Wow, what a truly awful week it has been for anyone who grew up watching hockey in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Not only did the world lose the great Mike Bossy on April 15, but just a few days ago we also lost the legendary Guy Lafleur. Hockey players often pass away, and we quietly reminisce about a moment or two from that player’s career, but in this case, we’ve lost two bonafide NHL legends, and it is impossible to remember them in just a few fleeting moments of reflection. My words simply cannot do justice in expressing how outstanding the New York Islanders’ all-time leader in goals and the Montreal Canadiens’ all-time points leader were for their respective franchises, but I will try.

It is almost unfathomable that fourteen other players were picked ahead of Mike Bossy in the weak 1977 amateur draft. There were whispers he wasn’t a physical enough player to withstand the punishment some of the NHL’s ruffians were waiting to dish out, not that anyone should have cared; Bossy’s worst junior season was his 70-goal rookie season with the Laval National of the QMJHL. Islanders general manager Bill Torrey, an astute judge of talent if there ever was one, could not have cared less about Bossy’s physical play. If the Islanders needed anything, it was a top-notch sniper. Denis Potvin was a sublime offensive talent on the back end. Chico Resch and Billy Smith were world-class goalkeepers. Bob Nystrom and the late Clark Gillies were grinders with an offensive touch, and Bryan Trottier was perhaps the best all-around player they had, but he was a play-maker rather than a goal-scorer. The Islanders needed Bossy to take them to the next level. The Islanders were good, but they weren’t great yet.

Seeing Bossy carry the puck was an absolutely terrifying prospect for any goaltender. He established his reputation as a top-notch goal scorer pretty much from day one. He scored a goal in each of his first two games. After 20 games, he had 17 goals under his belt. He surpassed Richard Martin’s rookie goal record of 44 after just 53 games. The only real question was whether or not Bossy could lead the entire NHL in goals. Guy Lafleur scored 60, while Bossy finished with 53. As far as careers go, Bossy’s was mind-boggling. As great as he was in the regular season, he was ridiculous in the playoffs. During the Islanders’ four-Cup dynasty between 1980 and 1984, Bossy played 72 games. At a time when defenses are supposed to tighten up a bit and goals are supposedly harder to come by, Bossy scored 61 goals. Three of those years, he lit the lamp 17 times. Bossy never scored fewer than 50 goals in any of his first nine seasons, and he may have hit 50 a tenth time if he hadn’t missed a significant amount of time in his final season, 1986-87. And then he was gone, robbed of his career by a debilitating back injury, and leaving us all to wonder how many more goals were left in his stick.

Guy Lafleur garnered more headlines than Bossy over the course of his career mainly because his skill set, blazing speed and bullet shot made him an icon not only in Montreal but in the entire province of Quebec. In the history of the Montreal Canadiens, you can find Hall of Famers in every era but only a select few could truly be considered legends. There was Howie Morenz in the NHL’s early years, then the Rocket exploded just after World War II, and finally there was the classy Jean Beliveau who captured enough Stanley Cup rings to occupy each of his fingers and thumbs. Guy Lafleur took junior hockey by storm just as Beliveau was winding down his outstanding career, and the Canadiens could only hope Lafleur could capture the hearts of Habs fans like Le Gros Bill had for so long. Had the Oakland Seals not traded their first-round pick to Montreal a year earlier, history might have gone differently for these two franchises. As it turned out, the Seals finished the 1970-71 season dead last and were therefore forced to turn over the first-overall pick to the Habs.

It took “The Flower” a few years to really find himself in Montreal, but once he did there was no turning back. In 1974-75, he finished with over 50 goals and 100 points for the first time, and he accomplished those feats again the next five seasons, capturing not only four straight Stanley Cups from 1976 to 1979, but also three scoring titles, two MVP awards, and the Conn Smythe Trophy as the 1977 playoff MVP. By late 1984, Lafleur was clearly struggling, and was seeing less and less ice time, so rather than ride the pine, he retired. A few years later, not quite finished with hockey, Lafleur made a triumphant return to the NHL as a member of the New York Rangers. I remember watching his first game back in Montreal February 4, 1989 and how he scored two goals against Patrick Roy to elicit a standing ovation from the Forum fans. There was absolutely no way Guy was getting booed on this night, no matter what uniform he was wearing. But my favorite Guy Lafleur memory has to be his final game as a member of the Quebec Nordiques, and how the pre-game ceremony lasted what seemed to be close to an hour. The fans just would not stop cheering “Guy! Guy! Guy!”. It was a wonderful moment that I’ll always remember.

