Hi everyone! This won’t be my usual light, casual update, I’m afraid, as I’m having trouble celebrating and rejoicing after the week I’ve had, but I promise it isn’t all bad, and that the summer is shaping up to be much brighter. I’ll start off with the bad. For one thing, my father passed away yesterday morning at the age of 75, which took us all by surprise, despite his terminal cancer diagnosis exactly one month earlier. We had been expecting 8-12 weeks more with Dad, but we only got four, the last of which was marred by my entire family’s Covid diagnosis. Our symptoms were never severe, more like a mild flu or cold, and we are all doing better now, but it was hard not being allowed to see Dad the last seven days of his life, but I at least got to see him twice the week before, and he was in good spirits, and surrounded by loved ones as he prepared to enter into hospice care. My mother also spent the last days of her life there, and the staff and volunteers were absolutely wonderful, making all residents feel comfortable and allowing them to die with dignity. I would have liked Dad to be able to read my new book (the gratis copies of which I received from McFarland Press the day he died), but I know he would have been proud. R.I.P. Dad.

Also, I should not forget to mention that the Seals lost another member of its family yesterday with the passing of former NHL great, and Stanley Cup winner, Jim Pappin at the age of 82. I would like to wish his family and friends my very best and express my deepest condolences. Not only did Pappin share the same given name as my Dad, but they also passed away within 24 hours of each other, so I’ll always remember the link between them when I think of either. I’ve posted an article from the November 11, 1975 San Francisco Examiner, which talks about the expectations the team and fans had for Pappin, and while he indeed had his moments, scoring a few goals here and there, he never became the player the Seals thought they had acquired. He did retire as a 2-time Stanley Cup champion and a 278-goal scorer over the course of his 767-game career. Pretty nice numbers indeed!

As usual, I’ll be taking next week off to prepare for the Seals Hall of Fame inductions, which are scheduled for July 15 this year. Voting is now officially closed. Thank you to everyone who voted this year! This year’s vote had, by far, the best turnout ever! I still haven’t calculated the results, but from what I can see, the votes are well spread out among all the nominees, and I haven’t the slightest idea who will be inducted this year, so I’m looking forward to finding out myself.

Finally, my new book, When the NHL Invaded Japan: the Washington Capitals, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, 1975-76 has been officially released, and is available in many online book retailers across North America, notably Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. If you liked my book on the Seals, I truly believe you’ll enjoy this one just as much. I will also be guesting on Tim Hanlon’s Good Seats Still Available podcast next Saturday, so I will let you all know when the interview is posted to his website. Like I said, June was a bummer, but the rest of summer is shaping up to be much better.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! This week, in anticipation of my new book, When the NHL Invaded Japan: the Washington Capitals, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, 1975-76 (whose release date, by the way, has been pushed up to July 2nd! Visit Amazon.com or Amazon.ca to pre-order your copy today!) I’ve uploaded an article from the February 10, 1975 San Francisco Examiner. The night before, the Scouts were in Oakland looking for win number 12, and their timing couldn’t have been any better as the Seals’ were in the midst of a 2-11-1 stretch that ultimately killed their playoff chances. It didn’t help matters that the once-potent Wrecking Crew Line of Dave Hrechkosy, Butch Williams, and Ron Huston was no longer connecting, and neither was the rest of the roster. The Seals did rebound after this game going 6-6-3 in their next 15 games, but by that point the Leafs were miles ahead in the standings. You can read all about the Seals-Scouts game right here.

This will also be the last time I will be inviting you to cast your votes for this year’s inductees to the Seals Hall of Fame. The voting closes July 1st, mainly because I will be heading out of town that weekend and I won’t be taking my computer with me. Besides, I’ve been posting this Jotform link on this here site the last several months now, so you’ve had your chances to exercise your democratic rights. That said, if you are new to the site, you can still get your votes in under the wire by clicking here. The new inductees will be announced July 15, so make sure to head on back to see if your favorites made it in.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there! I hope you get to enjoy yourselves a relaxing weekend, and that summer-ish weather hits your town. As for me, the family and I will be heading to tiny Brockville, Ontario to enjoy some outdoor activities, ride a little train through the downtown core, and swim at the hotel pool. It will be the first time in almost three years that we will be spending the night someplace where we know absolutely no one. For our daughter Laura, it will be her first-ever overnight trip that doesn’t involve visiting friends or family, and for our son Emmett, he has very little recollection of having visited this same hotel way back in 2019. Needless to say, he is very excited to get going and will probably be up at the crack of dawn wanting to start packing his bags.

