“Blues Leave Inept Seals Feeling Sad” (by Hugh McDonald) – Dec. 11, 1967 – download here

The 1967 expansion teams didn’t have much luck scoring goals, but that didn’t really surprise anyone considering the talent that was mined in the June draft that stocked the NHL’s newest entries. No one could have predicted just how difficult scoring goals would be for the Oakland Seals. Their 153 goals for was the benchmark for futility until the 1997-98 Tampa Bay Lightning somehow scored just 151 goals despite playing eight more games. By the mid-way point of the Seals’ first season they had been shutout nine times, and were held to two goals or less 28 times! On December 9, however, the Seals were still in the playoff hunt thanks to some excellent defensive play, but the 1-0 result against St. Louis was a microcosm of their entire season.

 

“Canadien Goalie Picked 1st By Seals” (by Spence Conley) – June 6, 1967 – download here

Meet your 1967-68 California Seals!  Don’t get too used to the name though; it would be just 25 games before the team became the Oakland Seals.  This article was published in the Oakland Tribune in June 1967.

“Seals Pick New Site To Train” (by Spence Conley) – June 27, 1967 – download here

The Seals hadn’t even played a single game and turmoil was already running the show in Oakland. Rudy Pilous was suddenly fired less than a month after the expansion draft, which forced the team to change its plans to hold its training camp in St. Catharines, Ontario, the home town of the Seals’ former general manager.

“Late Seal Scores Tie Kings” (by Spence Conley) – Sep. 22, 1967 – download here

Need proof Jacques Plante was once a member of the California Seals?  Here is an Oakland Tribune article detailing his first and last game with the Bay Area’s NHL entry.

“Bert Olmstead of the Seals” (by Hugh McDonald) – Oct. 7, 1967 – download here

On the eve of the Seals’ first NHL season, the San Mateo Times profiled the team’s first coach.  The article contains some rare photos of the Seals’ uniforms before they took on the more familiar leaping Seal design.  Part two of the profile can be accessed here.

“Stiff Seals Earn Draw With Kings” (by Spence Conley) – Oct. 19, 1967 – download here

This is an interesting game in Seals history in that it bridges the gap between the very, very brief period in which the Seals were the best team in the NHL, and the very, very long period of time in which the Seals were the very worst in the league. Early Seals stars Gerry Ehman, Bill Hicke, Kent Douglas, and Charlie Hodge were all over the game summary, but the Seals’ play that night, described as “stiffer than steel” foreshadowed the next eleven years of struggling and losing. While the Seals wrangled a tie on this night, it also marked the end of their three-game undefeated streak to start the season, and the beginning of the sad, long, drawn-out end of the franchise.

“The Helmet Line Bio” – Nov. 7, 1967 – download here

The 1967-68 Seals were not exactly known for their offensive prowess, and there really weren’t many highlights for the team that season.  As the Seals hit the skids in mid-October, one unexpected trio started lighting it up: the Helmet Line.  What was the Helmet Line, you ask?  This combination got its name due to the fact two of its members, Charlie Burns and rookie Mike Laughton both wore helmets.  The line’s third member, George Swarbrick, skated around sans headgear.  This short blurb from the Oakland Tribune presents the three members of the line.

“Seals Lose Again; Face Leafs” – Nov. 8, 1967 – download here

This second article comes the day after the Helmet Line was presented to Bay Area fans.  While the Helmet Line was enjoying their short-lived success, the Seals still couldn’t build upon their momentum.

“Seals’ Streak Already in Jeopardy” (by Hugh McDonald) – Nov. 16, 1967 – download here

You could already tell the season was not going to be a great one by the tedious 15-game winless streak the Seals endured in October and November 1967. Olmstead’s comments to the press afterwards hint at the growing frustrations he was feeling behind the bench of this expansion team, not to mention that there were already grumblings about Olmstead’s prickly relationship with the local media. In case you’re wondering, while the Seals’ win streak did in fact come to an end the next night vs. Detroit, the game ended in a 1-1 tie, which was the middle-game of a then-franchise-record tying three-game undefeated streak, the last game of which was the historic first match-up between the Seals and Montreal Canadiens, which you can also read about in the Seals/Barons articles section.

