Hi everyone! Just got home from another busy day at the office, and I was delighted to find my brand new replica 1974-75 Seals home jersey in my mailbox! It’s not exactly like the ones we’ve all seen in hockey cards, but I love that jersey’s colours and design, so I took what I could get as most replicas are sorry excuses for a jersey. I really think some people are designing Seals jerseys in their basements and trying to pass them off as the real thing on eBay. This one, though, looks almost the same as the real thing, and it even comes complete with a “27” on the back (no “Meloche” though). I’m looking forward to wearing it to my next book sale, which will take place October 14, at the Ernst & Young Centre in Ottawa. It’s going to be a sports card and memorabilia show, which should help me push a few units, and I’ll even have a few other short articles for sale as well, so it should be an interesting day, although most of the money I make, I’ll probably sink it right back into hockey cards and magazines, so I’m not expecting to strike it rich no matter how many copies I sell.

I was looking through my archives for some new and interesting articles about the Seals, and I came across one from the Society for International Hockey Research’s 1999 Annual Research Journal. Scott Surgent, who has compiled data on the World Hockey Association for many years, wrote a wonderful piece on the Seals Booster Club, which I’m sure you will enjoy whether you yourself are a member or not.

Of course, I have to mention this week’s new induction to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame. Travel back in time to when you first learned to skate. Remember going out onto the ice for the first time and both pushing an old wooden chair around while at the same time hanging on for dear life? Well, Kevin MacKay of the Windsor Spitfires probably wished he had said chair the moment this picture was taken, and you can check it out here!

That’s about it for new stuff this week. I’m looking for some articles about the late Paul Shmyr, but I’ve yet to find any, so if anyone has one of him, please pass it along and I’ll be sure to post it.

I’d also like to remind everyone, as usual, to keep posting those comments about my book on Amazon, Goodreads, Library Thing, YouTube, or any other website that allows you to post comments about books and other creative ventures. Good publicity is always helpful and keeps the book in the public eye long after it’s been published. If you don’t want to spend the money to pick it up for yourself, head on over to your local library to borrow it, and if the library doesn’t have it, ask the person at the counter to get it.

Thanks again, all of you, for your continued support! Until next time, stay gold!

 

Hi everyone! I’m back and I’ve got lots of new stuff to share. Had a great holiday with the family. Got a chance to read Moneyball, the great baseball insider’s book about the Oakland A’s of the early 2000s, and I advanced quite a bit on my new book on the early years of the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts. The little one got to spend lots of time with his friends, and for the most part, he hung on to his uncle Mark like a cape on Superman. I also got my first royalty check while I was away so that was pretty cool ($264,000!… just kidding), not to mention the new Hockey News season preview issue (Spoiler alert: Montreal is going to suck badly this year too), and George Swarbrick and Gerry Pinder autographed cards (I’ll post those soon along with a few other great custom cards I’ve had signed recently).

It’s been a while since I posted anything related to the Cleveland Barons so this week I’m posting two interesting pieces that I discovered in my archives. The first article is about how the Cleveland Barons’ logo was created. I don’t know who wrote it, however, and I’ll I know about it is that I found it years and years ago on a long-defunct site called The Cleveland Barons Retrospective. The other article, from the Cleveland Press, is about how the 1976-77 Barons looked to build their team like the Montreal Canadiens, that is stressing skill and speed rather than muscle, like the Philadelphia Flyers had done with such success. Of course, in the 1976 playoffs, the Canadiens had handed the Flyers an embarrassing four-game thrashing and wrested the Stanley Cup from the Bullies, and it would remain in Montreal for four years before moving on to Long Island and Edmonton, two other teams who possessed a dazzling array of talent. While the Barons never came close to capturing that elusive Cup, they never did jump on the goon band-wagon either. Today, the Barons, and the Seals, are known for their skill players rather than their tough guys.