So, before we leave for our little weekend getaway, I just wanted to make a quick update to this site, and do a little promotion for my new book, When the NHL Invaded Japan: the Washington Capitals, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, 1975-76, whose release date has been moved up to July 11! If you haven’t done so already, you can read all about the book here.

The book is all about the Capitals and Scouts’ first two NHL seasons and their April 1976 exhibition series in Japan, so I thought it would make sense to post an article about a very rare Capitals victory, this time at the expense of the California Golden Seals. The 19-24-4 Seals were just coming off a huge 5-3 win over Toronto, a fourth-straight win overall. The Seals were on literally the hottest streak in their history, and it seemed as though this would finally be the year they would claim a playoff spot, but alas, the victory over Toronto would be as close as they would get as their next match against Washington January 28 would become the start of a 9-game winless streak. The Seals played their heart out in D.C. that night, but came up short, and they never really recovered from the loss. You can read all about the game right here.

If you haven’t done so already, you can still cast your votes for this year’s inductees into the Seals Hall of Fame. Just click on the Jotform link here and make your choices. Only two weeks left folks, so get crackin’!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Well, it’s finally done! Book number two is in the can, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m very much looking forward to holding an actual copy in my hands, but for the time being, just seeing a .pdf version of the book feels very satisfying. I hope you all will agree that this book stands up well against other hockey history books, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it (and that you enjoy WAAAAAAYYYYY more than I enjoyed creating that bloody index). For anyone who is interested, When the NHL Invaded Japan: the Washington Capitals, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, 1975-76 is due to be released August 3, and you can pre-order it now at Amazon.ca and Amazon.com.

And hey, check this out! You can be the first on your block to own (OK, download) the official When the NHL Invaded Japan bookmark and poster. Sure, you’ll have to print it out at your home, but hey, it’s free! And the great thing about these things is that they can be posted just about anywhere! On bulletin boards at the office, on street lamps, on dumpsters, on old plywood surrounding construction sites. Anywhere I tells ya! So if you’ve got the ink and the time, please go risk getting arrested for littering to help me out! I can’t say I’ll pay your bail money, but you will earn my eternal gratitude, and really, when you think about it, isn’t that what’s most important.

Of course, this is a California Golden Seals tribute site, so this week we’re heading back to December 1971, and the Chicago Black Hawks are in Oakland to take on the soon-to-be white-skated Seals. The Seals are in the running for a playoff spot, and are in need of the two points, but the Hawks prevailed thanks to two very controversial goals by Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita. You can read all about the game right here.

Finally, I need to remind all of you that there is only three weeks left to cast your vote for this year’s Seals Hall of Fame induction. The final day to vote will be June 30, and the newest Hall of Fame class will be announced July 15, the day after the Seals announced they were moving to Cleveland way back in 1976. If you haven’t voted yet, you can do so by clicking on this link.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Due to an unexpected family emergency this week, I have had to request an extension to my deadline to complete the final edits and index of my new book, so I’ll be using the rest of the week to get all that in order. Some of you may remember my thoughts on what it’s like to create an index for a book, but for those of you who are new to this site, I’ll enlighten you a bit. Creating an index is quite possibly the most soul-sucking, headache-inducing, mind-numbing, beat-your-own-head-against-a-brick-wall part of writing a book, which is otherwise a rather pleasant experience, assuming of course that writing is your bag. But creating an index? It’s like having a very low-level data entry position at the Ministry of Nuts and Bolts, or Shoelaces, or Bowties, or some other boring as s#!t object you don’t really need to have a deep and intimate relationship with, but are forced to sift through and track in a Word document. It’s also the very, very last step in completing a book, so essentially, the worst and most tedious step comes at a time when you are getting tired of rereading the same pages over and over and over, and you just want to get this thing in the can, and move on to playing Animal Crossing again.

