Hi everyone! This week’s Seals article comes from the dreadful 1972-73 season when the team enjoyed a surprising amount of success against teams like Boston, Chicago, and the New York Rangers. Yet, for some reason they just couldn’t be the 30-point New York Islanders. Go figure. Of course, when speaking about the Seals, the term “success” is rather relative. You see, the Seals picked up ties against the three aforementioned teams, and for the season they went a combined 1-10-4, but when you lose half your team to another league, and win all of four games by Christmas, you twist around whatever word you can to try and make it sound positive. You can find the article here.

This week, in the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, we present to you a delightful piece of cardboard featuring former NHL star John Tonelli, who definitely had a different definition (the right one) of the word “success”! You see, Tonelli won four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders during their early 1980’s heyday, and he also participated in two other Cup finals, and he was a two-time Second Team All-Star to go along with his 325 career goals and 836 career points. You’re gonna love this Tonelli card, especially if you have anger issues, hate referees, or just enjoy people making funny faces that probably weren’t meant to be funny.

And that brings me (in the worst segue ever) to my weekly shill-fest… I must remind you that Christmas is now less than a month away, and if you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping yet, and are still looking for a great gift for great aunt Gladys, you can still pick up my book, The California Golden Seals: a Tale of White Skates, Red Ink, and One of the NHL’s Most Outlandish Teams, over at Amazon for the low, low price of… honestly I have no idea; Amazon keeps changing it like every 15 minutes, but it’s under $30 bucks U.S. most days, so head on over there now to pick up one for that special elderly aunt of yours, and pick up another for uncle Bernie too while you’re at it.

Until next time, stay gold!