So how can we celebrate the wonderful careers of Mike Bossy and Guy Lafleur at Golden Seals Hockey? This week, I’ve added two new articles that tie together the Cleveland Barons with our two departed NHL legends. In the first article, from the November 25, 1976 Montreal Gazette, the Montreal Canadiens have just defeated the Barons 8-1, and Lafleur has just gone off for two goals and two assists. The Gazette‘s legendary Red Fisher does a great job describing the action here. Most of the articles on this site are from the point of view of a Seals/Barons beat writer, but this time I went for the opposition’s perspective on the game, and the differences are interesting, as I’m sure you will see.

In this week’s second article from the January 12, 1978 Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle-Telegram, the Barons are in action against the New York Islanders not long after Wayne Merrick and Darcy Regier have been sent to Long Island for J.P. Parise and Jean Potvin. The Barons came away with a shocking 5-3 win in which Mike Bossy scored his one and only goal against Cleveland.

Before you go this week, don’t forget to cast your vote for the 2022 Seals/Barons Hall of Fame. Just click on the link here and you can vote for up to three nominees.

Thanks for stopping by once again! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Yes, that’s what happened the night of March 23, 1973, according to Seals Hall-of-Famer Gary Croteau. It didn’t happen often in the franchise’s eleven-year NHL history, but when the Leafs skated into Oakland to take on the Seals, the boys in yellow made the Leafs wish they could have hit the links a little earlier. The Leafs and Seals were both on the outside looking in when they clashed in late March for much the same reason. The World Hockey Association had decimated both rosters some seven or eight months earlier, and both teams plummeted to the bottom of their respective divisions. The Leafs lost half of their defense (Jim Dorey, Rick Ley, and Brad Selwood), not to mention goaltender Bernie Parent and centre Jim Harrison, and as a result, there were lots of nights like this one against the Seals. The Seals, on the other hand, lost an even larger portion of its team: leading scorers Bobby Sheehan and Gerry Pinder, depth forwards Tom Webster, Gary Jarrett, and Wayne Carleton, rock-solid defenseman Paul Shmyr, back-up goaltender Gary Kurt, and a few other prospects. The Seals would never be the same. The Leafs, however, still had a good core left behind, and they would rebound nicely the following year. You can read all about the Seals’ big win over in the Articles section.

Before you leave the site today, and if you haven’t already cast your votes for this year’s inductees to the Seals Hall of Fame, please make sure to click on this link to the HOF ballot and do your democratic duty.

Since I will be away next weekend, there will be no update to the site until the week of April 17, but I wish you all a Happy Easter and a great long weekend! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! You’re probably wondering what is with this week’s headline. Usually these things are fairly nonsensical but I try to tie them to whatever I’ve added to the site that week. This week though, I read about a certain dreadful, over-hyped, singing Timbit aficionado who waltzed into the Bell Centre in Montreal and then had the temerity to say to the crowd, and I quote, “What’s up Montreal, I’ve had a great night with you guys tonight. How about them Leafs though, huh? Man, Auston Matthews is really doing some work here in Montreal. How’s that playoff spot looking for you guys this year?”

If you haven’t put all the clues together, or if you haven’t opened a newspaper or consulted a website the last few days, or simply haven’t yet pointed your eyes slightly to the bottom portion of your computer screen, I’m talking about this guy…

Yes, it’s that glorified shopping mall singer, Justin Bieber, and oh, IT IS ON!

Here’s a tip, dude. Next time you insult an entire fan base, make sure that the team you are supporting has actually, I don’t know, ACCOMPLISHED something since Lyndon freakin’ Johnson was President! You haven’t won a Stanley Cup in (soon to be) 55 years, the LONGEST DROUGHT IN NHL HISTORY! You haven’t even made it the Final round since 1967, another NHL record. Hell, the last time you won a freakin’ ROUND was 18 years ago. You know how long ago that is? The Prisoner of Azkaban just came out, and that was just the third Harry Potter movie out of eight. And the last of those movies came out in 2011! People still liked Mel Gibson back then! Lance Armstrong was still cheating his way to Tour de France wins! Ken Jennings was still a Jeopardy contestant!

