Hi everyone! Just a short update today, I’m afraid. As I expected, after our son Emmett became infected with Lord-knows-what-except-it-seemed-to-linger-forever-and-ever, my wife and I have both been experiencing flu symptoms for the better part of a week and have been alternating between feeling simply “snotty” to “achy and tired” to “feeling like we want to die”. Emmett found eating ice chips to be rather soothing, but then again, he eats ice chips for fun in the middle of December. It got me thinking of those old “McDonald’s Ice Chips” that were forever prominent in the San Mateo Times‘ sports section, and these were always fun to read because they cast a light on lesser-known events and quotes in Seals history. The “Ice Chip” I wanted to share with you is from 50 years ago yesterday: February 22, 1969. You can check it out over in the articles section.

Despite my health issues this past week, I did get my new car, which has been great although a bit of an adjustment; now I actually care if I hit something or get the paint scratched, so I’m being extra cautious everywhere I go and anytime I need to use the car as some sort of temporary shelf for a freshly-bought case of beer. I also got a cheque from the Public Lending Rights Program of Canada, meaning that enough people have borrowed the book from the library that I actually made a profit out of it! Crazy. All these years, I had no idea that taking a book out of the library gave the author a few bucks (or cents). So keep spreading the word about the book. If friends and colleagues don’t want to shell out too much money for the book, tell them to find it at their local library, and if it ain’t there, tell the library to get crackin’!

Don’t forget to vote for your picks for the Seals Hall of Fame for 2019. You can vote up to three times per device too. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! It has been one hell of a whirlwind week up here in the Nation’s Capital. My son has developed a hacking cough and fever, meaning he has had to skip daycare the last few days, and then my wife got sick, making for an extremely low-key Valentines’ Day, and we had 30 centimeters of snow in one 12-hour period, meaning just about everyone stayed home from work this past Wednesday. Looking at these photos, would you have gone to work?

I was more than happy to call in sick for the day.

I was also in negotiations with a Honda salesman over purchasing a 2016 Civic LX. Thankfully, my boy’s cold seems to be finally waning now that the weekend is upon us (but he still has a cough, and my wife and I are now sick), the snow has been plowed (for the most part), and I’ve closed the deal on my new car. No more squealing fan belts, bald winter tires, failed environmental tests, and 150-degree mid-July days driving around with no air conditioning. I’ll miss my rusty old 2004 silver Civic (yes, writing a book CAN indeed mean still driving something that looks like it was found in an abandoned warehouse in the worst part of town), but I’m thrilled to have a car with touchscreens, surround sound, and a complete lack of rust coming my way in a few days. And I’m looking forward to christening it with a cranked-up-to-11 listening session of AC/DC’s Back in Black, the only album that should be considered when breaking in a new car, by the way.

But now on to the reason you’re likely here. A few days back, some of you may have seen Jeff “the Dude” Bridges starring in a Super Bowl commercial as his legendary character from The Big Lebowski. OK, so maybe I’m being hopelessly optimistic that there is going to be a sequel to this 1990s classic film, but one has to have dreams, doesn’t he? This week, I’ve added an article about former Seals defenseman Ted “Dude” McAneeley. The article goes over his early days growing up in Cranbrook, B.C., the roles his father and twin brother played in his life, and his greatest NHL thrill up to that time. Enjoy this rare piece from the Hockey News in the articles section.

That’s about all for this week, I’m afraid. My cold is starting to take over, and there’s a good chance I’ll be sleeping on the floor in my son’s room tonight (again) because if I don’t he will likely be visiting my wife and I’s bedroom every time his hacking cough wakes him up. Might as well just take the floor and hope I sleep well enough to function tomorrow. Good times…

Until next time, stay gold, and stay healthy!

Hi everyone! I hope you all have been enjoying a great week. I personally cannot wait until tomorrow. I actually get to sleep in (until 6:15! Thanks Gro Clock). Seriously, that is now considered sleeping in; my son was waking up at 5:30 most mornings until we bought him a Gro Clock, which might be the greatest invention known to parents. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, and you have kids, I feel really bad for you for not having enjoyed the benefits of this wonderful device sent from the gods. Also, I’m shopping for a new (ok, used) car! Finally going to replace the squealing, broken-air conditioned, balding-tired ’04 Honda Civic.

This week, I’ve added a new article about one of the strangest games in Seals history. On February 11, 1962, while the San Francisco Seals were in the midst of their first WHL season, the club traveled to Spokane to take on the Comets. It was the eighth game of a nine-game road trip, and to that point, things hadn’t gone so well. The putrid road trip dropped the Seals from 17-27-1 to 18-33-1, and then there was this game in Spokane. Try to guess what the three unusual elements were in this one.

