Hi everyone! After one hell of a bad week for the National Hockey League (I’m looking at you Mike Babcock, Bill Peters, and Sutter brothers), it’s time to put all that negativity aside for just a while. The revelations from the past few days have been shocking to say the least. They remind me a little of some of the stories I’ve heard about Bert Olmstead when he was coaching the Seals: skating the players so hard they would puke, locking the players in the dressing room so they couldn’t go home for Thanksgiving. And what about those old Eddie Shore tales we’ve all heard. Players being forced to undergo painful massages and medical experiments from “Doctor” Shore, not to mention tying goaltenders to the net, but I may be confusing that story with the first Mighty Ducks movie. It’s been a long week, what can I say. Either way, it’s about time some of these old coaching practices get put out to pasture.

This week, I’ve posted a brand new-ish article from just this month. I say it is new-ish because it is a reposting of a March 1971 article about the night the expansion Vancouver Canucks ran roughshod over our Seals and established a team record with 11 goals. The Seals would get their revenge two years later, however, when the set a team record of their own, beating the Canucks 11-3. To read the piece head on over to the articles section. Thanks to Pete Manzolillo for making me aware that the article even existed!

Just to let you all know, I will be away from my computer most of next week due to the impending birth of my daughter. My wife is going in for a scheduled C-section this Monday, and I’ll be in and out of the hospital the next few days afterward, not to mention up to my elbows in baby poop and pee, so there won’t be an update until the following week, but rest assured I haven’t forgotten about all of you.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! I haven’t had much spare time on my hands recently so I haven’t been able to get much time on the creative side of things, but I did have some time to do a little research on the Web, and I’ve come across some great new Seals-related media that is sure to interest all of you. I haven’t had a chance to get through all of it yet, but so far these new podcast episodes have made the morning and afternoon commutes rather pleasant.

What I’m referring to is the Pro Hockey Alumni Podcast. If you’re a fan of old time hockey — and if you come to this site regularly, you probably are — you’re going to love Mark Willand’s show. To get you started, might I suggest the four episodes I have linked to this site, and you can connect to Mark’s site in the Audio/Video section. The first two links will take you to parts one and two of an interview with Seals Hall of Famer Gary “Suitcase” Smith. I’m currently in the middle of part two, and so far, it has been thoroughly enjoyable to hear the legendary wandering goaltender about his relationships with Harry Howell, Carol Vadnais, and Tony Esposito. He also gets deep into his four-year stint with the Seals, telling great stories about the nightmare first season under Bert Olmstead, and how his final season with the Seals messed him up. The two other episodes include a tribute to former Seals and Barons defenseman Mike Christie, and an interview with Seals documentary producer Mark Greczmiel.

Normally, I would have an Overexposed card or a newspaper article for you as well, but I’m still having my issues with WordPress, and I’m going to have to find a way to do what I normally do with a malfunctioning web-site creator. Don’t fret, however, as I have lots of new stuff coming in the next few months, and I won’t be letting you down!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! It’ll be a small update this week, unfortunately, due to some ongoing problems with WordPress. I had a new Overexposed card to post this week, but until I figure out what is wrong with WordPress, it will have to wait until next week. Until then, I’d like to share a great new article sent to me from site subscriber Jim Shattock. It is an interesting piece from a Seals game program, and it is all about Gilles Meloche and Morris Mott. One opened a new burger joint, and the other was subject of the Brooklyn-based Morris Mott Fan Club. I’ll let you figure out which player was associated with which extracurricular activity. You can find the article in the Seals/Barons articles section, which you have to access through the menu at the top of the page.

Again, very sorry for the small update, but we’ll hopefully be back to normal next week. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Still plugging away at correcting the stats and other hiccups in my book in preparation for next fall’s paperback edition, I’ve been unearthing a few new articles and interesting tidbits about everyone’s favorite defunct NHL franchise. This week, I found a fascinating article that explores the Seals’ attendance problems during their last season in San Francisco. When Seals’ fans found out their team would be moving to Oakland, they were none too happy about it, even though it meant the team would be playing in not only a fancy-shmancy new rink, but in a fancy-shmancy professional league. The Oakland Tribune‘s Ed Levitt gives great insight into what was going on hockey-wise in the Bay Area in 1966. You can check it out in the articles section.