In the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, we have a feature on former Seals draft pick Chris Oddleifson, whose rookie card is… intimidating-looking to say the least. You’ll have to check it out for yourself to see what I mean, unless you already own the card. In this case, you’ve probably already been scarred for life and don’t really need to be reminded of past horrors. Enjoy!

Until next time, stay gold!

 

Hi everyone! It’s been a long time since I’ve written a new article for the site, so this week I give you my take on what the Seals/Barons’ all-time greatest team would look like if you combined the best players from all eras in franchise history. Hope you enjoy it!

Also, there is a new induction in the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, a 1994-95 card of a quizzically confused-looking Kevin Dineen. Poor dude, I just feel like helping him out so badly, but I don’t know what I can do to ease his pain. Head on over there to find out what I mean.

As mentioned in this week’s headline, I will be on holidays next week, and probably won’t have access to much in the way of Internet service, so there will be no update next week. To keep you busy in the meantime, might I suggest a few older postings? Here are some of my favorite classic Overexposed inductions, which you may or may not have already read. We got Dan Cleary, acting irresponsibly with a sharp metal blade, we got The Memorial Cup-winning Oshawa Generals cozying up to their favorite TV set, and we got Pat Elyniuk pawning off his worthless 1991-92 Topps collection. And of course, we’ve also got one of my favorite Hockey Hall of Shame inductions, the incredibly awful movie MVP: Most Valuable Primate. MVP? Ha! The only award this movie would ever win would be “Most Frustrating and Asinine Hockey Movie of All-Time.”

Until next time, stay gold!

 

Hi everyone! As I was surfing the Net looking for new stuff on the Seals, I came across a great article on goaltender Ted Tucker, who you may remember played 5 games for the Seals during their awful 1973-74 season. He surprisingly came out of the experience sporting a .500 record, which should have qualified him for a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame. A few weeks ago, I included a link to an article about the various draft picks of the Cleveland Barons written by Nathaniel Oliver of the Hockey Writers. This week, I present to you another great article from Mr. Oliver, and you can find it in the articles archive here, or you can visit his site, Musings of a Hockey Enthusiast for other articles on various other hockey topics. The online version of the article can be found here as well.

And for those of you always looking to dig deeper into the weird world of hockey, I present to you this week’s Overexposed subject: former NHL and WHA defenseman Al McLeod gettin’ in the Christmas spirit, I think. As usual, I don’t really know what’s going on in these cards; I just interpret them as best I can. You can check out Al here.

Keep that feedback coming, folks, as I love reading all your stories and memories of the Seals. If you haven’t already picked up a hardcover or Kindle version of my book, I encourage you to do so, not just because I wrote it and I think it is awesome (it seriously is!), but because if you’re here, that means you’re probably a Seals fan, and if you’re a Seals fan, this book is going to be a real page-turner that is going to cost you some sleep time. Don’t worry, you can catch up on your sleep reading somebody’s else’s book afterwards. That sound like a good deal? Cool. I knew you’d see things my way. You’re awesome, by the way, and you are definitely looking like you’ve lost weight!

If, however, you already have full bookshelves, and you just can’t bare to replace that copy of How to Make Friends and Influence People with my book, I completely understand. In your case, if you’re lucky, you might also be able to find the book at your local library, as I’ve heard rumors it is starting to find its way here and there across North America. If you’re looking for it, and your library doesn’t have it, ask them what they are waiting for and then politely ask them, nay, demand, that they pick it up so you and other like-minded individuals can read it too. Tell them it might help encourage world peace or something. You never know, they might be convinced.

Until next time, stay gold!

 

Hi everyone! As you can tell by the headline in this week’s blog entry, it’s been hotter than Hades here in Ottawa, and I’m guessing a bit warmer than normal where you live too. It’s been a tad better this week at the homestead since the drought we’ve endured for the last month has finally come to an end, but that doesn’t mean you’ve all been so lucky, so I thought it would be fun to introduce a couple of new site additions related to fire and heat.

