Hi everyone! That’s right… how to taste a smell. That is not a typo, but rather some key words in the headline of the article I have posted this week about the Cleveland Barons ending their awful 15-game winless streak in the dying weeks of the 1977-78 schedule. It seems the team tasted the smell of success, whatever that means. Maybe you’ll find some sort of explanation in the article itself, but I sure couldn’t find anything. If you want to read up on one of the Barons’ very last wins as an NHL franchise, you can head on over here to the articles section.

It will be a short update this week, as I’ve been invited to participate in a new thread about my book on HFBoards, which houses a bunch of a message boards and interesting forums all about hockey and the NHL. It’s a great place to chat with other hockey aficionados, post comments, ask questions, and hob-nob with a few people who have written hockey books and articles. On Sunday, I’ll be starting a new thread about my book on the Seals, so if you want to contribute by submitting questions or comments, please feel free, the more the merrier! The thread isn’t up yet, but if you go to https://hfboards.mandatory.com/forums/the-history-of-hockey.126/ you’ll find my thread there on Sunday. If you go now, you’ll find a whole bunch of other interesting topics and some threads created by other writers who have just released books. I’m actually kinda lucky to be participating in this Society for International Hockey Research Project since it’s been almost three years since my book was published.

Anyway, that’s about it for this week. Keep enjoying the Stanley Cup playoffs as we never truly know how long they are going to last this year. So far, so good. Players are keeping their noses clean and staying inside their bubble, so we may actually crown a Stanley Cup champ this fall.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! As I was rocking my daughter to sleep I was thinking about the article I wanted to post this week, and like a bolt of lightning, I realized that the former Seals great shares the same name as a certain beloved Simpsons character. That’s right, Mr. Burns actually played for the Seals! Well, maybe not THE Mr. Burns, one Charles Montgomery, but rather Charles Frederick Burns. Still, it is fun to picture Homer’s sadistic, century-old, cranky, billionaire boss hipchecking the Plager Brothers. The three-dimensional Burns played six years in the Bay Area and was widely respected by teammates and opponents for being one of the hardest-working players game-in, game-out. You can read this great, classic piece on Burns from the February 1968 Hockey Pictorial right here.

If that isn’t enough of a treat for you, there is also a brand new induction just waiting to be read in the Hockey Hall of Shame, and it is going to bring back some warm and fuzzy memories. Just kidding, it’s a bunch of awful photos of some truly awful jerseys that hopefully will never be seen again. You may want to claw your eyes out, but don’t let that stop you from reading and expanding your mind.

If you’ve got a few minutes, be sure to check out the Surveys section of the site to vote for the best line in franchise history. Come on, dude, you’ve got the time. Go ahead, check it out and make your vote count.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! This week, we’ve got a bunch of new stuff for you, so let’s get started, shall we?

First, we’ve got a new article from the March 15, 1976 Oakland Tribune‘s John Porter about the night the Seals were officially eliminated from the playoffs for the sixth year in a row. This time, however, there remained the feeling that there were better days ahead as the Seals gave the Boston Bruins all they could handle. You can read the game report over in the articles section.

You may also want to read this week’s bonus article, which was sent to me by site subscriber Mark Harris. It is about the five best former Pittsburgh Penguins who had a significant impact with another franchise. That other franchise would be the Seals. You can read the piece over here.

Since it’s been a while since the last Overexposed induction into the Hockey Hall of Shame, go take a look at the latest dose of cardboard weirdness featuring the Hartford Whalers’ Adam Burt about to get hit. How is he about to get hit, you’ll have to go read this week’s piece to find out.

Anyway, that’s about it for this week. I’m going to be spending the next few days in the pool and feeding neighbour cats with my wife and kids. Supposed to be a hot weekend, so we’ll be seeing lots of water, I’m sure. Hope all of you stay cool and relaxed and enjoying the outdoors. Wear a mask if you have to and stay safe!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everybody! It’s only been three days since the last update, but since I also went a good two weeks plus without an update before this, I figured here’s a little something to get the weekend started. We’ve had a few new subscribers to the site as well, possibly as a result of the 2020 Seals Hall of Fame induction, so I wanted to keep the ball rolling with a few more goodies.

