Welcome back! Ah, how I love the early NHL season! It’s always fun wondering when the story of the season is going to pop up on television screens and Internet sites. And then, all of a sudden it appears! In my own back yard, no less! I have to ask: Is anyone really surprised the Ottawa Senators crapped the bed once again? Can’t this team do anything right these days? Like more than a few corner men have said to their fighter: “I think you’re done. Just stay down; this ain’t your night.”

Sweet Lord, how bad has 2018 been for the Sens? First, Eugene Melnyk ruins the Heritage Classic by talking about moving the team. Then Erik Karlsson talks about signing a free-agent contract with someone else. Then Mike Hoffman’s girlfriend is accused of harassing Karlsson’s wife, causing both players to find themselves elsewhere before the start of the new season. Then, the Senators one-up themselves by going all Taxicab Confessions in an Arizona Uber! I may just have to induct the Senators’ 2018 into the Hockey Hall of Shame, because this may very well be the absolute worst calendar year ever strung together by a professional sports team ever. And remember that I have written an entire book about the California Golden Seals and I’m currently writing a book that heavily features the Washington Capitals’ 8-win 1974-75 season; I know a miserable season when I see one! Yeah, Ottawa has some problems, to say the least. They may have to hire Trump’s publicist one of these days, because no matter how idiotic his behaviour and comments, that guy is like a modern-day Chuck Wepner wrapped in Teflon. No matter how much you throw at him, nothing hurts him, and he just keeps coming back for more.

Current-day news aside, we’ve added a brand new feature article on San Francisco-California-Oakland Seals checker Gerry “The Hook” Odrowski. He never got much attention as a member of the Seals, but he was indeed a very valuable player, scoring the majority of his goals with the team while it was shorthanded, an incredible feat to say the least. Hope you enjoy this article from “the Maven” Stan Fischler!

I’m also sad to hear that Joel Quenneville has lost his job as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. He did a great job with that team over the years, and in the process he quietly crept up the all-time wins list. I’m sure he’ll find himself a new job real soon, but in the meantime, here’s one of his all-time worst cards, a true atrocity from his days as a Hartford Whaler.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! As you may have guessed by some of my previous posts, Hall of Shame entries, and otherwise snide remarks about all things blue-and-white, I don’t have a lot of room in my heart for Canada’s second greatest hockey franchise. Of course, I’m talking about the Edmonton Oilers and their sorta-recent history of winning Stanley Cups. (What other franchise did you think I was talking about? Who else could be Canada’s second-best franchise). I’m not really much of an Oilers fan although if they are in the playoffs I’ll cheer them on. I will especially cheer them on if they are taking on another Canadian franchise known for wearing blue and white: the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now I admit I chuckled a little bit when I found out Auston Matthews is going to be out until for the next four weeks or more, and that the Stanley Cup parade is on hold for the time being. And that got me thinking… can you put a parade route on retainer like one of Trump’s many, many lawyers? If so, no wonder the city of Toronto loves the Leafs because fifty-one years of street rental, wow, is that some nice coin or what! But I’m not a hard-hearted man, folks, and my beloved Habs had their own injury issues last year, and many other years previous. Leaf fans, I understand your pain. To prove I’m not trying to bask in your misery, I’m posting a rare article about a huge Leafs win against… the San Francisco Seals? You see, way back in September 1963, the Seals were the defending Lester Patrick Cup champions, and they took on the Leafs, who were the reigning Stanley Cup champs. That’s right: it’s NHL vs WHL in the ultimate grudge match! Or maybe it was just a pre-season exhibition game. I’ll let you decide.

And because it has been a while since we’ve posted any new articles, check out this other rare one from November 1961. The Seals were just starting their inaugural WHL season, and things were not going so well. They famously began the season on, get this, a 14-game road trip. Making matters worse was the Seals’ 1-8 record to start the season. And making matters even worse than that was the 11-1 shellacking they suffered against the Seattle Totems just three days before Halloween. The loss, and the immediate criticism the Seals received in the media, may have been the spark they needed to turn their season around. The team won three of the last four games of the trip, and eight of eleven overall as they made a slow, steady climb into a playoff spot.

