Hi everyone! I’d like to start this week off by congratulating Mike Grier on becoming the advisor to hockey operations for the New York Rangers. I found this out only after checking my website stats and saw that I had got 1,873 hits in a 24-hour span! Now, I know my website is pretty awesome. I mean where else are you going to learn about hockey playing chimps, Tron-looking Maple Leaf uniforms, and the worst California Golden Seals replica jerseys of all-time? But seriously, 1,873 hits? What did I do to deserve that? So I did a little investigating, and found out that everyone suddenly took interest in the Mike Grier “pizza couch” card, a personal favorite of mine. Upon further research, I learned that Mike had got himself a new job. So, congratulations Mike! I wish you all the success in the world. You’re joining a great franchise with a great history, and a wealth of wonderful prospects.

Anyway, back to the reason you are all here… new Seals stuff! I have a brand new article up in the (duh!) articles section, and it is all about who ruined the Seals first couple of seasons in the NHL and almost led them out of town twice before year two came to an end. It is a great opinion piece from George Ross in the January 10, 1969 Oakland Tribune, which you can read all about here.

If anyone would like to add their vote to the tally already accrued for this year’s Seals Hall of Fame induction, you can do so by clicking here. The voting will continue until the end of June, and in July, as usual, I will reveal this year’s newest inductees.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! We’re back after a one-week hiatus. What a week this has been too! The week started with the little one completing a stretch of 16 straight nights without waking up wanting milk, a clean diaper, or comfort, so the wife and I, for the first time in a long, long time, literally slept like a baby… our baby. If you’ve ever been at my house any night the last 18 months, you know that “sleeping like a baby” is not something you strive for as it usually involves multiple trips to the kitchen or bathroom to get something or other that will soothe the little one. Things were going remarkably well and then something or someone broke my baby and she found herself unable to resist waking up several times per night, including the ungodly 4-5 a.m. time slot. What that means is that when baby finally does go back down, you have a magical 20-25 minutes of deep, deep sleep that gets ruined when your alarm rips you right back out of bed so you can get ready to go to work. Awesome times, I tells ya! How my five-year-old manages to sleep through all this crying every single night is a mystery that ranks right up there with how the pyramids were erected without the use of any mechanical tools. Anyway, I’m pretty exhausted right now. I thought going to bed an hour earlier yesterday would help in the likely event my daughter woke up mid-night once again, but wouldn’t you know it, the little one decided to start her late-night partying approximately 10 minutes after my head hit the pillow, and she kept partying ’til about 3 a.m. So much for going to bed early to catch up on sleep. Went to bed an hour early, yet didn’t actually fall asleep until hours after I normally go dodo.

Anyway, I’m back now. I needed to take one week off from the site to deal with some last-minute manuscript problems for my new book on the Washington Capitals, Kansas City Scouts, and the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup tournament. Nothing major, but important issues to deal with nonetheless. McFarland is still working on an official title, which should be coming pretty soon, so I’m looking forward to sharing that with all of you. I’m really stoked about the new book. It has a similar style to the first book, but some new twists I decided to try out. It also has some incredibly awesome rare photos which former players Ron Lalonde and Robin Burns shared with me. Some truly phenomenal stuff. Amazing behind-the-scene shots of the players sitting on the bench, pics of players fighting, rare program covers, posters, party photos, action shots, and ceremonial photos taken before and after the games of the Coca-Cola Cup series. Lots of stuff no one has ever seen. These photos truly tell the story of the quirky, long-forgotten NHL Japan series, which I think is one of the most fascinating events in NHL history even though almost no one has heard of it. I just can’t wait for this new book to be released, and I’ll be keeping you all updated as it publication date draws nearer.

In the meantime, I recommend you head on over to the articles section where I’ve added a new piece on former Golden Seal and Kansas City Scout Gary Croteau, a nominee for the 2021 Seals Hall of Fame. You can find the article right here.

If you want to vote for Gary Croteau, or any other of the eight candidates for this year’s Hall of Fame induction, I invite you to click on the link here which will take you to the survey. You can vote up to three times per device, so get clicking!

Until next time, stay gold, stay safe, and for God’s sake get some sleep so maybe some of it magically rubs off on me somehow!

Hi everyone! That’s right, folks! Good news for anyone who is a fan of the California Golden Seals and Cleveland Barons, which, considering you are currently visiting a site about the California Golden Seals and Cleveland Barons, I presume that means you. I’m very excited to read this one, entitled The NHL’s Mistake By The Lake by Gary Webster, but unfortunately it won’t be coming out for quite some time. That said, you can pre-order the book from the McFarland Press website for $35 US (https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-nhls-mistake-by-the-lake/).