This week, I’ve added a great, rare article from the February 1968 issue of Hockey Pictorial, which has long been out of circulation. The subject of today’s article is Seals great Charlie Burns, (Get it? Heat? Burns?… Are those crickets I hear?) the only man to both play for and coach the team in either league. He actually did both at the same time during the 1966-67 season, which is unheard of in today’s modern professional game, but the double-dipping was pretty common back then. Burns had been used as a penalty-killer throughout most of his earlier NHL career, but he proved in San Francisco that he had some serious offensive talent. He clawed his way back to the NHL in 1967, and had an excellent season in California during the team’s first NHL campaign. Of course, he had also played four years for the team when it was still known as the San Francisco Seals, winning the Lester Patrick Cup in 1963-64. Almost every year, Burns was among the team’s scoring leaders, which was due in part to his grit and determination mixed in with just enough skill to carve out a pretty good hockey career in both the NHL and WHL.

And boy do we have a GREAT card for you in the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame. Overexposed is certainly the correct term for this week’s entry since I got lots to say about this one, perhaps the most I’ve ever written about one single card. Yes, there is that much going on here. There is fire, farting, White Castle, cheap advertising, multiple languages, and more! I also have no freakin’ idea where this thing came from. If anyone has any information on this card, I’ll be sure to post it.

That’s about it for new stuff. Be sure to come back again next week for more Seals-related material, and Hall of Shame lunacy. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another great edition (Can I call it that?) of Golden Seals Hockey! Some truly great stuff has been put up on the site this week, so check this out…

This week, I’ve posted a great, rare article from Sports Illustrated entitled “These Seals Refuse to Play Dead”. It is one of the first real (as in not found in my local newspaper) articles I ever found about the Seals. I went to the Cornwall Public Library sometime in the mid-1990s and looked through its Sports Illustrated archives hoping to find anything related to the Seals. This was back when I was in high school and I was starting to plan for my book by picking up whatever information I could find. Of course, this was before the Internet had anything of value on it, so it took a real long time to get all of my facts together… about twenty years or so. There really was not much in the library’s archives, however, since the Seals were never a huge topic of conversation in the 1970s, so they never got much ink outside of the Bay Area. In fact, the Seals are probably a bigger topic of conversation today. Back in the 70s, much like now, S.I. spent more time focusing on baseball and football, so hockey didn’t get much coverage at all unless it had to do with Bobby Orr or the Philadelphia Flyers. So when I found this article, I was pretty stoked. I just thought about it a few days ago while I was brushing my teeth or something, and I realized I had never scanned it, along with a few other long articles from vintage magazines I’ve collected over the years, so I’m going to start posting a few of those in the coming weeks too.

And in the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, an induction that has been begging for entry for many a month now. I’m talking about the classic 1992-93 Parkhurst card of Philadelphia Flyers legend Ed Van Impe. Ed was a pretty tough nut who bent more than a few rules back in the day. We all remember his vicious cross check on one of the Soviet Red Army players (I forget who, perhaps Kharlamov?) when the Flyers played the Russians during the 1976 Super Series. In this card commemorating his career, however, he definitely doesn’t strike fear in anyone’s eye.

Not much else to add other than that. Summer time is quite slow when it comes to hockey, and sports in general unless you’re a baseball fan. And in that case, there’s a good chance your team is already a lock to miss the playoffs. Damn Blue Jays!! Don’t forget to keep sending in your questions, comments, and feedback. Always a pleasure to hear from you! Also, don’t forget to leave some feedback about my book the next time you visit Amazon.com!

Until next time, stay gold!

 

Hi everyone! This week is the 42nd anniversary of the Seals’ official announcement that they would be moving to Cleveland for the 1976-77 season. To commemorate this moment every year, we always do a little something extra here on the site, and we also induct new members to Seals Hall of Fame. Thanks to everyone who voted over the last few months, and also to those who voted a second time to help break the four-way tie for the final spot in this year’s group of inductees. As you may remember from last week, Bert Marshall and Rick Hampton were both inducted on the first ballot, and I’m happy to announce that Walt McKechnie will be joining the two defensemen in the Hall. You can read all about their careers with the Seals and Barons right here.