Finally, we’re also bringing you a brand new induction to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame. This week, we are featuring former NHL player Jason Marshall in one of the worst hockey card photo you have ever seen.

Well, that’s it for this week. Keep coming back for more new stuff about the Seals, including stats updates, and the announcement of this year’s nominees for the 2019 Seals Hall of Fame! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! It’s been a difficult process double-checking all of my goaltender stats, but I’m starting to see some major progress. In fact, I had the opportunity to update two more stats packages this week! The first one is the one-and-only Definitive Seals/Barons Record Book. I’ve updated the shots on goal records for forwards and defenseman, first of all, but I also updated all single-game and career shots-on-goal records for goaltenders. I uncovered a few other mistakes in the document as well, so those have been corrected too. And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve also updated the All-Time Scoring and Goaltending Records. The stats for forwards and defensemen haven’t changed, but most of the goaltending stats are different, but these can now be considered “official” now that the NHL has released all of its game summaries and started publishing them on their website. Even the glorious Hockey-reference.com has updated their stats, so it’s a bit of a numbers revolution in professional hockey! Thanks go out to Chuck Nan who provided me with a few missing or questionable WHL attendance figures for this week’s stats update.

So that’s about it for this week. My plan is to keep updating the stats packages on the site, so when I get more done, I’ll add them. At the same time, I’ll be enjoying the early-season hockey, which has been great so far if you’re a fan of Canadian hockey teams. Who would have thought Montreal would be 5-2-2 at this point?

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Yes, like this week’s subject line indicates, I’ve included a massive new stats update to the site. As you may remember, the NHL published game summaries for every game in league history going all the way back to 1917-18. It was a bit of a mixed blessing for me personally. You see, I spent literally years putting together summaries for every Seals/Barons game, including shots on goal, attendance, minutes played by each goaltender, and more. I knew these statistics were never going to be perfect due to the fact all I had to go on was newspaper summaries, which in many cases, are rather spotty. Some newspapers were not well-scanned so numbers were difficult, if not impossible to read, other newspapers contradicted sources I had found, so it was a difficult task triangulating the right numbers. So while I was happy to find out that all game summaries were available in great detail on NHL.com, I was disheartened to find out these became available AFTER my book was published, which means there are a few stats which are unfortunately not correct in my book. I can take solace in knowing that pretty much every other hockey stats book that has ever been published is also riddled with mistakes. Some I was able to pick up myself, like the fact goaltender Bob Sneddon played seven career games, and not five like all NHL records had previously shown. Now the NHL has officially corrected that statistic on its website, not to mention several others, especially those relating to goaltenders. While other stats in my spreadsheet, like shots on goal, were, for the most part correct there were five or ten games in each season where I had to make a few updates. That being said, I am proud to present to you the new and improved Seals/Barons All-Time Game-by-Game Summary. Feel free to download it. After all, it really isn’t all my work. For the most part I had the stats down correctly in the first place, but the league helped a great deal at getting the Seals’ record straight. The next step is going to be updating the Seals and Barons goaltender register as well as the team record book, but that will be a project for another time.

I’d like to thank Bob Marceau for allowing me to use his outstanding Seals attendance spreadsheet. I was able to confirm many of my attendance stats from 1967 to 1976 thanks to his diligent work. In cases where there was a discrepancy between my findings and his, I indicated on the right of my attendance figures what Bob found. Hopefully, someday, we’ll be able to truly confirm all of the attendance figures much like the NHL has done with shots on goal, minutes played, and other game statistics. For the time being, however, I hope these updated stats answer a few of your questions and help you along with your own research.

This past Sunday, I was at the Capital Trade Show in Ottawa selling and autographing copies of my book, and it was a great experience. I sold a few copies, met some nice people, and made a few connections. Before the show even started, I was approached by a film crew from the local community access TV station, and they asked if they could interview me about the book. Of course I said yes, and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product. When it becomes available on YouTube, I will be sure to post the clip.

