in talent that will thrive for many years. Thanks to Bob Marceau for sending me this article, which you can read right here.

That’s about all for this week. I hope to be back next week with a new update, but since I will be getting ready for my book signing on Saturday, I can’t make any promises. Stay tuned, however, for updates regarding interviews I’ve done and that will be posted online shortly.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! It’s that time of year again! The first pucks of the NHL regular season have dropped all across North America, and the chase for Lord Stanley’s mug has begun. It is a great time of year in every city in the league as everyone has a legitimate chance of going all the way. By the end of the month, sure, we’ll probably be writing off a few teams, but for now, it’s anyone’s game. Even our lowly Seals started every season in a multiple-team tie for first place before they inevitably hit the skids. In some years, the skids didn’t hit until mid-season, but most of the time, by November, you had a pretty good idea where they were going to finish in the standings, usually somewhere between last and second-last. 1972-73 was no different. The team got off to a terrible start winning just four of its first 31 games, and as the schedule reached game number 74, only 12 wins had been recorded. Then something incredible happened: the Seals ran the table taking the last four games of the season!

This week, I’ve posted two new articles, from March 30 and 31, 1973. The first article is a retrospective of the Seals’ tumultuous season, and the second a recap of the team’s final game of the season, a 3-1 win over L.A. In the second article, it is interesting to note how upbeat everyone was feeling despite the last-place finish. If only they knew what the future had in store for them… Thanks to Bob Marceau for suggesting this week’s article, which you can read right here.

As Mucking in the Corners‘ release date nears, I will be announcing some exciting news regarding podcast interviews and other promotional events, so stay tuned! Next week, I will be out of town to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with the extended family, so there will be no update, but I hope to have some news for you when I return.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! It’s been a rather up-and-down week, so I’m happy it’s the weekend, and that I can concentrate again on promotions, writing, and of course, resting. Kids’ soccer on Saturday morning, Cirque du Soleil Saturday afternoon, anniversary supper on Saturday evening, and hopefully absolutely nothing on the docket for Sunday. So, since I have a pretty full Saturday ahead of me, I will be short and sweet, but I don’t think you will be disappointed.

As I mentioned last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Capital Trade Sports Card & Comic Book Show two weeks ago, and purchased several oldie magazines from the 1970s. I just love finding new issues, and I’m not even that picky. I usually don’t even look to see what articles are inside; I just like to read the old articles, and the often help me in my research, but it’s also a relaxing weekend activity to just sit back and reminisce about the time when I was a fetus. Sure, I’m a collector (my wife would likely say hoarder), but I’m really about the contents, so I don’t mind if the magazine is missing the cover, has pen marks, or even pages torn out, as long as the price is reasonable (i.e. no more than five bucks). I was pleasantly surprised when going through one Hockey Pictorial issue from December 1975 and saw that it featured a full six-page article on Mel Swig’s purchase of the club, and how he planned to keep them in the Bay Area for many years to come. I don’t need to remind you that media coverage of the Seals was pretty much non-existent, which was customary for teams who spent more time in the basement than a headset-wearing, bad-haircut-sporting YouTuber playing Minecraft. As promised last week, I’ve posted this wonderful piece in the articles section, 1975-76 season, so be sure to check it out.

Keep coming back in the next few weeks for more exciting news regarding my new book, Mucking in the Corners. More personal appearances and podcast interviews will be announced shortly, so stay tuned!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all been enjoying the weekend as much as I have. Ottawa’s monthly sports card and memorabilia show is taking place this weekend, and I had the opportunity to spend some time there this morning. I managed to pick up a few nice cards from the golden age of collecting (that would be pre-1990 and pre-super-glossy-hologram-covered-cardboard for all you noobs out there). I also acquired some nice vintage magazines, one of which includes a rare article about the Seals. Once I get a chance to scan it I will post it to the site, but since I had already selected another article for inclusion this week, I will continue with my original plan.

