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!

Hi everyone! Full disclosure, I’m not a Leafs fan. Never have been. Think of my hatred of the Leafs as being similar to how you would feel if a hockey team of Ted Cruz’s skipped out on a game you bought a ticket for because they had to escort their kids to Mexico. You know, because they’re just being a “good Dad”. Think Michael Jordan sitting in the same cab as Isaiah Thomas, or Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin circa 1997. In fact, if the Leafs made it to the Stanley Cup Final and had a chance at becoming the first Canadian team in 28 years to bring the silver chalice home to the Great White North where it belongs, I still wouldn’t cheer for them. Not a chance. I would dig through my box of childhood memories, find my old rosary beads which I was given somewhere around grade one, and start praying the looming Apocalypse away. FYI… I’m not religious. At. All. But I’d willing to be if it meant keeping the Stanley Cup out of Toronto for one more year. My friends think I’m nuts not wanting to jump on the bandwagon and cheer on Canada’s team whenever they are up against the Boston Bruins. Nope. Not gonna do it. So, long story short, am I biased against Canada’s second greatest hockey team? Ab-so-freakin-lutely! Have I developed an irrational hatred for this obviously evil Blue Man Group knock-off. Oh Hell Yeah! Am I putting my hard-earned reputation as a credible, objective hockey writer at risk? Oh, come on, if you’ve ever read anything in the Hockey Hall of Shame, you know as well as I do that that ship has long since sailed.

That being said, I’ll give the Leafs some credit for putting together an exciting young hockey club these last few years. It certainly took long enough for them to draft all these hot-shot youngsters considering the almost unparalleled mountain of losses the team has accumulated the last 50 years. You would almost expect them to win a couple of double-digit games here and there, but those things are actually pretty rare these days. And they were rare back in 1972 as well, although not as rare as a unicorn sighting. Case in point, the Seals were involved in two double-digit games that season: the famous 11-3 thrashing they heaped onto the Vancouver Canucks in January 1973, and this week’s article subject, the somewhat less famous 11-0 drubbing at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In fact, the eleven-goal margin of defeat was the worst in Seals/Barons history, and you can read all about it here.

Anyway, that’s about it for this week. Just a small update, I’m afraid. Took me a while to come up with that intro this time. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! So… small problem with the Seals Hall of Fame voting. You may have noticed that for the last few days, no one has been able to cast their votes. For some reason, my free Opinion Stage account has put a limit on how many votes can be cast per month, so I have to shut the voting down until March 1. But rest assured, the votes that have already been cast still count. It’s just that no else can vote for two more weeks or so. I could spend $29 a month to have the poll open for another four or five months, but I’m way too cheap for that. So here we are!

Anyway, now that we’re past that embarrassment, on to the new stuff. First, there is a new article and a related photos from the Seals’ September 19, 1972 pre-season game vs. Pittsburgh. Thanks to Larry Paquette of the Original Hockey Hall of Fame for sending me the photo my way!

I also stumbled upon an interesting website called NHLBackups.com where you can find out about NHL goaltenders who dressed for teams you never thought had signed them in the first place. Here is a link to Ray Martynuik’s bio and a brief story of how he almost became the Seals’ opening-day starter in October 1971. As you may know, Martynuik was a highly-touted junior prospect, drafted in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens, but traded to California for Seals first-rounder Tony Featherstone. When Gerry Desjardins showed up to training camp with a broken arm, it left the Seals with nothing but rookies to play goal, and it was a toss-up between Martynuik and Gary Kurt who would play vs. Los Angeles October 8, 1971. Lyle Carter had not yet arrived to take up one of the Seals’ goaltending spots, so it was up to Kurt and Martynuik to duke it out. It makes one wonder if Martynuik had actually played that night, perhaps he would have won, and would have remained with the Seals. Unfortunately, he never played that night, Carter arrived in time to back-up Kurt the following game, and Martynuik was sent back down never to return. You can read all about Martynuik’s brief NHL stay here.

Thanks for visiting, folks! Hope to see you back again next week. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Well, it’s that time of year again. It’s time to cast your votes for the people you feel are worthy of induction into the Seals Hall of Fame. This year’s candidates are quite diverse, and all are worthy of induction, but only three can make the cut. There are front office people, stay-at-home defensemen, Western League stars, corner-men, and coaches. You’ll find this year’s eight candidates over on the right side of the screen, if you scroll down just a little bit. As in years past, you can vote up to three times per device, and the voting will remain open until July when the new inductees will be celebrated.

Without further ado, I give you the 2021 Seals Hall of Fame nominees, in random order:

Tom Thurlby

Charlie Burns

Doug Roberts

Gary Croteau

Norm Ferguson

Joe Starkey

Fred Glover

Garry Young

You can find the inductees’ bios right here, if you need some help making your decision.

Finally, for your entertainment, an enlightening interview with former Seals star Hilliard Graves. Thanks to Sante Debacco for telling me about this very interesting video, which you can find over on You Tube. Enjoy!

That’s about it for this week. Enjoy the return of the NHL and remember to stay safe this Super Bowl weekend! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Well, hockey is back, and since my Montreal Canadiens are 5-0-2 to start the season, I couldn’t be happier. No, happy is not a strong enough word. Let’s check the thesaurus for a synonym. Let’s see… ooh, here’s an interesting one: mirth. Wait, what? I always thought “mirth” was a negative thing, a synonym of “dread”. I mean, listen to the word: “mirth”. See? Sounds really bad, doesn’t it? All these years, I thought Wayne’s World‘s Mirth Mobile was actually… Hmm, you know, come to think of it, it all makes sense now… Wayne and Garth were always super upbeat and fun to be around.