Well, that was one long update! Next week, I hope to have another stats package ready to go, so I’ll start working on that soon. In the meantime, don’t forget to keep spreading the word about the book. Ask your local library if they carry it, and if not, tell them to get off their butt and buy it. And if you’ve already read the book, please leave feedback anywhere you can on the Internet. You guys have been great at spreading the word, so keep it up! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! This week, we bring you a new article from January 1978 which describes a game in which the Barons mounted a failed comeback against the Montreal Canadiens. The fact the Barons even scored was enough of an accomplishment as the team never really had much success against Montreal. The Barons had gone on a pretty successful 4-1 stretch in early January to vault them back into playoff contention, and what was surprising about this was that they actually played four games in four nights. Then Pittsburgh came along on night number four to bring the Barons back to earth. The Barons then got three days off before Montreal came to Ohio. Maybe the Barons were a little loopy from all the games in a row, or perhaps from the three-day layoff, but Montreal came storming out to an insurmountable lead before the Barons made their comeback. Despite a few clunkers in January and early February, the Barons went 8-6-1 at one point and stayed within striking distance of the last “wild-card” spot. Yes, the 1977-78 season was one of the few back then which featured wild-card teams in the playoffs. Anyone who finished first or second was automatically accepted into the playoffs, while the other four playoff spots went to the next best third-and-fourth place teams. It was a good idea in that it allowed strong teams buried in the basement of a tough division to qualify for the playoffs. This short-lived playoff format provided a little excitement for Cleveland fans in what would prove to be the Barons’ last season in the NHL.

Also new to the site this week is a classic Joe Nieuwendyk card from the 1991-92 Topps Stadium Club. Sometimes, even the best of us has trouble tying our skates, but most of the time, when that happens, we don’t have a professional photographer capturing the moment for generations of hockey fans to enjoy in the comfort of their own home. Unless you count all those moments when strangers find us in the middle of awkward situations and start snapping away on their cell phones, in which case, you probably know exactly how Joe Nieuwendyk feels about this card. Or maybe not, since he’s currently sitting on a lifetime of hockey earnings and probably couldn’t care less about a card everyone’s has forgotten about. Everyone except me, that is, and you too very shortly.

For any of you who are going to be in the Ottawa area this Sunday, October 14, I will be at the Capital Trade Show, which is basically a sports card, memorabilia, and comic book show. I will be there from 10am to 3pm selling and signing copies of my book. The event will be taking place at Walkley Arena in the Jim Durrell Complex (1265 Walkley Road).

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Thanks for coming back once again! Glad you were able to tear yourself away from watching your favorite team start off yet another NHL season. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by Montreal’s first game, even though they lost in overtime to Toronto. I thought the Habs controlled the pace of the game, made nice crisp passes, and the defense held up nicely. Of course, “lots of shots and not many goals” has been Montreal’s mantra the last twenty-five years or so, so not everything was a total surprise. I have to say though, that I find this year’s line-up interesting. There aren’t any superstars up front, and the defense is pretty nondescript with the exception of Shea Weber, but I’m actually interested in seeing who will stand out this year and break out for 20 or 30 goals.

Check out the articles section for a new piece from the January 17, 1976 San Mateo Times. I haven’t posted any smaller articles about specific games in quite a while, so I thought this would be a good one, a rare blowout win for the Seals, this time over the fading New York Rangers. The article says it was a high-point for the season, and it was right. January 1976 was a very good time to be a Seals fan. The team went on a 7-1-1 stretch, easily the best nine-game period in club history. For the first time in years, the team was closing in on a playoff spot and a .500 record to boot. While neither of those things happened in the end, the franchise’s future never looked brighter.