We’ve got a great new induction to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame! In fact, this week we’re inducting an entire subset of cards featuring Vancouver Canucks legend Trevor Linden, who apparently was in need of a personal secretary (or a cell phone) to keep track of daily comings and goings, because that dude was bizz-ay. To find out what I mean, you’ll need to check out this week’s induction right here.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone and belated Happy Halloween! I don’t know about you, but we got one hell of a torrential downpour on the Day of the Dead this year. But my son Emmett was a real trooper and walked in the rain in his Superman cape for two hours and never complained once. All he wanted after collecting candy from one house was finding the next house he could exploit. At the end of the night, his hands were cold, his rubber boots were soaked, his hair was drenched, but he couldn’t have been happier. All in all, we all had a great time, and now I’m back for a new update.

This week, I’ve been going over my book and identifying little hiccups here and there that I’d like to have corrected. Most of the time it’s just stats, since my book was published before the NHL released all of its game summaries from 1917 to the present day. Therefore, there are a lot of instances where plus-minuses and shots on goal figures are off by one, which is really annoying, but at least I getting a mulligan on my book and I have the chance to do a few things over. I’m a perfectionist so I’m more than happy to do the job.

One thing that always bothered me in researching the Seals was the understanding the history of the famous, but short-lived Wrecking Crew Line. I just didn’t have access to anything that indicated when, and for how long Dave Hrechkosy, Butch Williams and Ron Huston played together, and so the book is a little vague on their overall impact on the Seals. As I started reading through the 1974-75 chapter, I started looking more closely at the stats and I made the necessary corrections. I thought it would be a good time to update the original 2016 article I wrote about the Wrecking Crew which had been posted to the articles section of the website. So, this week’s new article is not so much “new” but rather a 2.0 version, and you can find it where the old version was, in the articles section, of course.

And, to acknowledge the spirit of Halloween, a trip down memory lane to remember some of the scariest Overexposed cards we’ve featured! We’ve got Anders Hedberg’s crazy eyes! We’ve got Emerson Etem’s crotch! We’ve got Dan Cleary threatening to slit his throat! And we’ve got Dave Gagner trying to scare the crap out of everyone within earshot! Enjoy!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! And welcome to all of the new subscribers who have joined the site the last week or so. Don’t know what got everyone interested in the site all of a sudden – I should probably check out Google or something – but I’m very happy to be greeting all of you newbies!

So what do we got in store for you this week?

I was looking through some online newspaper archives for some interesting new articles I had overlooked in my previous research, and I came across a great piece from the November 16, 1976 San Francisco Examiner. The opinion piece, written by Wells Twombly involves the curious, late-season departure of Munson Campbell, who was then hired shortly afterward by the transplanted Kansas City Scouts, who were on their way to Denver, Colorado. It is an intriguing story about love, deception, greed, lust and… unbridled enthusiasm (bonus points for all you Seinfeld fans!). Or maybe it’s just a tale of a guy who didn’t get along with his boss and got canned. Either way, the story is well worth the read, and you can find it in the articles section.

While you’re here, be sure to check out the latest induction to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame. I may have to add a “Duh… Duh” display to the wing because this card definitely deserves its own spotlight due to its sheer absurdity. It’s Pierre Plante’s last NHL card, and definitely his worst!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Whew, has this been one busy week! Work is crazy right now. The baby’s room has finally been painted. I interviewed the Washington Capitals’ Mike Lampman for my new book, which means lots of transcribing to do. I do love this part of the research process of a book though. So many great stories I’ve never heard before, which I assume means readers are going to enjoy immensely as well. Thankfully, we’ve also got a weekend trip to the Eastern Townships planned for Saturday morning. It’ll probably do us all some good to rest with friends and family a few days.

Another thing I’ve got to get started on before the baby arrives is a review of my book since University of Nebraska Press has just informed me it will going to a paperback edition in the fall of 2020, which is great news! They say it means they have confidence the book will continue to sell well, which feels great to hear, although I get the impression the e-mail I received is really just a canned message that has been sent to lots and lots of authors as well. But I’ll finally get the chance to correct those stats that were compiled before the NHL released all of its game summaries, not to mention a few little typos here and there in the rest of the book, so I’m not complaining.