New to the site this week, we have a new article from the Oakland Tribune about the Seals’ one-season wonder Dennis Hextall. He really came into his own in 1970-71, scoring a team-leading 52 points, but that would be small potatoes compared to the numbers he would put up in Minnesota after the Seals traded him there for Joey Johnston and Walt McKechnie. All in all, that wasn’t a bad trade for either team. Hextall was definitely no choir boy, as you probably know, and in his one-season with California, he was a one-man wrecking crew taking on all comers.

There is also a new induction to the Hockey Hall of Shame’s Overexposed wing. This time, it is an absorbing, sensitive, black-and-white exposé of… ah, who are we kidding here; it’s just a really goofy, unnecessary photo of Glen Murray that never should have seen the light of day, and you can find it right here.

To complete the trifecta of new material, I’m also including a link to a brand new article about the history of the Cleveland Barons’ draft picks. Actually a pretty short history, because, as you may or may not know, the Barons only participated in one amateur draft, that being the 1977 edition. The year prior, the team was still known as the Golden Seals, and the year after, the Barons merged with the Minnesota North Stars. Check out Nathaniel Oliver’s article at the Hockey Writers web site: https://thehockeywriters.com/cleveland-barons-nhl-draft-history/.

Until next time, stay gold!

 

Hi everyone! Well, I went and spoiled the surprise, didn’t I? I wasn’t paying attention when I was writing up this entry, and I accidentally hit “publish” instead of “save” and so you all got to see two-thirds of the Seals Hall of Fame inductees for 2018. It was kind of a stressful day, so my brain was not in full-on website updating mode.

The newest inductees to the Seals Hall of Fame are (tada!) Bert Marshall (17.3% of the total votes) and Rick Hampton (11.5%). The third inductee is none other than… wait a minute, what’s this? A four-way tie for third place? Walt McKechnie, Joe Starkey, Bill Hicke, and Charlie Burns all ended up with 9.6% of the vote. Whatever are we going to do? I’ll tells ya: we’re gonna have a one-week final vote to determine who gets in this year. I said there wouldn’t be much of an update this week due to the fact I’ll be preparing some stuff for next week’s Hall of Fame induction, but when I saw there was a four-way tie for the last spot in the Hall, I needed to think of some way to determine who would get in this year, so I’m turning to you once again…

If you check out the right-hand side of the page, there is a new survey. Please choose the person you feel is most deserving of the last spot in the 2018 Seals Hall of Fame inductee list. This time, however, you can only vote once. The deadline will be next Friday, July 13th, and the winner will be announced the following week.

If you like surveys, I’d also like to draw your attention to the Greatest Individual Achievement in Franchise History poll, which can be found right here.

As usual, I’m also going to remind you to head on over to Amazon.com to leave some feedback about my book, if you haven’t done so already. So far, the feedback has been great, and it has definitely helped push a few units, so please keep it up, folks!

As always, thanks for your support, comments, and feedback! Until next time, stay gold!

 

Hi everyone! It’s been a bit of a rough week for Steve. Work has been super stressful this week due to the fact it’s summer time, meaning we are constantly short-staffed due to the summer holidays, but that also means the paycheques are getting bigger due to an increase in hours, so I can’t complain too much. I just wish I had more time to devote to this site and to my writing, which when I don’t get to do, I tend to get a little stressed, and frankly, a little cranky because writing is my drug. Well, unless I have a fridge full of Alexander Keith’s amber ales, then THAT’S my drug of choice. But writing is second, so it’s nice to finally get the chance to put down a few thoughts down. Luckily for me, it’s the weekend, but not just any other weekend; it’s Canada Day weekend, meaning three full days off, and since it is going to be disgustingly hot and humid in Ottawa the next few days, I’ve got an excuse to stay inside and relax and write.