There is also a new entry in the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame. This week, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Richard Mulhern shows off his fluorescent pink Atlanta Flames logo. If that makes no sense to you, well… it probably shouldn’t, I admit, so go check out this week’s induction to find out how it all totally makes sense. That make sense?

Finally, don’t forget to vote for your favorite Seals personality to be added to the Seals Hall of Fame. You can vote up to three times per device, as you may or may not know. And spread the word to others who may not be aware of the site. Every little bit of support helps!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone and Happy Super Bowl Weekend! After what felt like about two weeks, my Habs are back in action this weekend: two afternoon games in two days, which is pretty traditional considering a pretty good percentage of sports fans will be watching Tom Brady lose (hopefully).

This week, I’ve had the time to update the Seals/Barons all-time scoring and goaltending stats. Actually, it wasn’t that much work considering Hockey-reference.com has updated all of its stats after the NHL’s release of all its game summaries. I can only imagine the number of hours those folks who run the site had to put in to update the stats of every team for every season they competed in the NHL. I’ve only worked on stats involving the Seals and it felt like it took an eternity to put everything in order. So, thanks Hockey-reference.com for making all of us stats nerds happy and for making our lives just a little easier! You can find what can now be considered the official all-time scoring and goaltending stats for the Seals and Barons in the stats section.

I’ve also added a brand new induction to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, a weird card featuring the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks from the 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee set. It features long-time NHLer Lou Angotti doing his best impression of an African safari star!

Don’t forget to vote for who you feel belongs in the Seals Hall of Fame for 2019! You can find the list of nominees on the right-hand side of the screen, and you can vote up to three times per device. Until next time, enjoy the Super Bowl and stay gold!

Hi everyone and welcome back! It’s been an exciting week here at the site. Lots of people have been writing in looking to help make the site even better! Others have just wanted to share their thoughts on the Seals or let me know how much they appreciate the site. Thanks guys!

As you know, this weekend the San Jose Sharks are hosting the NHL All-Star Weekend for the first time since 1997. Some of you may remember this as the moment when the California Golden Seals (along with other California hockey heroes from the Sharks and Kings) reunited to play a team of alumni from other NHL teams, losing a close game. To celebrate the All-Star Game’s return to the Bay Area, I am posting the San Francisco Seals’ game by game summary. (I know, I know, San Jose is NOT San Francisco, but you have to remember that the Sharks played their first few years in the Cow Palace, where the Seals used to play). Thanks to the Herculean efforts of Chuck Nan and his research skills, I have been able to update the WHL Seals’ home attendance figures and finally get around to posting the game by game summary. Thanks so much, Chuck for sharing your great research with the world! The Seals’ history is a tricky one to trace, but we’re getting there one small step at a time.

What I find truly fascinating about the WHL Seals is how well attended their games were. I can truly understand why the NHL wanted to put a team in the Bay Area. There were a lot of nights when the old Cow Palace was hosting a capacity crowd or a near sell-out. The other thing I find interesting is the bizarre schedule WHL players had to endure. Eight and ten-game home stands were the norm rather than the exception, and road trips were usually brutal! I can understand that teams wanted to keep expenses low so they had lots of two-game series in the same city and teams did most of their traveling in long bursts, but players must have absolutely hated being away from their families for long periods like that. Go check out the stats section to download the San Francisco Seals’ game by game summary. It is not complete as far as attendance figures go, but we’re inching closer to finishing it.

For those of you who are looking for your weekly dose of cringeworthy cardboard, check out this week’s Overexposed victim, former Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Igor Ulanov looking rather queasy. Or maybe he’s just sick and tired of being manhandled by the Colorado Avalanche; you’ll have to decide for yourself.

Weekly reminder time: make sure to cast your vote for the 2019 Seals Hall of Fame by glancing over to the right side of your screen and clicking next to your favorite player or personality. Thanks also to everyone who keeps coming back to the site to check out all the latest updates. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone!

This week, a huge thanks goes out to site subscriber Mark Harris for sending me a whole bunch of Seals-related photos from his trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Head on over to the photos section to check out some awesome shots of Seals pucks, Morris Mott’s green-and-white skates, and Gary Simmons’ first Seals mask.

Speaking of the man they call “Cobra”, the man he was traded for in January 1977, Gary “Scoop” Edwards, is our feature player this week. Check out the site’s newest article to find out more about Edwards’ sensational debut game with the Cleveland Barons.