This week, we have a special extra-long article for your enjoyment. The game it describes was nothing special, just a late-season 3-1 loss to the pitiful ’74-’75 Minnesota North Stars, but the extras that go along with the article are top-notch… more press notes courtesy of Pete Manzolillo. I’ve always found these to be great reading material for history and stats geeks like me, so hopefully you’ll get the same enjoyment out of them too. You can read the article and the bonus pieces over here in the articles section.

Before you go, be sure to check out the last survey I posted. It’s all about the greatest line in team history. Who do you think the best forward trio in Seals/Barons history is? Check out the surveys section and let everyone know.

So, like title overhead says, the countdown is on to July 14, 2021 when new faces are added to the Seals Hall of Fame. I’d like to throw it out there before the voting officially gets underway in a few months: Who do you feel should be among the nominees? I’m not saying your choice is going to make the cut, but I’d like some ideas as to who should have a crack at the Hall next year. You can e-mail me your ideas to stevecurrier@goldensealshockey.com.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! It’s that time of year again when we welcome a few more Seals legends into the franchise’s Hall of Fame, and this year’s inductees could not be more deserving. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s vote, and congratulations to this year’s inductees: Mike Christie, Gerry Ehman and Bill Hicke. I’m also happy to announce this year’s induction into the Builder’s category, which we began last year when Charles Schultz was inducted. This year’s addition to the Builder category is none other than Leonard Shapiro. Thanks to Gary “Cobra” Simmons for his thoughtful suggestion to induct Len into the Hall. After all, has anyone done more to promote the NHL’s most beloved defunct franchise these last 46 years?

Here are the final results of the 2020 vote:

Fred Glover – 10.8%
Jack Evans – 10.8%
Ray Cyr – 1.5%
Mike Christie – 16.9%
Gerry Ehman – 15.4%
Norman “Bud” Poile – 7.7%
Wayne Connelly – 6.2%
Bill Hicke – 20.0%
Other – 10.8%

If you want to read up on this year’s inductees, you can head on over in the Hall of Fame section.

It’s now been 44 years since the Seals left the Bay Area for the proverbial greener pastures when all they found was literally greener pastures as in the surrounding area of the Richfield Coliseum where sheep were known to graze. Let’s have a look back at some of the most memorable moments in Seals history with a great piece from the San Francisco Examiner‘s Ross McKeon. You can find this 1997 article right over here.

Well, that’s about it this week. Thanks for stopping by once again! Just because the NHL is planning on starting up again in the coming weeks doesn’t mean you should be a stranger to this site. There’s lots more cool stuff coming this summer and fall. If you like what you’re seeing and reading, why don’t you subscribe to the site? Every week, I promise you’ll be the first to know when I post an update. Guaranteed! You’ll get a nice e-mail every weekend and you can click right on the links in the e-mail, and they’ll take you right to the new content on this site. Come on, take the plunge! It’s summer after all.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Just a small update this week as I’ve been quite busy of late and I’m planning on taking a trip to the Eastern Townships to visit the in-laws and risk getting COVID-19 in another province! I think you’ll find this week’s article quite appropriate as it mourns the loss of the Bay Area’s first major professional hockey team. Of course, at this point in the summer of 1976, it was no secret the Seals were likely on their way out of California, even though the inevitable didn’t actually happen until mid-July. That being said, the news still shook a lot of folks who had seen so much hope for the future from the likes of Dennis Maruk, Al MacAdam, Rick Hampton, and others. You can check out this week’s article here.

