Hi everyone! The Seals were never terribly successful against the Montreal Canadiens, especially at the famous Forum, but in 1971-72, thanks to a rookie goalie by the name of Gilles Meloche, the Seals managed to tie the Habs three times in their five-game season series. The most dramatic and controversial of those three draws was the Habs-Seals tilt from February 16, 1972. It was a somewhat sloppy contest that featured three “delay of game” penalties, one of which pissed off Seals coach Vic Stasiuk because it may have cost his team a win and his goaltender a shutout. According to reports in the following day’s Montreal Gazette, Meloche beat out Yvan Cournoyer to an errant puck, and in the process knocked the puck into the crowd. According to NHL rules a goaltender is not allowed to toss the puck into the crowd, intentionally or not. Of course, on the ensuing power-play Pete Mahovlich scored to tie the game at 1-1, which is how the contest ended. The Gazette claimed that Meloche “deliberately” tossed the puck into the crowd. Meloche claimed he was just trying to dump the puck out of the Seals’ zone. Were the Seals screwed, or were Seals just screwy for thinking they had a case? I’ll leave that up to you to decide. So this week, two new articles from that February 17, 1972 Montreal Gazette, both of which you can read right here. They are a couple of beauties! You’ll love reading these.

Until next time, stay gold!