There’s another interesting looking tome coming out in October all about the late, great Hartford Whalers, The Whalers: The Rise, Fall, and Enduring Mystique of New England’s (Second) Greatest NHL Franchise, which I will definitely be picking up since, as you know, I am a giant franchise-history nerd. I also don’t know a heck of a lot about the Whalers, whether it is their WHA years, their not-so-glorious early 1980s period, their winning years in the mid-to-late 80s, or their descent into oblivion in the 1990s, so I’m very much looking forward to this one, which you can pre-order on Amazon right now.

Why am I mentioning a book about the Hartford Whalers? Well, one of their best coaches – in fact the only coach they ever had lead them to a division title – was none other than former Seals and Barons bench boss Jack Evans, who is prominently featured in this week’s article about Jim Moxey and the much-improved Seals of 1975-76. You can read all about Moxey and Evans right here.

As I conclude this week’s entry, I’d like to thank all those who have cast their votes for the 2021 Seals Hall of Fame induction. Many of you have been clicking on the new Jotform ballot and there are some clear front-runners emerging in the race. If you haven’t voted yet, you can do so by clicking on this link.

Until next time, stay safe and stay gold!

Hi everyone! Another week has come and gone. Can’t say I’m upset about that. I’m thrilled it’s the weekend and I can put work behind me for a couple days. That was one tough week! At least next week is shaping up to be somewhat normal, and my schedule is looking much more relaxed. Besides, we’re supposed to have two nice weekend days, which means heading off to the park (with masks now), coffee in hand, and maybe even wearing short sleeves and sandles. So things are looking up. I even qualify for a Covid vaccine now! For once, it’s actually awesome gettin’ old! Suck on that, all you self-important thirty-somethings! But first, some new Seals stuff…

This week, check out a new article from December 22, 1973, a truly unhappy time for every Seals fan. At 4-20-7, the Seals were already eleven points out of seventh place. Seventh place! Not even Christmas yet, and the playoffs were already twenty points away! Yikes! Most everyone wanted Charlie Finley’s head on a platter. That’s understandable considering he bungled the players’ contract negotiations worse than Ontario’s government botched its handling of this Covid-19 crisis. Some, such as Nelson Cullenward of the San Francisco Examiner had other ideas, such as filling in for the often-overwhelmed Gilles Meloche. Little did anyone know that the Seals were only a few months into their bleakest period, a two-year span in which they won a grand total of 29 games.

The race to the Seals Hall of Fame is starting to heat up once again, with a few front-runners clearly starting to outdistance the rest of the pack. If you haven’t already done so, you can cast your votes by clicking on this link (https://form.jotform.com/210704845040244).

Until next week, stay gold and stay safe!

Hi everyone! It’s great to be back! It’s been a busy few weeks… a few months even. My deadline has come and gone and the new manuscript is now in the hands of McFarland Press. I feel great! If all goes well, book number two will see the light of day sometime in the next 9-12 months. Finally, one big job out of the way, and now I can get back to taking things slow. I feel like watching some TV, maybe a little hockey. It’s about time I caught up on some of my favourites on the small screen. And it’s about time I got caught up here too, so let’s get down to business!

This week, I’ve added a new article from May 24, 1968, the day after Fred Glover was introduced as the Oakland Seals’ new head coach. The media in attendance was very impressed, and it was indeed the dawn of a new era, the Seals’ playoff era. Sure, it didn’t last long, but it was a fun time for any Seals fan. You can read the article right here.

I also would like to direct your attention to a nice six-and-a-half minute clip from 1976-77 of the Cleveland Barons playing the Vancouver Canucks. You can find it here.

If anyone wants to cast some votes for the 2021 Seals Hall of Fame, you can click on this link (https://form.jotform.com/210704845040244). And if you’d like a little background on all the nominees, you can check out their bios here.

Until next time, stay safe and stay gold!

Hi everyone! As you know, I’ve been getting my new manuscript ready before my mid-April deadline, so I’ll be keeping the update short this week. That being said, I think you’ll enjoy knowing that I got my hands on a great hockey history book that spends a lot of time exploring our favorite defunct franchise, the Seals. You can read my review of John Robertson’s new book Hockey’s Wildest Season: the Changing of the Guard in the NHL, 1969-70 right here. This season may have sucked for the Seals, but the book sure doesn’t, so I urge you read my review and then head on over to Amazon to pick up your copy today.

Don’t forget to keep casting your votes for this year’s Seals Hall of Fame inductees. Just slide the scroll bar down slightly to reveal this year’s candidates and get clicking if you’ve got 20 seconds to spare.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Just a quick update this week, I’m afraid, as I’m knee deep in words and photos involving two other NHL teams, the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts. The new book’s manuscript is due in a little less than a month, so I’ve got lots of work to do. All is well though, thankfully. Photos are rolling in from former players, and I can only hope the publisher thinks they are appropriate. I’ve got a few more interviews lined up for next week too, not to mention some editing to do, so I’ll be pretty busy, but I haven’t forgotten about you.

https://form.jotform.com/210704845040244

If you’re looking for something to do, you can always vote for who you think should be elected to the Seals Hall of Fame. The ballot is right up above, so go nuts!