I also realized lately that I have gotten a little lazy when it comes to the Surveys section of the site, so this week I’m adding a new poll where I’m asking who you think is the greatest line in franchise history. Is it the Assembly Line? The 3-M Line? The Wrecking Crew Line? You can find the survey here and cast your vote.

Since I’ll be away for the next week, and that I will need a bit of extra time to prepare for the induction of the newest members of the Seals Hall of Fame, there won’t be a site update next week. Golden Seals Hockey will be back July 14 on the 44th anniversary of the official announcement the Seals would be moving to Cleveland. Come back on that day to see if your picks for the Hall of Fame got in this year. If you haven’t voted yet, be sure to do so. You have until June 30 to cast your votes.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Another weekend is upon us, and it is hotter than hell up here in Eastern Ontario. Temps are supposed to be in the low 30s for the next four days – that’s the low 90s Fahrenheit for all my American friends – so it’s going to be one hot Father’s Day weekend. It’s also the first weekend in months where I’m actually going to visit someone at their house. In this case, my Dad and his girlfriend and my brother. I hope all of you fathers out there have yourselves a great Father’s Day too, and those of you who aren’t fathers, don’t forget to give your Dad a call or send him a card.

Like I said before, it’s going to be one hot weekend. Almost enough to make me want to shed all my clothes and have a cold one under a tree. Speaking of wearing not enough clothes, this week’s article comes from the November 19, 1971 Oakland Tribune, and it is all about the dangers of not dressing properly for the right occasion. On this night, the Seals won what can only be described as a barn-burner, but they were worse for wear afterwards. Goaltender Lyle Carter, when he was interviewed for my book, told me about that night and how it had a profound affect on his career. Here is an excerpt from the interview I did with Lyle on July 17, 2011:

“We were leading the game 2-1.  I’m going to say we were in the second period, I’m pretty sure, and the rebound went back to [Richard] Martin.  He didn’t even stop it; he blasted and they tell me it was 90 miles per hour or more and I was using a belly pad that shouldn’t have been used in peewee hockey that they had come up with for me to use in that game, and you think back and you wonder… why didn’t somebody think of me using Meloche’s belly pad, but anyone who knows goaltender gear, a belly pad in those days was one piece, the arm pads were another, today I believe they’re all the same piece, and this was a very small belly pad, it was not well-padded, whereas mine had reinforcements on it which went practically around to your back on both sides.  There was nothing like this on this belly pad, and that’s why I was injured, because it hit — next to maybe a hockey sweater and an undershirt or something underneath — it hit no equipment.  I hit me just in the bare skin you might say.  It cut me for about a five-inch gash. It tore the rib cartilage, and actually knocked me out. I never knew what happened until I looked up and the players were all around me.  I was laying on my back on the ice, and they took me off on a stretcher and so on.  That was the injury and it pretty much ruined my debut in the National Hockey League and ruined my season.”

Being short a piece of equipment is something this week’s newest Hall of Shame inductee need not worry about. In fact, he wears his equipment places where it isn’t even necessary. This week’s newest induction to the Overexposed wing is another classic card from the awful 1992-93 Topps Stadium Club set. This time around we’re featuring former St. Louis Blue Craig Janney and his shoulder pads! Like so many other cards in the Topps set, it is stunningly awful, and you can read all about it and a few other mistakes from that same set right here.

Before you take off to enjoy that wonderful summer weather, don’t forget to cast your votes for the 2020 Seals Hall of Fame. The voting closes June 30th, so if you haven’t gotten around to voting, you’d better do it soon!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! This week, it is time to show some respect for two of the greatest players of the 1970s, both of whom broke out in a big way toiling in Oakland, which unfortunately meant they got very little attention from the mainstream sports media. I’m talking about defenseman Paul Shmyr and centre Dennis Maruk.

