Hi everyone!  After almost three weeks away, we’re back and bringing you a whole whack of cool new stuff both Seals and non-Seals related.  I had to take a break from the website due in part to vacation time with the family, as well as a computer malfunction that forced me to bring my laptop in to the shop for a week or so.  But now that everything is back to normal, I can finally get back down to business.

New to the site this week, we have a brand new original article detailing the California Golden Seals-Philadelphia Flyers rivalry that existed from 1973 to 1978.  When I interviewed many players for my upcoming book, I was surprised that most of them said their biggest rivals were St. Louis, Boston, and Los Angeles.  St. Louis, I could never quite understand, except maybe for the fact they were the West Division’s top dogs for the first three years of expansion, and the Seals used to have a heck of a time beating them.  Boston usually annihilated the Seals when they met, so the Seals probably didn’t think too fondly of the Bruins, but nothing really dirty happened between the two teams to call it a “rivalry”.  Los Angeles doesn’t surprise me so much, I guess, since the Kings were a state rival, and the Bay Area is always looking to beat their neighbours to the south, but other than the 1968-69 seven-game playoff series between the Seals and Kings, very little animosity seemed to exist between the teams according to the newspaper articles I read.  What surprised me in the interviews I conducted was that no one mentioned Philadelphia as being the Seals’ biggest rival, because these two teams had some pretty nasty moments.  I mean, really nasty!  So nasty, in fact, that several players were suspended, penalty records were set, dozens of stitches were required to sew up wounds, and four-letter expletives were thrown around in subsequent newspaper interviews.  I present you with what I’ve learned about the Seals-Flyers rivalry, and you can find it in the articles section.

The other new addition to the site this week is a new Overexposed card featuring the Winnipeg Jets’ Pat Elynuik, who you may not know was the world’s biggest fan of Topps hockey cards.  In fact, he may be the owner of more 1991-92 and 1992-93 Topps hockey cards than anyone on the planet.  At least, that’s the impression I got from his 1992-93 Topps Stadium Club card.  Check out the Overexposed section to find out for yourself.

I hope everyone is enjoying the playoffs and that their teams are playing to their expectations.  If you’re on your laptop reading this while watching the game, check out the survey section to the right of your screen and vote for the Seals player you feel should be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame.  If you like reading these pieces every week, and you enjoy the content on the site, sign up for my e-mail updates letting you know when I add anything to the site.

Until next time, stay gold!