Now I know my Habs haven’t won a Stanley Cup either since then, but at least we’ve won playoff rounds, reached two Conference Finals and a Cup Final also, so suck on that! I can also remember seeing my team win a Stanley Cup in my lifetime rather than relying on my grandparents regaling me with stories of how good things used to be back in the sixties. Sure that last Cup was damn near thirty years ago, but I still got those memories. What you got, Justin?

Ok, now that that’s out of the way, we can get into the good stuff, but let me be perfectly clear that I know Justin doesn’t give two sh*ts about what I’m posting here. Having a few millions dollars under one’s pillow will do that to a guy, and besides, who the hell am I in the grand scheme of things. I’m just a hockey-writing, Honda Civic driving French teacher from Ottawa. That said, I can’t just let tattoo boy here just walk into my Graceland and start talking trash like he’s had even the most minute influence on the Leafs’ success this season. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Not gonna happen on my watch. So that means it’s time for another “Theme Week”. I love Theme Weeks, when everything added to the site comes together beautifully like I’ve planned it out months in advance. This week’s theme is, shockingly enough, “How much the Leafs suck”, and we’ve got a bunch of examples for ya.

In the articles section this week’s I’ve added two great new pieces from the Seals’ past and how they humiliated the Leafs. The first article comes from the November 7, 1970 Oakland Tribune, and it is about the Seals’ 8-4 victory over Toronto. The second article comes from the January 25, 1975 Oakland Tribune and it is about the Seals 6-1 victory over Toronto, which put them just eight points out of a playoff spot. Now, I know the Seals ultimately failed to overtake the Leafs for that last Adams Division playoff spot, so don’t bother with the emails pointing that fact out. Remember, I literally wrote the book on the Seals, I know more about them than you, and I know damn well the playoffs were not exactly their raison d’être, but this, after all, a site about the California Golden Seals, so this is the only way I can combine my love for the Seals with my absolute, foot-stomping, wall-smashing, t-shirt-tearing hatred of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

As a added bonus, this week, a brand new induction into the Hockey Hall of Shame, and it would be Mr. Bieber’s brand new “reversible” Leafs jerseys! As you probably know, we’ve posted some photos of some pretty ridiculous uniforms over the years, and if you’ve ever virtually strolled through the Hockey Hall of Shame, you know very well that I cannot stand all of these alternate jerseys. I think they are nothing but a cash grab, and they almost always look atrocious beyond belief. This new addition is 150% worthy of induction as you shall see, and it is my little contribution to Bieber having to work just a little bit harder to sell jerseys in the future. The lad needs to be taken down a peg. Smugness is not a good quality.

Now that all that is out of the way, I’d like to conclude by reminding you to cast your votes for the 2022 inductees to the Seals Hall of Fame. Just click on this link and you can choose up to three former Seals you feel are deserving of a place in this site’s virtual hallowed Hall.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone, how’s it going?

This week, I’ve dug up a new article to share with you all. It’s a pre-season piece from September 1969 which talks about the Seals’ new ownership: the mini-conglomerate known as TNC. That would be Trans-National Communications, for all you newbies out there. I forgive all of you who don’t know what TNC was since they didn’t make of an impact in the NHL, and least of all, on the Seals themselves. They spoke a fancy corporate speak. They spoke of their success. They spoke of all the celebrities they hobnobbed with. In the end, it didn’t add up to anything as the Seals still lost boatloads of money despite making the playoffs for the second year in a row and hitting a then-all-time high in attendance. It wouldn’t be long before TNC was out of the picture only to be replaced by the eccentric Charlie Finley, and dark days would indeed follow. The September 7 article from the San Francisco Examiner can be found right here.

Don’t forget to cast your votes for the 2022 inductees to the Seals Hall of Fame. Just click on this link and you can pick up to three former Seals you feel are deserving of a place in this site’s virtual hallowed Hall.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! We’re getting to that time of year again when the contenders are almost fully separated from the pretenders, and that means we’ve got lots of stressed out coaches and general managers who are staring down the barrel of the unemployment gun. It has to be tough playing out the stretch when you know you have no hope, maybe not even for the next several seasons. Fred Glover had been lucky enough to lead the Seals behind the bench during their salad days in the late sixties, but the early seventies were indeed a different time. The Seals’ roster had been decimated by the World Hockey Association, and there was just a smattering of quality players left behind. The roster was very young, dominated by first- and second-year players who were either going to thrive under the pressure of being rushed into the NHL, or who were going to see their big-league dreams die a lot faster than they ever could have imagined.