There has been a recent surge in interest in the career of Dennis Maruk. First, there was his excellent and revealing autobiography, which you can read about here. There have also been several articles published online, including this week’s feature piece, detailing his great career. The Ukrainian Weekly posted this article just two weeks ago, and I’ve added it to the articles section for you to check out, but you can also read it from the Weekly‘s site here if you’d like to read some of the other articles that have been published recently.

In the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, the great Paul Shmyr‘s not-so-great rookie card has been added. It also features another underrated defenseman from the 1970s, but see if you can figure out who before I give you the answer.

As the anniversary of the site approaches, please be reminded that the voting for the Seals Hall of Fame will close July 1, so if you haven’t voted for your favorites yet, I urge you to do so now. The newest inductees will be announced in mid-July as always.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone, and welcome back! It’s June 6, which means today is the 53rd anniversary of the NHL’s very first expansion draft, the one that officially gave birth to the Seals, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues, Minnesota North Stars, and Los Angeles Kings. Today is the day Bill Hicke, Charlie Hodge, Gary Smith, Bobby Baun and several others became original members of the NHL Seals. Of course, things didn’t turn out so well for those guys in Year One as the club finished a disappointing 15-42-17, and a country mile out of the playoffs, but no one doubted their toughness and character strength.

To celebrate the grit and determination of hockey players from that long-ago era, I present you with a great piece from the Oakland Tribune’s Ed Levitt all about the grind that a season of pro hockey can be on a human body. The 1970-71 Seals, in particular, suffered a rash of injuries that pretty-much ensured they weren’t going to be participating in any meaningful games come April. Just about everyone who was counted on to lead the team went down with lengthy, nagging injuries, and you can read all about the Seals’ medical issues in the articles section.

Of course, one cannot write about hockey heartache and disappointment without focusing attention on one-time first-round draft bust Alexandre Daigle. We’ve got a horrible new entry to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame that exemplifies all that was wrong with hockey cards in the mid-1990s. Awful colour schemes, random words everywhere, busy patterns and logos thrown about willy-nilly, and let’s not forget the completely nonsensical player photo! This thing has it all!

That’s about it for this week. Come back again next time and don’t forget to vote for your preferred pick for induction into the Seals Hall of Fame for 2020!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! The NHL is back! In quiet, empty-arena form, but I’ll take it. After all, the Montreal Canadiens are actually going to live to see another playing day, and in the playoffs no less! Sure, it’ll probably be a quick playoff run that will last fewer days than the training camps players are going to have to go through before resuming play, but I’ll take it. It’ll give us all something to look forward to, and these days, that’s really all we can ask for. And there’s also the draft coming up in less than a month, so there’s a bonus, and free agency will be just around the corner. See how things are looking up all of a sudden?

In the articles section this week, we are featuring a piece on Seals all-star, and 2020 Seals Hall of Fame nominee Bill Hicke, arguably the team’s best player their first two seasons in the NHL. Hicke was especially effective when he was put onto a line with Ted Hampson and Gary Jarrett, and 1968-69 was their zenith when all three were selected to play in the all-star game. Unfortunately, Jarrett sustained an injury not long before the game, so he was replaced by Carol Vadnais. The “Assembly Line” wasn’t kept together very long, but in the short time they were together, they were dynamite, and Hicke was the line’s triggerman. You can read all about him and his linemates in the articles section.

In the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, be prepared to dance like Dominic Roussel, a man who was so in the zone the night his card photo was taken that he broke out one hell of a crazy dance move right there in his crease. When you see this thing you’ll be wondering how there was no mention of it in the paper the following morning. It’s like John Travolta and a Russian leader had a rug-cuttin’ child who could also stop pucks. You read that right. Best get on over to the Overexposed wing and find out how that Russian Travolta sentence makes any sense.

That’s about it for this week. The weather is finally improving so spending more time outside is becoming a priority. Thank God we have a back yard so we can enjoy the weather and social distance at the same time. Hope everyone enjoys a beer or two, grills up something good on the BBQ, and enjoys their time outside with the family.

Until next time, stay gold!