Anyway, in December 1970, things were going unusually well for the California Golden Seals. You might even say things were rather… mirthy… mirthly… mirthful? Yeah, that’s it, mirthful. Finley actually seemed to care about his team, and the Seals were pulling off a few surprises here and there, like 6-1 victories over Vancouver, which you can read all about right here.

One guy who probably wasn’t terribly happy when he saw his 1971-72 rookie card was the Vancouver Canucks’ Dennis Kearns, who appears to have been kneeling or standing in a crater when his photo was snapped. Head on over to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame to find out what I mean.

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

Hi everyone! After an impromptu one-week break (It’s a long story…), we’re back with some brand new goodies. If everything goes according to plan, there will be a few more surprises in store for all of you, so come back again soon to find out what we’ve got waiting in the wings.

In the articles section this week, you can read Geoffrey Fisher’s piece on Charlie Finley’s problematic transfer of the Seals to the NHL. Hmm… this sounds eerily similar to something I’ve heard about recently. Ah, probably nothing, right? Anyway, Charlie Finley just didn’t want to give up the Seals unless he got himself a good price. This, despite having run the team into the ground. Whaddya know, Finley actually made money owning the Seals even though he couldn’t actually find a buyer. The NHL had to step in and take the team off his hands just so the league could get rid of him. Hmm… I wonder if anyone ever thought of that idea to get rid of an annoying, narcissistic, boastful, money-hungry world leader who had worn out his welcome in day two of his term? Ah, I’m probably thinking of a Simpsons episode or something. Anyway, check out Fisher’s Hockey News article from March 1, 1974 in the articles section.

As for the aforementioned “unknown defenseman” in the title to this here post, well, you’ll just have to find out what I mean by checking out this week’s Overexposed. It involves a failed Czech draft pick, some sitcom-ey camera tricks and the Hartford Whalers. Sounds like fun, don’t it?

That’s it for this week, so check back again soon to see what goodies I’ll be posting in the coming weeks. Stay gold, and stay safe!

Hi everyone! It’s hard to believe sometimes that we are now in January, and we are just gearing up for a new NHL season. I’m still not sure how things are actually going to play out, but I’m sure it will be a nice respite from all the negative crap we keep seeing and hearing about on the news. I hope this week’s update brings a smile to your face and warms the cockles of your heart as we delve back into hockey’s past when life was simpler and far easier to understand.

This week, I’ve posted a brand new article from November 1975 all about how the Seals were turning a corner under the tutelage of rookie coach Jack Evans and his insistence that his team finally adopt a system rather than a slap-dash approach to winning (and usually failing). It’s truly hard to believe that despite all the positive changes that were happening in Oakland the franchise would be packing up and leaving California within less than a year.

I’ve also added a new link to episode 181 of Tim Hanlon’s excellent defunct and forgotten sports history podcast Good Seats Still Available, which will be of interest to all of you, I’m sure. It features an interview with Eric Weltner, who has recently completed his documentary on Columbus’ minor-league hockey history. For those of you who are not aware, the Columbus Golden Seals were the NHL Seals’ minor-league affiliate. Unfortunately for Columbus, the Baby Seals played there from 1971-73, a time when the Seals’ best young players were already in the NHL, and then later, when the WHA took most of them away, were replaced by the more minor-leaguers leaving the Baby Seals almost completely void of talent. Most nights, it wasn’t pretty watching the Seals, whether they were calling Oakland or Columbus home. From top to bottom, the Seals were undoubtedly pro hockey’s most dysfunctional franchise.

Until next time, stay safe and stay gold!

Welcome back and Happy 2021 to everyone! I am so incredibly happy, like most of you I’m sure, to be putting 2020 aside forever and ever and ever. What a horrible year that was. I feel that we’re turning a corner… finally. New vaccines to help us get rid of COVID-19, a new U.S. President who actually knows how to spell “President”, a new NHL season just weeks away, and a brand new update!

First of all, however, I’d like to congratulate former Seals goaltender Lyle Carter for earning an induction into the Maritime Sport Hall of Fame. Most of you know of Lyle’s hockey credentials, but many of you (and myself as well) had no idea of his other athletic credentials as a first-rate fastpitch-softball player. You can read all about Lyle’s upcoming induction and some nice biographic information about him right here. Thanks to Pete Manzolillo and Mark Harris for letting me know about Lyle’s special honour.

As you may or may not know, I’ve been searching quite a bit on eBay the last few months trying to stave off the mental stress that this bloody pandemic has brought on. I’ve gone looking for cards to complete some of my favourite sets from the 1970s and 1980s, and also cards I can send to former players to get autographed. EBay really has rekindled my childhood love of collecting cards. It also helps that I now earn far more than the $30 a week I used to get delivering newspapers back in 1992, so I can now think about buying cards that exceed that paltry sum. This week, I’ve added a new section to the site: Collector’s Corner. From time to time, I’ll post something related to Seals collectibles, and this week, I’m starting with a checklist of Topps and O-Pee-Chee cards featuring our favourite defunct team, but as time goes on I’ll add other rarer Seals cards, collectibles and inserts, and maybe some price updates so you can look for the stuff yourself on eBay. Please note that the cards on this checklist are not for sale as I don’t actually own many of them here, and those that I do are part of sets I am trying to complete.

Happy New Year everyone, and see you back here soon. Until next time, stay gold!