In this week’s article, we look at a devastating 7-0 loss at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers. Fred Glover was certainly not a loss for words following this debacle, as he unleashed a memorable tirade about how his players were skating around in a dream-like state, how the referees were legally blind, and how the Philadelphia Flyers used dirty tactics to dominate opponents. It was one of Glover’s more memorable rants, and you can read all about it here.

In the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, we present to you Todd Bertuzzi’s initial entry to this site. As with every other card ever inducted, this one ain’t pretty, and it never should have seen the light of day, but card companies are indeed a different breed of business in that they seem to embrace those awkward moments that make us all cringe rather than selling us, you know, nice-looking action photos of our favorite stars. Anyway, here’s a St. Louis Blue trying (or not trying) to get his head into Bertuzzi’s butt right here. Again, I’m not making this stuff up.

If you haven’t done so already, you can vote for the 2022 inductees to the Seals Hall of Fame by clicking on this link. You can also read up on each of the candidates here and find out why each is worthy of induction.

In closing this week, I have to sadly mention that defenseman Jean Potvin, a member of the 1977-78 Cleveland Barons, passed away March 15 at the age of 72. R.I.P. He was of course, along with his brother Denis, a long-time member of the New York Islanders, with whom he scored a career-high 17 goals and 72 points in 1974-75. He was dealt to Cleveland with J.P. Parise mid-way through the Barons’ second season, and provided some much-needed leadership and stability on a team that lacked both. Potvin scored three goals and 14 helpers in 40 games with his new club before finding his way to Minnesota through the Stars-Barons merger. R.I.P. Jean.

Hi everyone! It’s Friday and that means once again that we have the longest possible amount of time between two work days. That is, of course, unless you are one of those poor saps who actually has to work weekends, in which case, my sympathies. On the other hand, you should be grateful that you at least are not plying your trade for one Charles Oscar Finley. Anyone even remotely familiar with the California Golden Seals has heard of the notorious C.O.F., regarded by many as not only the worst franchise owner in NHL history, but in the history of North American professional sports. When he arrived on the NHL scene, his history as a baseball owner was speckled with controversy both on and off the field. Stupid promotions, tacky on-field gimmicks, feuds with members of the media, petty grievances with players, managers and coaches, the list of crazy crap went on and on. When he bought the Oakland Seals in the summer of 1970, it didn’t take long for the insanity to completely envelop his newest plaything. Before the season was even two months old, both his general manager and executive vice president threw up their hands and walked away, and they wouldn’t be the last to leave the organization in a huff.

In this week’s first article from the November 26, 1970 San Mateo Times, we get a look at Bill Torrey’s sudden decision to leave the Seals, a move that cost the team dearly. Torrey is of course known as the brilliant architect of the four-time Stanley Cup champs, the New York Islanders. His success on Long Island is a big reason why he is now in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He is arguably the greatest general manager in the history of hockey, and one of the few who was smart enough to stock pile his numerous high draft picks to the point where his team’s talent was just bursting at the seems. Prying a draft pick out of Torrey was about as impossible as trying to nail two boards together with your hands. Had Torrey stuck around in Oakland long enough, we might be talking about the days when the Seals were winning Stanley Cups. Instead, we just talk nostalgically about the white-skated team that just couldn’t win.

In the second article, the lethargic Seals have just dropped a 3-1 decision to Los Angeles, and coach Fred Glover is trying to figure out what to do to shake his team out of its funk. You can read both articles here.

In closing, I’d like to thank everyone who has already cast their vote for the 2022 class of the Seals Hall of Fame. If you haven’t already done so, you can cast your vote here. As always, thank you for your continued support of this site.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! I’ve been doing some research lately on some of the more unusual or forgotten moments of the 1970s, my favourite decade of hockey. I personally find the decade to be fascinating, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before. The wild brawls, the loud uniforms, the big hair, the frequent franchise moves… it was certainly an interesting time, and a very unique period in professional hockey. I stumbled upon a rather forgotten victory in Seals history, a 4-2 shocker against the Boston Bruins in December 1971. The Seals more than held their own against the eventual Stanley Cup champs, ending the Bruins’ 12-game undefeated streak. This would not be the last time the Seals stunned the B’s by snapping an impressive streak of success (see winning streak: Brooks, Ross), but going back to the December ’71 game, what might be most impressive is that this was the only loss suffered by the Bruins between November 11 and January 6. The 1971-72 Seals may not have qualified for the playoffs that year, but this was certainly a spunky, talented bunch that could have done some serious damage had they not broken up at the end of the season. You can find this week’s new article right here.