That said, I’m getting very excited about my new book on the Kansas City Scouts, Washington Capitals, and their 1976 exhibition series in Japan. I feel it includes some of my best writing, and McFarland Press did a great job editing the manuscript. I’m looking forward to unleashing it on the world next month, so stay tuned for more news.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to give you a quick update on where I’ve been the last few weeks. I recently received the proofs for my new book, When the NHL Invaded Japan: the Washington Capitals, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, 1975-76, which means I’ve been busy with the final edits and, of course, the dreadful task of creating an index. It’s all due in about 5 days, so that’s been my priority for the last few weeks, but next week all will be back to normal, which means catching up on the playoffs, playing Asphalt 9: Legends, and updating this site again.

Have a great weekend, and stay gold!

Hi everyone! Now that the playoffs are here, we are seeing first hand how teams are seeking revenge on their opponents, whether it is the game after having suffered a humiliating shutout or the match-up after a horrible cheap shot took out one team’s star player. Yes, the playoffs are all about intensity and ruggedness, and it is not for the faint of heart. Bones will be broken. Tears will be shed. And Stanley Cup droughts will drag on one more year.

Of course, the Seals rarely made the playoffs in their history, so there isn’t much to talk about in the way of revenge, but there were indeed a few moments when the Seals redeemed themselves with a much-improved second effort against a team that had humiliated them. This week, we head back to October 24, 1973 as the Seals are still smarting from an 11-2 thrashing at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings just three nights earlier. The Wings really should have saved a few goals for the return match-up in Oakland, because on this night, the Seals outshot the Original Sixers 40-19 and pumped seven goals past the overwhelmed rookie Doug Grant. The Seals were definitely flying unusually high early in the 1973-74 season staying at the .500 mark for six games, an accomplishment that (in 1970s Bay Area hockey terms at least) rivalled reaching the summit of Mount Everest wearing nothing more than bikini briefs and a pair of sandals. It is almost unbelievable, based on the early results at that point, that the Seals would finish the campaign 13-55-10. On this night at least, the Seals could look down from the summit and smile at the defeated Red Wings languishing at the foot of the mountain. You can read all about the Seals’ big night right here.

Before you go, don’t forget to cast your vote for this year’s entrants to the Seals Hall of Fame. You can find their bios right here and the link to the ballot is here.

Until next week, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Yes, it’s the end of the year, the regular season that is, and I’m more than OK with that. What an annus horribilis it has been for anyone supporting the Montreal Canadiens, but the good news is that things are looking up. They are guaranteed a high draft pick (which I hope to God they don’t waste on another Alex Galchenyuk or Jesperi Kotkaniemi), Martin St. Louis seems to have woken the team up somewhat, Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield look like the real deal, and hell, the Habs even scored in double-digits against the top team in the league tonight. Unfortunately, it was all too little too late, which brings me to this week’s new Seals article.

Let’s go back to April 6, 1975… the Seals are, of course, dead last in the Adams Division with an even 50 points, and the L.A. Kings, with a team-record 104 points under their belts, are in Oakland looking for an easy two points, but the Seals weren’t about to just roll over. Like the Habs tonight, the Seals played one of their best games of the season and tied their cross-state rivals 1-1. Things were looking up for the Seals, much like the 2022 Habs. Rookie Larry Patey finished the year with a tidy 25 goals, which was second to fellow greenhorn Dave Hreckhosy’s 29 markers. Gilles Meloche and Gary Simmons provided the team with its best one-two punch in goal since it entered the league. There was even talk of finding a new coach who was going to take the ill-suited Bill McCreary’s spot behind the bench. You can read all about the Seals’ final game of the season and the team’s plans for 1975-76 right here.

That’s about it for this week, but before you go, I have to once again invite you to cast your vote for this year’s Seals Hall of Fame induction. You can click on the link right here to take you to the Jotform survey that will record your vote. Thanks again for your participation!

Until next time, stay gold, and enjoy the playoffs! And if you’re the Leafs, we’ll see you on the golf course real soon!

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!