“Bright Future For 70% Seals” (by Hugh McDonald) – Nov. 20, 1967 – download here

The Seals’ first NHL season did not get off to a great start. After winning its first two games, the team went into a horrible tailspin that they never fully recovered from. Here and there were a couple of impressive wins, but not much momentum could be gained, although in mid-November, it looked as though the team was starting to turn a corner. On this one night, November 18, 1967, the Seals snatched a 2-1 win over the visiting Montreal Canadiens, who were making their first ever West coast road trip since the old, old Western Hockey League stopped competing for the Stanley Cup. It was also their first-ever game against the Seals, giving the newbies an all-time 1.000 winning percentage against the NHL’s most storied franchise.

“Harris Helps Seals Torpedo Flyers” (by Hugh McDonald) – Dec. 7, 1967 – download here

The 1967-68 season was a tough one for Billy Harris. He had once been a star for the Toronto Maple Leafs and he was expected to shoulder a fair bit of the Seals’ offence, but it became evident early in the season that he and coach Bert Olmstead were never going to see eye to eye. He scored five points in his first three games, but then fell into a deep slump. Harris spent some time riding the pine, and when he got onto the ice, he had trouble finding the net. On the night of December 6, 1967, Harris had just three goals and 11 points in 21 games, but against Philadelphia he clicked for two goals, and all seemed right with the world. The good times would not last, however, as he continued to fall victim to Olmstead’s intimidation. It took Harris a whole month before he scored another goal. After Olmstead passed the coaching duties over to Gordie Fashoway Harris started producing again.

“The Unique Seal” (by Spence Conley) – Dec. 10, 1967 – download here

Did you know that original Seal Mike Laughton spent most of his childhood learning how to become a figure skater? He played hockey at the same time, and used his figure skates for a time, but eventually he was forced to put them aside because the jagged teeth on the front of these skates’ blades were a serious safety hazard. Laughton’s surprising athletic skill is interesting to note because he played for a team that was eventually mocked by fans around the league for looking an awful lot like figure skaters. Of course, this all started in January 1971, and Laughton was already gone by that point.

“Oakland Blanked by Blues” – Jan. 4, 1968 – download here

As terrible as most of the Seals’ history is, the 8-day stretch between December 27 and January 3 may have been the dirt worst. Can you believe the Seals were shutout four straight games during those eight days? When you digest that, it really isn’t hard to understand why they only scored 153 goals for the season, an average of 2.07 per game, a mark that would stand until the 1997-98 Tampa Bay Lightning scored a whopping 151 goals in 82 games for an average of 1.84 per contest. Yikes! On January 3, the Seals fell to the St. Louis Blues, the toughest team in the West, extending the Seals’ shutout streak to 267 minutes and 49 seconds.

“Aching Seal” (by Ed Levitt) – Jan. 18, 1968 – download here

In one of his regular contributions to the Oakland Tribune, Ed Levitt focuses on the Oakland Seals, particularly the reasons for the Seals’ failure to attract fans in their first NHL season, and he also takes the time to praise the Seals’ recent acquisitions, Ted Hampson, Bert Marshall, and John Brenneman, correctly predicting that this trio would be instrumental in turning the team around.

“New Seals Do It Again to Get Tie” (by Spence Conley) – Jan. 18, 1968 – download here

The Seals’ most recent additions, Ted Hampson, Bert Marshall, and John Brenneman made quite an impression on their new employer, scoring timely goals and leading the team to a few wins here and there. While the team was hopelessly out of a playoff spot, there was hope for the future. Spence Conley of the Tribune goes over a hard-fought 1-1 tie over Pittsburgh on January 17. Brenneman scored the Seals’ only goal, which was great, but unfortunately, Brenneman was not as skilled a liar as he was a scorer that night, so the Seals had to settle for a draw. Read on to find out what I mean.

“Harris Walkout To Stir Revolt?” – Jan. 23, 1968 – download here

When Billy Harris was selected in the expansion draft, he was expected to be one of the Seals’ offensive leaders, but he almost immediately clashed with coach Bert Olmstead. Their awful relationship reached a boiling point in January 1968 when Harris finally walked out on Olmstead. Harris eventually returned and he even found his scoring touch when assistant coach Gordie Fashoway took over the reins, but just a few weeks into the next season, he was traded to Pittsburgh where he would finish out his NHL career.