This week, I’ve posted an article detailing the Seals-Blues game from February 3, 1973. The game was a good old fashioned ass-whooping courtesy of the Missourians, which should not have been surprising considering the road weariness of the Seals. According to Hockey-Reference.com, the Seals had a three-game Eastern road trip in late January, then travelled all the way back to Oakland for a game against St. Louis, then headed back east two days later to start a four-game road trip. The last of those four games was this one against the Blues. The very next night, the Seals were back in Oakland to face the Canadiens, and then back on the road for another four-game stint. Hard to imagine the Seals only won 16 games that year, isn’t it? Thanks to Bob Marceau for suggesting this week’s article for inclusion on the site.

In closing this week, I got a pleasant surprise in the mail yesterday, which you can see in the photo below.

I received my box of gratis copies of Mucking in the Corners, my brand new book, which goes on sale October 27 in Canada and November 24 in the U.S. It’s always a nice feeling holding the finished version of a new book. I may be alone in thinking this, but until I actually have it in my hands, I always feel things could go awry and the book never sees the light of day. Now, it’s too late to turn back, suckers! (I mean, thank you, Dundurn Press!) Unfortunately, I have to hoard these bad boys for the time being as I’m not allowed to start distributing them to anyone yet (and I’ve already selected the people who will be receiving them). If you enjoy the stories, articles, and old-time hockey stuff I post on this site, you’re going to love this book: a collection of short stories about some of the 1970s most unusual events and characters, some of whom you can read about here.

Sure, you can wait until the end of next month to pick up your copy, and I will most definitely worship the ground you walk on if you do, but I’ve heard from reliable sources that pre-ordering books is what all the cool kids are doing these days, and isn’t that what’s really the most important thing in life? You want to be cool don’t you? Or are you happy wearing your pocket protector and wrapping tape around the bridge of your glasses? Actually, that last thing ain’t so nerdy. After all, the Hanson brothers did that, and they were alright. Anyway, pre-ordering books helps encourage stores to order multiple copies, and it generates some positive buzz for the soon-to-published stack of paper, so what are you waiting for, folks?

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! I hope you have all enjoyed a fantastic week, and that you have been able to take advantage of the last few days of summer. To me, this week really felt like a return to normalcy. I’m back at work after a two-week holiday, and most importantly, the kids are back at school! I now understand why my mother used to say that she did a little jig in the driveway once the school bus pulled away that day like it was an annual tradition. The house smelled so much sweeter, and the silence was almost deafening. Since I work online (thanks, Covid!) I was able to come upstairs during my lunch break, take in a few episodes of Hot Ones, and just enjoy the time alone. I really could have just watched paint dry; I would have been just as happy. Let’s hope the young ones’ school year goes as well as my wonderful week of solitude.

Of course, all this has a tie-in to our favourite defunct franchise. This week, we’re going back to the NHL Seals’ early days. Some traditions had already taken root, even by the season’s half-way point, notably the team’s penchant for long winless streaks. By the time the new year rolled around, the Seals were already knee deep in their second ten-plus game skein, which is when the focus of this week’s article, the infamous Christmas 1967 game versus Boston, occurred. Another unfortunate tradition that would begin that season was what I like to call the Kris Kringle Classic in which the Seals would gather around the face-off circle rather than around a Christmas tree. Seriously, the Seals played four of these things in their first five years before the NHL finally realized this was a stupid idea and an absolute morale killer. December 1967 wasn’t exactly a happy time in Oakland. Bert Olmstead was running the troops ragged. Home crowds were sparse. Rumours were swirling that the team was moving to Vancouver. The team wasn’t winning much. It seemed as though no one could find the back of the net except for Bill Hicke, who would score his 13th (in just 27 games) on this night, and George Swarbrick, who had ten. Now, the surging Bruins (and their fans!) were ready to administer a physical test to the weary Seals. You can read this week’s article from the Richmond (CA) Independent right here.