Just a small update this week due to my lack of time to write anything new, funny, creative or interesting. In the articles section, there is a brand new piece on underrated defenseman Len Frig, who played four seasons with the Seals-Barons. Thanks once again to Pete Manzolillo for sending me yet another great article from one of his old game programs from the 1970s. Check it out here in the articles section.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Yup, some things never change, and thank God for that. I’m not sure about you, but I absolutely loved it when my beloved Habs came back from a 4-1 deficit to defeat the Leafs in OT. What is it with the Leafs and blowing 3-goal leads all the bloody time? It’s like they’ve cornered the market on horrible third periods or something. If you think that’s bad though, trust me, it has nothing on what the Seals did February 23, 1972 when they blew a 5-goal lead to the eventual Stanley Cup champions from Boston. I invite you all to go read the article which describes exactly what happened on that miserable night. No new article, however, just one that already exists in the articles section. I just thought it was fitting considering the turn of events this last week.

During that Boston debacle, a few Seals players may have felt like walking out on the team and hockey in general, but luckily, cooler heads prevailed unlike on January 22, 1968 when Billy Harris had enough of his prickly relationship with coach Bert Olmstead and walked out on the team. You can read all about the incident in the articles section.

You should also check out our brand new addition to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame. This week, we feature junior goaltender Patrick Desrochers in his classic 1996-97 Upper Deck rookie card! Just be warned, looking into his eyes will probably feel like Joe Pesci asking you what’s so funny à la Goodfellas. Enjoy!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! That’s right, it’s that time of year again. Your favorite team, my favorite team, everyone’s favorite team is back in action to start yet another NHL season, and that makes me very happy! I’m especially excited that since my son has started school, he is absolutely exhausted by 7 o’clock and falls asleep by 7:30, which means I can actually watch almost an entire game now! I know I’m a teacher, and this sounds a little obvious and self-serving, but damn, school is freakin’ great!

Speaking of great, you guys are going to love this brand new article that was sent to me from Pete Manzolillo. I am so sad I didn’t have the information contained in this article while I was doing research for my book. Have you guys ever wondered what happened to all those Cleveland Barons jerseys after the team went belly up? I have to admit I’ve never once thought about that, or for that matter, whatever happened to all those old Kansas City Scouts, Calgary Cowboys, and Hartford Whalers jerseys, but seriously, they must end up somewhere, right? Did they give those things away? Did they incinerate them? Who knows about those three teams, but I can now tell you what happened to the Barons’ old unis, and you can find out too in the articles section. If you prefer to read the article on the website where it is found, you can click here and check out the Uni-Watch.com.

I was wondering what else to post to the site this week. I was thinking about a new Overexposed disaster, but no kidding, as I was writing this entry, I received an e-mail from site subscriber Mark Harris (by the way, a two-time reader of my book! Nice work, Mark, and my compliments too!). Just a few days ago, Mark caught up with former Seals captain Bobby Baun and Seals scoring leader for 1972-73, Walt McKechnie, at a Dave & Busters in Toronto as they were doing a signing with a bunch of other former Maple Leaf greats. Check out Mark’s photos here.

Hope you enjoy the new additions to the site! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! This update comes a bit later than usual because I wanted it to be worded just perfectly, and I didn’t have all that much time this week to put it all together. Also, I won’t be around much from Wednesday to Sunday this week due to family spending a few days with us, so I won’t have any time to post anything knew until the first week of October. We should have ourselves a great time though because we will be heading to Carp Fair this weekend, and the little one will sleep a baby for about two days straight, which is aces in my book! For those of you who don’t live near Ottawa, which is probably ALL of you, Carp is a small town outside the Nation’s Capital and so Carp Fair is not some sort of fish fest. Nothing wrong with fish fests, mind you, but we just aren’t going to be going to any.

This week, folks, we’re going to the fights! We’ve got all sorts of people chucking knuckles and making life miserable for another person on skates. In the articles section, a great feature about the great Carol Vadnais from the Oakland Tribune‘s Ed Levitt. Some of his editorials were among my favorites when I was doing research for my book, so you should go check this one out over in the articles section.

I’m also very excited to present, for the first time in a year, a brand new induction into the Hockey Hall of Shame! If there are any fight fans out there, you will definitely want to take a stroll down the hallowed hall to learn about one of the most memorable round of fisticuffs in NHL history. I am here to give you the play-by-play, or in this case, the blow-by-blow in this latest video induction!

Until next time, stay gold!