After a brief break, we’re also back with a brand new induction in the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame: the classic 1970-71 Norm Beaudin rookie card! Not sure if you’ve ever seen this one before, but if not, be warned: once you see it, you cannot un-see it. Halloween is coming soon, so it might help you get into the spirit of the thing.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all of you! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Well, it has been one interesting week here in the Nation’s Capital. For the first time, as far as I can remember, in my 39 years of living in Eastern Ontario, we had a tornado touch down and cause significant damage to the area. And it wasn’t just one tornado either, but rather six that blew through the area. I had actually fired off my last site update just a few minutes before leaving the office around 5 o’clock. On the highway on my way home, I couldn’t understand how there were so many fire trucks speeding West towards the outskirts of town. I left work thinking, “oh, that’s interesting, we’re getting a little wind, and a few drops of rain; big deal…” Little did I know what was actually going on thanks to our crack team of meteorologists here in Ottawa who just happened to forget that a weather event just short of the apocalypse was about to terrorize over one million citizens. Also got no reminders from the Canadian government, which has started sending out creepy (and loud!) cell phone warnings when major weather events threaten to turn homes into rubble. Reminds me of the time I was driving down the 417 (that’s a four-lane highway that basically connects Ottawa to Montreal) to visit my parents in nearby Cornwall and they closed the damn road from Ottawa to the Quebec border because snow squalls had caused dozens of cars to plummet into the ditch at the side of the road. Of course, there wasn’t a single weather report anywhere to explain, you know, the fact that a four-lane highway had been completely shut down. Even when I arrived back home three hours later, the Internet mentioned nothing about a 100 kilometer stretch of four-lane highway being shut down. Uh, weather people… sometimes I wonder if they just lick their fingers and stick them out the window to predict the weather.

Anyway, I digress… I’m happy to say that we were very lucky in my neighborhood last weekend. Sure, the tornadoes caused parts of the city to lose power for several days, we only went 22 hours without the Simpsons, Internet and Keurig coffee. Compared to a lot of other people, we got off pretty damn lucky. No injuries, no damage to the house or yard. The kitties are all ok and continuing to be terrible at aiming their poop for the litter box. We didn’t even lose the ice cream that was in our freezer, nor did we have to throw out our coffee cream. That being said, I lost a few days of website prep time due to the fact we had no internet for the better part of the weekend, and the fact work was ridiculously busy, so just a small update this week, but I think you’ll like what I’ve added.

In the photos section, I’ve added some beautiful action shots of the Seals taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs, featuring a few Hall-of-Famers and Seals legends. These great photos all come from the archives of the Toronto Star.

I’ve also added a new article about the time Charlie Finley cut ticket prices in half. That happened back in 1972-73, when it became pretty obvious by mid-November or so that the Seals were definitely not going to be challenging for a playoff spot.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! The NHL pre-season is finally under way and my beloved Habs actually don’t look completely useless! Pretty nice win over New Jersey earlier in the week, and an impressive performance versus Washington on Thursday, so I’m happy. I don’t imagine this trend will continue, but after Vegas’s crazy first season, where absolutely everyone in the business of predicting hockey futures believed they were going to finish dead last, I have a hard time doubting anything anymore.

In honour of this year’s pre-season, this week, I’ve added Argosy‘s 1975-76 California Golden Seals team preview. Like the Vegas Golden Knights 42 years later, the 1975-76 Seals were also not expected to do much of anything. If it wasn’t for the expansion Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals, most experts would have probably picked the Seals to finish dead last, but the Seals were definitely heading in the right direction. 1975-76 would actually end up being one of their best seasons ever thanks to a bumper crop of rookies and sophomore stars, not to mention some rock-solid goaltending, a new and inspiring coach, and the promise of a new arena across the Bay.

The other new addition to the site this week is a lovely shot of San Jose Sharks legend Joe Thornton long before he became known for sporting the best beard this side of ZZ Top. I don’t have to tell you by now that it is a picture that will likely leave you with nightmares, but hey, we all need a reason to get up in the middle night in a cold sweat with a rapidly beating heart begging to leap out of your rib cage, right?

In case any of you are going to be in the Ottawa area October 14, I will be at the Walkley Arena/Jim Durrell Sports Complex from 10-3 selling and signing copies of my book as well as a few other articles I’ve written. I’ll be the one wearing the 1974-75 Seals jersey, so I’ll be hard to miss.

