Hi everyone! This week, we’re continuing our trip through the 1975-76 season and putting the spotlight on one of the Seals’ less-heralded players, the late Bob Girard. I really didn’t know what kind of introduction to write for this week’s article, which I had randomly picked out a few days ago from a couple of articles sent to me by Pete Manzolillo. I thought I would just take a gander at HockeyReference.com to see if today had any special significance in Bobby Girard’s life. Lo and behold, it turns out that April 12 (1949) is his birthday, so I was pretty blown away by the coincidence. In fact, I was actually going to post this yesterday, not at all knowing the significance of April 12, but since I got held up with other things I decided to wait until today. Nevertheless, it turns out that my arbitrary choice of article was rather fitting. Girard’s rookie season ranks as one of the best in franchise history, but since he was a less flashy player than Dennis Maruk and Bob Murdoch, and he was known more for his work in the corners, he received little attention from the press, but Joe DeLoach wrote a nice piece on Girard for one of the Seals’ game programs, which you can read right here.

FYI, I will be away next weekend, so there will be no new posting, but I will be back the following week. Happy Easter to all, if you celebrate the holiday, and if you don’t, please enjoy the four-day weekend. Hopefully, spring will be in full force by that time, and snow storms will be a thing of the past.

Until next time, stay gold!