In the articles section, I’ve added a new piece on the history of the Cleveland Barons. It includes some really nice photos and some interesting quotes as well, so go check it out.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Well, since Opinion Stage won’t stop being a turd and allow me to post surveys like I’ve done every day for the last five years, I’ve decided to switch to Jotform (a FAR superior survey and questionnaire maker, by the way, Opinion Stage). Feel free to cast your votes for this year’s Seals Hall of Fame inductees. You can only vote once per device, but you can vote for more than one candidate when you do. As I mentioned the last few weeks, all of the votes from the previous survey still count, and I’ve kept that tally, so your old votes have not gone to waste.

https://form.jotform.com/210704845040244

This week, as I was perusing the Internet as I so often do now that I have absolutely nowhere to go, I found one hell of a nice video: 30 full minutes of a Cleveland Barons-Pittsburgh Penguins game from October 23, 1977! The video’s quality is quite impressive too, so you’ll want to check it out. It’s the only substantial video of the Barons (with full audio) that I have ever found. In a way though, that’s not a great thing, as Pittsburgh’s play-by-play man, Bob Prince, seemed completely out of his element. It’s a great clip though, and will surely bring back some memories. You can find the YouTube link over in the Video and Audio section of the site.

Anyway, that’s about it for this week. Hope you enjoy the new stuff!

Hi everyone! It’s finally Friday and I couldn’t be happier! What a horrible week! It feels like I spun my wheels for about five days straight, accomplishing nothing except answering email after email, responding to complaint after complaint from clients, and meeting with people wanting me to create them a learning plan. It truly was exhausting! It’s been a busy time at the school where I both teach and act as its academic director. Lots of demand for new contracts in the closing weeks of the fiscal year, but also a lack of teachers to meet said demand. It’s a brutal combination that we deal with almost every year at this time. Today was much better, and I got to accomplish some actual work this afternoon, but it was a hard week to say the least. I sometimes felt like I was getting repeatedly punched in the face. Almost like I was the victim of some hockey PR…

And that’s what this week’s article is all about: how hockey PR – at least hockey PR in the 1960s – was so honest and brutal it felt like getting a fist between the eyes. The article also delves into some developments in the Seals training camp as they geared up for the 1969-70 season, which started off well-enough but quickly turned into a nightmare.

On a more frustrating note, I tried to relaunch the Seals 2021 Hall of Fame survey, and failed, so I’ve decided to look for a new platform that will allow everyone to have a chance to vote. I have kept track of all the votes thus far so they will all count, as promised, and I will re-post the new survey in the coming weeks so the voting can continue right to the end. The good news is that everyone who already voted will be given a chance to vote a second time, so stay tuned for the relaunch!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Let me explain the title. I’m going to be a proud father once again, but my two other children need not feel jealous as this offspring is going to consist of paper, cardboard, and about 140,000 words. OK, so I’m not good at coming up with creative riddles, but it’s my way of announcing that my new book on the first two years of the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts, and their foray into Japan to play for the 1976 Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup is finally going to see the light of day. McFarland Press will be publishing my new tome, if all goes well, near the end of the year or early next year (most likely scenario). In case, any of you are excited about what these pages will contain, I have a treat for you in the form of a snippet from the uncut, unrated version, which you can find here. Like I said, this has not yet been published. There are likely a few mistakes here and there, and it may well look completely different when the book comes out, but you get the idea. If you’re a Seals fan, you’re in luck too, as this excerpt, entitled “Uncle Miltie Takes Over” explores one of the Seals’ most infamous moments.

I’ve also added a brand new article from the February 2, 1973 edition of the Hockey News, which was published during a very tumultuous time for the Seals. Garry Young had just been fired, Charlie Finley was pissed off, and the team was losing consistently once again, but there was actually reason for optimism as the club’s young guns were just starting to get it together. You can read this Geoffrey Fisher article right here.

I’ve also just learned that my fellow McFarlandite John Robertson’s new book, Hockey’s Wildest Season: The Changing of the Guard in the NHL, 1969–1970 is available to pre-order from the McFarland website. A little birdie told me that it has substantial material about the Carol Vadnais-Ted Hampson era of Seals history, so you may want to check it out. I’ve already read a few of John’s books and if you like any of my stuff, you’ll love his too, I guarantee!

Next week, I hope to re-post the ballots for the 2021 Seals Hall of Fame induction, so come back if you haven’t already had the chance to vote. Those of you who have voted, rest assured, your votes have not been lost, and they will be counted!

Until next time, stay gold!