If you haven’t done so already, don’t be shy about spreading the word about Golden Seals Hockey! Tell your friends and colleagues who remember the Seals that they are still alive and well. Tell your friends about the Hockey Hall of Shame, the Overexposed wing, and our very special Hockeywood Disasterpieces.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Well, another week has come and gone, and my Montreal Canadiens have taken yet another step towards total dismantlement, this time sending Max Pacioretty to the land of craps and gambling chaps for a mercurial forward, a prospect, and a draft pick. Could the Habs have done worse? Probably. Could they have done better. Absolutely, had they not dragged out the whole our-captain-is-soon-to-be-a-free-agent-so-let’s-trade-him-now-to-get-something-in-return-but-not-before-dragging-this-out-all-over-the-media-for-months-on-end fiasco. I’ve always had a wait and see attitude when it comes to trades and free agent signings, so I’ll reserve judgment until the season is at least half over, but in my experience, Montreal almost always comes out on the losing end of blockbuster trades. Need I remind anyone of Subban for Weber? Whatever happened to the days when they fleeced the Seals for first-round picks and got Hall of Famers to just fall into their laps? Anyway, the NHL is full of trades involving draft picks that turned into winners, so who knows where this here trade will end up on the list of greatest or worst trades. Remember when the Quebec Nordiques were criticized for letting Dale Hunter go to Washington for a first-round pick? I’m sure their general manager thought he would never hear the end of it. That is, until they drafted Joe Sakic shortly afterwards, and well, you all know how that went. Poor Joe. The kid just never stood a chance, really ;), so I’ll wait and see whether or not Tomas Tatar, Nick Suzuki, or the team’s future second-round pick materialize into something of substance for Montreal before passing judgment.

Same goes for the other big trade that happened in my neck of the woods. I’m of course talking about Erik Karlsson heading off to the Seals’ indirect descendants, the San Jose Sharks. Can’t say I disagree with San Jose’s logic with this one. Wow, is that going to be one scary offensive blue line with Karlsson and Brent Burns! What I do find baffling, however, is how the people of my current home town have reacted. For the most part, everyone seemed either shocked or offended, or both at the recent turn of events. Why? I don’t know. It’s not like this was a surprise; they were talking about trading Karlsson, or at least the possibility of him not resigning since January! And the return for Karlsson? What did you expect, Sidney Crosby? Everyone knew he was heading out of town, so they held Pierre Dorion’s head over a barrel and told him to accept a bunch of prospects and draft picks or else he would get nothing. Dorion chose the first option. I don’t want to get into the blame game over who caused Karlsson’s departure, but needless to say, after months of speculation and rumours, I wasn’t surprised in the least by what happened on Thursday.

Anyhow, back to the subject of this here website: the California Golden Seals. This week, I’ve got a great new article for y’all from November 1971, a great time in franchise history when everything seemed to be going right. The team started the year off horribly, going winless in their first seven games, but then they turned it around, thanks in part to a rookie goalie named Gilles Meloche, and by November, they were firmly in a playoff spot, even harboring thoughts of finishing as high as third place in the West Division. While that didn’t quite work out, 1971-72 was a fun season until about March when everything went to hell.

Also, I’ve added a few autograph photos to the photo section, so be sure to check them out as well.

Until next time, stay gold!

 

Hi everyone! Well, it’s that time of year again. The kids are off to school, and that includes my little lad too. Hopefully, with him going back to his old sleep schedule, that will mean more time for watching hockey. While the NHL gets itself ready to kick off its 2018-19 season, I’ve been busy writing a new induction to the Hockey Hall of Shame! This week, I’d like to turn your attention to the Ottawa Senators and their legendarily bad 1992 Expansion Draft. If youhaven’t figured it out, this would be the “bonehead” reference in the title of this week’s blog entry.

In the articles section, there is a new piece about Wayne “Bones” Merrick, who was traded to the Seals early in the 1975-76 season, and who made a significant impact his first and only season in Oakland. Blues fans were in love with the guy, and when he left they were more than disappointed in their team’s management. While Larry Patey, who went the other way in the trade, became a solid contributor in St. Louis, particularly on their penalty kill, he struggled early on in Missouri, but he too enjoyed a nice career with the Blues, and was by the way, a very good interview as well.

To finish things off this week, just a reminder that I will be appearing at the Ottawa Capital Fair on October 14, location still to be determined, but if you interested in attending, I can send you a link to the event website. I will be the one wearing the white Seals jersey, but I’m sure you would have figured that out anyway. Also, don’t forget to keep spreading the news about my book, but I should know that I don’t have to ask; you guys have been awesome in doing that already. Ask for it in your local libraries, write comments online about it, give it a star rating on Amazon, whatever… all publicity is appreciated.

Until next time, stay gold!