Enjoy the Labour Day long weekend! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! I hope you have all had a wonderful week and are taking full advantage of the weekend. I’m back from holidays and back for another round with you. We got to spend a few days at a campsite in a fully furnished camper, so we were fairly comfortable the whole time, and we got to toast a few marshmallows and have a few beers. No complaints on my end, but I’m still glad to be back and sleeping in my own bed.

And now down to business… this week, we’re going back to November 1972, just after the Seals have been humiliated 11-0 by the Toronto Maple Leafs in one of the most brutal contests the Seals had ever been a part of. This was the night when Jacques Plante was supposedly so bored that he pulled himself out of the net even though he was working on a shutout. The following night, however, the Seals were a completely different squad giving the Detroit Red Wings all they could handle. Thanks again to Bob Marceau for providing this week’s Seals article, which you can read right here.

On a closing note, I was approached by a writer who goes by the name “An Ashamed Leaf Fan” (I won’t reveal his real name) who has written a new book called 60 Years of Disappointment. If you are a Leafs fan, you may want to stay away from this one; there aren’t many mentions of 11-0 games in which the Leafs came out looking pretty. Then again, if you are a Leafs fan, you are probably a glutton for punishment, in which case, you will greatly enjoy the book. If you are NOT a Leafs fan, well, this book will definitely appeal to you, since it is a compact collection of all the Leafs’ greatest humiliations. No matter your position on Leaf matters, you will find it is both a creative and cathartic hockey history book, something which I don’t think I’ve ever read before. In some ways, the book is a Leafs version of my new book Mucking in the Corners in that it is a series of short stories, in this case the most infamous moments the Leafs have experienced since their last Stanley Cup triumph in 1967. There are even a few embarrassments which flew under the radar or have never really been explored in a larger historical context. The most distinguishing feature of the book is that after each story, there is a coloring activity, historical figure defacement, board game, alternate-reality activity, or Mad Lib (among other activities) to help ease the pain of incessant humiliation and exorcise a few decades-old demons. I thought the concept to be quite original. The book is not too long, so you can read it in a day or two, and if you have any other hockey fans in the house, you can print out activities (available at ALF’s website www.60yod.biz) and share the fun with them over and over. The Seals and Leafs didn’t have much in common, but one thing they did share was the complete inability to learn from their mistakes and put themselves on a winning track. Whether you are a Leafs fan or just a fan of hockey history, you will surely enjoy the stories, analyses, and activities in 60 Years of Disappointment, so be sure to check it out!

On that note, I wish you all a fantastic end of weekend, and I’ll see you all again in a week. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone!

This week, we’re going back to the NHL Seals’ early days, November 30, 1967 to be exact. The Seals were still then known as the California Seals, and still hadn’t earned the “doormat” reputation that would stick to them until their merger with Minnesota in 1978. Even though the club was a mediocre 4-13-1 at this point, they were still within striking distance of a playoff spot, a quest that wouldn’t be abandoned for another month when the team really hit the skids and seemed to get shut out on a nightly basis. In the waning days of November, however, the Seals were pretty much just like any of the other expansion teams. On this night, the Seals were in Philadelphia looking for their first-ever road win, and they played a beautiful game, not only outshooting the Flyers by a wide margin, but picking up the duke as well. You can read all about this game here. Thanks to Bob Marceau for sending the article my way!

I will be off on a family trip to the Eastern Townships for the next week, so no updates until early September, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything else here that won’t entertain you while I’m away. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to check out some preliminary content for my new book, Mucking in the Corners. There is a brief run-down of what the book is about and also a few links to postings on my Instagram page. If you’re looking for any publishing advice, I’m also posting a few pieces here and there about what you should and should not do, but of course, I’m only basing my opinion on my own experiences. Feel free to pass the links along to anyone who is looking for free advice. Nothing hockey related, really, just some advice on what gets a publisher’s attention, how to create a book proposal, and the pros and cons of self-publishing versus the traditional publishing route. Unlike a large portion of the people who are on Linked In or elsewhere, I’m not trying to sell any services, just trying to create some interest in my book, so no strings attached, folks, I swear!

Until next time, stay gold!