Last weekend was the Ottawa Small Book Fair, which I attended with absolutely no expectations. I told my wife I would be surprised if I sold three or four copies, and she was surprised I would set my bar so low. There’s a reason for that. At the Seals/Barons 50th anniversary event last October, I sold fifteen books, which I was informed by other writers in attendance that this total was pretty impressive and that I should not expect such luck at all book signings. It’s also important to remember that literally everyone there had some sort of connection or devotion to the Seals, so I wasn’t all that surprised people were excited to fork over $40 for a signed copy. This time around, however, I didn’t sell a single copy, but I still consider the Small Book Fair to be a success because 1) most of the writers there were selling poetry and paperback novels which were selling for less than $20 (some poetry was self-published in small booklets, so they were going for just a few bucks each). My fancy hardcover book didn’t stand much of a chance; 2) I got to meet some great writers, and we all got to bounce ideas off each other; and 3) I now know where I’ll try to sell books in the future, and I have some great ideas on how to promote my work, so all in all, not a bad time at all this past weekend. Considering it costs just $12.50 for a half-table, I’ll probably try my luck again this fall.

As for new stuff on the site this week, there is a new article on the little-remembered Finley ultimatum from September 1970. When Finley bought the Seals during the summer, he thought many players hadn’t pulled their own weight the season before, which is an odd thing to say since Finley was not even there when the Seals got swept by Pittsburgh in the first round of the playoffs.

There is also a brand new induction to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame. It is a screaming good time, I can promise you that.

Next week, there will be no update as I’ll be preparing for the big reveal: Who will be the three new inductees to the Seals Hall of Fame? Voting will officially end Friday, July 6, so if you haven’t voted yet, do so before it’s too late. The newest inductees will be announced the following week, July 13.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Hope everyone enjoyed the NHL awards last night. I thought it was actually pretty good, and low on the typical cheese factor. Not too many hokey hockey jokes, which was a nice change, and the tribute to the Humboldt Broncos was rather nice. Overall, it was a classy affair with lots of entertainment value, even though my Habs went unrepresented, not that they had done much this season to deserve any cameo appearances in Vegas unless they wanted to play a little Blackjack on their desert golf trip.

With the NHL awards over and done with, that means the official end of the 2017-18 season, which means it’s draft time. And that means lots of trades to go along with the addition of several potential new star players to the league. To commemorate the high-point of the summer trading season, I’ve added an article about one of the Seals’ most famous trades: Carol Vadnais and Don O’Donoghue for Reggie Leach, Bobby Stewart, and Rick Smith. Simply put, it was one of the Seals’ best trades. Leach became a huge star in the mid-70s, and Stewart was a solid, tough defenseman for California and Cleveland for over six years. Smith didn’t stay long in Oakland, but he also enjoyed a pretty good career mostly spent with the Boston Bruins and the MInnesota Fighting Saints of the WHA. Vadnais, of course, went on to play over 1,000 NHL games, and he won a Stanley Cup with Boston in 1972, so the Bruins got exactly what they were hoping for in the deal. I can only hope that Montreal got themselves a pretty good player in Max Domi, but he seems to be yet another small forward, which Montreal has plenty of, and I have a bad feeling when Galchenyuk gets to Arizona, he is going to play at centre, and he is going to kill it. Besides, Domi had only 9 goals last year, and 4 were empty-netters. I’m hoping those were fluke numbers, but to paraphrase Gob Bluth, I believe the Canadiens have made a huge mistake…

And as usual, it’s time for me to shill a little bit…

This week, I’d like to ask you all to head over to Amazon to write a short review of my book, The California Golden Seals: a Tale of White Skates, Red Ink, and One of the NHL’s Most Outlandish Teams. If you prefer though, another you can do to help out would be to request the book at your local library, and I mean ANY library. The most libraries know about the book, and the more people request it, the more libraries are going to bite.

Time is also running out to cast your votes for the 2018 Seals Hall of Fame, so get to clicking on the right-hand side of the page. The leading vote-getters will be announced in three weeks!

Until next time, stay gold!