Don’t forget to vote for who you believe should be enshrined in the Seals Hall of Fame. You can select up to three names and you can do so by clicking on this link. Thanks to all of you who have already voted! We’re off to a great start, and I’m sure you are well on your way to setting a new record for most participants in a vote for this website.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Yes, it’s time to vote on all of your favourites. It’s time to induct some new members into the Seals Hall of Fame. Once again, we have a tremendous group of nominees, which I’m sure you will agree, are all worthy of induction, but as usual, only three will make the cut. The new inductions to the Hall will be announced in mid-July when the site celebrates its sixth anniversary.

Here are the nominees, in no particular order…

Charlie Burns

Wayne Connelly

Fred Glover

Len Haley

Krazy George Henderson

Nick Mickoski

Bob Murdoch

Al Nicholson

Doug Roberts

Tom Thurlby

So let’s talk about ground rules… You can vote for up to three people, and you can also write in your own vote, if you don’t like the choice I’ve provided (It’s OK, really, I understand…). That’s about it.

I recommend that you read over the 2022 nominee biographies so you can better understand why I nominated these ten former Seals. After that, you can click on the Jotform link at the bottom of the page to take you to the Hall of Fame survey. If you’re in a rush, however, you can click on the survey link right here.

That’s about it for this week. Hope you all have a great weekend! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Yes, it’s that time of the year when I start getting ready for the Seals Hall of Fame induction, which means I will be taking this week off to prepare the ballot and write up some short biographies for all of the nominees. All eras of the Seals franchise will be represented: the WHL years, the early NHL years, the “Golden” years and the final stint in Cleveland. Next week, the 2022 nominees will be announced and you will all get the opportunity to cast your votes, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I invite you to check out some of my favorite Hall of Shame inductions from the last few years.

If you’re looking for a reason to curse God for having creating celluloid and digital cameras, well, we’ve got the classic induction for the supremely awful MVP: Most Valuable Primate and the almost-as-bad Slap Shot 3: The Junior League.

If you’re feeling bad and you need some cheering up, here are some of the dumbest pieces of cardboard you ever did see. We’ve got the Oshawa Generals cozying up to a TV, Alec Martinez munchin’ on some Froot Loops, Bob Murdoch doing his best “Grampa-Simpson-yelling-at-clouds” impression, Brett Hull on a hunt for treasure, Luke Richardson trying to shake a shaking Blackhawk, and the patron saint of bad hockey cards, the legendary Dave Gagner!

And let’s not forget the classic Aaron Downey-Brad Norton showdown, and Colin Chaulk’s number retirement fiasco! Enjoy, folks!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Now that my second book is in the can and I have to wait until I receive the edited version before I can take it to the next step in the publishing process, I have very little to do most evenings. So, I’ve been puttering around my hockey book library trying to drum up ideas for my next project. I’ve been toying with the idea of a writing a book about some of the more forgotten people and stories of the expansion era, and as I was sifting through some old articles, I came across a story I had touched on in my book on the Seals: the legendary 14-game winning streak by Boston Bruins goaltender Ross Brooks. For most of his three-year NHL career, it seemed as though this guy just couldn’t lose. Game after game, he came up with a W. First, he started his big-league career on a 12-game undefeated streak, and then in his second year, after losing his first game of the season, he went on to win his next fourteen. In Brooks’ 54 career games, only seven were losses, and his all-time winning percentage of .740 is second only to Ken Dryden’s .743. And yet, the Seals were the team to bring down Brooks’ legendary streak, and you can read all about the game in the articles section.

Also, be sure to check out the newest addition to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, and it features first-time inductee Ziggy Palffy celebrating something or threatening someone, I’m really not sure. Maybe you can figure it out here.

Enjoy tomorrow’s Super Bowl, if you’re into that sort of thing, and if you do party with friends or family, stay safe! Until next time, stay gold!