“Seals Tie Philly, 3-3; Blues Next” – Feb. 2, 1968 – download here

Bobby Baun was not known for his velvet touch around the net, but he nevertheless scratched out a 964-game NHL career thanks to his ability to lay down some seriously thundering hits and keeping the opposition honest. He was the marquee name drafted by the Seals in the 1967 expansion draft, and he served as the team’s captain that first season. He scored his first goal February 1, 1968 against Philadelphia, a game which you can read about in this Oakland Tribune article.

“His Hustle Sealed the Bargain” (by Joe Wujek) – Feb. 1968 – download here

During the 1960s and 70s, there were never a lot of articles about the California Seals, let alone full multi-page profiles of their players, but once in a while, something would come up in Hockey Pictorial or Sports Illustrated. Of course, when there were just 12 NHL teams, there was a better chance the Seals were going to get profiled. Case in point, this article about Charlie Burns from a 1969 issue of Hockey Pictorial.

“Seals Stun Leafs, 4-3” (by Spence Conley) – Feb. 12, 1968 – download here

The Seals didn’t win many games their first season, but this one, a 4-3 triumph over the Leafs was impressive. Led by veteran Charlie Burns and his third-period pair of goals, the Seals displayed more moxie and skill than they had all season long overcoming a three-goal deficit.

“Coach Takes Long Look At Seals” – Feb. 13, 1968 – download here

Bert Olmstead was nearing the end of his rope in February 1968. His California Seals had so many attendance problems that ownership thought changing the team’s name to Oakland Seals would help, but it didn’t. The team kept losing which further entrenched them in last place. If this had been the days in which the amateur draft meant something, the Seals would have had the first overall pick in June. Instead, the team had to pull itself up by its own bootstraps. Olmstead thought that observing his team from a distance might help, but it helped about as much as changing the team’s name.

“Rangers Rout Hawks, 4-4, and Stand Alone in 2d Place; Seals Tie Flyers, 1-1” (articles by Gerald Eskenazi and Thomas Rogers) – March 3, 1968 – download here

Sorry about the resolution on this one, but it’s a pretty large article (actually a couple of articles), but it’s worth the read. The Seals played the Flyers to a 1-1 tie in what can be considered the first truly neutral site game in modern NHL history. Yes, the Seals played the odd game at the San Francisco Cow Palace, but that’s not really neutral when you think about the Seals’ history there. This 1968 game, however, was unusual in that it was played in New York City, all because the Flyers needed a place to play stat due to the roof of the Philadelphia Spectrum blowing off due to high winds. Thanks to Reg Lansberry for passing this article on to me.

“Finley Offers To Buy Seals, Keep Club in Oakland” – Mar. 13, 1968 – download here

Whaaaaaaat? Is that date correct? Did Charlie Finley actually look to buy the Oakland Seals all the way back in 1968? Sure looks like it. It does make you wonder how the franchise’s history would have looked had Finley come into the picture two years earlier. Would he have left the team before the WHA raids of 1972? Could that have meant the Seals would have paid Shmyr, Sheehan, Pinder, Webster, Carleton and others more money to keep them in Oakland, and thus, potentially saving the franchise’s future? Let your mind wander…

“Seals Fire Coach Bert Olmstead” (by Spence Conley) – Apr. 14, 1968 – download here

This is my teeny, tiny little contribution to correcting NHL history! This Oakland Tribune article finally sets the record straight on how many games Bert Olmstead and Gordie Fashoway actually coached in Oakland. Unfortunately, I lost the second part of this article, so you only get the first page, but I find it interesting anyway because I’ve seen books that claim Fashoway coached only ten games, meaning Olmstead coached 64, but Fashoway actually coached 21 and Olmstead 53, so both of their win-loss-tie records are drastically different than what the NHL has always claimed, and this article finally proves it. Also, it should be noted that another article from March indicates that Olmstead was back home in Saskatchewan as his mother lay dying, so he definitely was not coaching the Seals at that time, meaning Fashoway must have coach much more than ten games.