Weekly reminder time… Don’t forget to cast your vote for the Seals Hall of Fame, if you haven’t done so already. The race has been very tight so far, but I expect a few candidates to break away from the pack as induction day approaches.

Last but not least, much thanks to everyone who has been writing in and sharing their stories with me, not to mention everyone who has been contributing photos and stats, which I will continue to post every chance I get. Thanks also to all those who have discovered the site through my book. Whether you’ve picked it up at the library, on Amazon, or at your local book market, thank you for helping get the word out!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! How are you all doing this fine week? I’ve been doing some reading about the Seals this week, but in an unintentional way. You see, I’ve been reading Troy Treasure’s Icing on the Plains, which is a great book detailing the history of the Kansas City Scouts. I was surprised to learn that the Scouts enjoyed one single solitary sell-out in their two-year history, and it wasn’t against Montreal, Boston, or Philly. No, the Scouts’ one sell-out was against California. Yup, March 20, 1976, 16,219 fans crammed into Kansas City’s Kemper Arena to watch two teams that, within a few months, would both be relocated. Of course, there is an asterisk attached to that sell-out: it was Media Appreciation Night and tickets were all $2 apiece, but a sell-out, even a fake one, was still a sell-out. It was the Scouts’ third-last home game ever. The 2-2 tie was also the Scouts second-last point earned in the NHL. When you think about it, maybe they should have thought of the promotion a little earlier. It’s not like they were making much more money drawing 6,000-7,000 fans to the other games.

I’ve been busy trying to drum up some publicity for my book this week, not to mention I’m also putting together a brand new article about the Seals with the help of a fellow fan. I hope to have it completed and posted by next week, so just a small update this week, but I think you’ll like the article I’ve added, an interview with the then recently traded Gary Simmons. As you may or may not know, Gilles Meloche had asked Cleveland general manager Harry Howell for a trade, but instead of trading Meloche, Howell traded Simmons and Jim Moxey to L.A. for goaltender Gary Edwards and one-time big scorer Juha Widing. What I like about this article is all the little tidbits of information about Simmons, including why and where he got his tattoos, his feelings about Newfoundland, and his dislike of pizza despite owning a pizza parlour. Head on over to the articles section to find out more about “Cobra”.

Weekly reminder time… don’t forget to cast your votes for the 2019 Seals Hall of Fame. The competition is starting to get interesting, and a few front-runners are starting to emerge, but there is still lots of time left before the voting closes.

Also, keep those e-mails coming and the stories flowing. I love hearing about how much the Seals meant to you. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had themselves a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. After some interesting moments on some of the Quebec Eastern Townships’ infamously horrid dirt roads, I am happy to say we all survived and have safely returned to Ottawa.

This week, I’ve updated the year-by-year scoring and goaltending stats for the NHL Seals and Barons, which you can find in the stats section. Next up will likely be the Seals and Barons all-time scoring totals, which will hopefully be updated in a few weeks.

Also new to the site this week, a classic goofball card featuring former Quebec Nordique and Colorado Avalanche legend Joe Sakic! As you all know, one of my favorite all-time inductions is the legendarily bad 1994-95 Upper Deck Be a Player set. The thing was so bad I inducted the whole damn bunch of cards some two years ago, but in doing so, there was so much garbage I completely overlooked, and that’s what brings us to this week’s Overexposed induction: the infamous Joe Sakic lunch time slab of cardboard which you can find here.

Don’t forget to cast your votes for the 2019 Seals Hall of Fame. You can find the online ballot just over there to your right, and you can vote up to three times per device, so go nuts!

If you’re one of the many people who bought my book about the Seals this Christmas season (thanks so much for that, by the way!), please head on over to Amazon or any other website that rates books, and leave some feedback. Get the word out too if you know of anyone else who loves the Seals or who likes reading hockey history books.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! It’s that time of year again. Of course, I’m talking about the World Junior Championship, and to celebrate, I’ve added a brand new abomination to the Hockey Hall of Shame’s Overexposed wing. This week’s card comes from that utterly bizarre Upper Deck subset known as “National Heroes”, in which the players goof off in front of the camera and then live to regret their teenage behaviour for the rest of their lives. God bless the Internet!

There is also a brand new article about Seals defenseman Ron Stackhouse and his first season in the NHL. As a hockey writer and historian I’ve always liked articles like this, because they are small glimpses into the more mysterious and forgotten corners of a player’s career. It’s stuff like this that is fun to include in your writing.

Don’t forget to cast your votes for the newest inductees to the Seals Hall of Fame. You can vote up to three times per device, and you can find the nominees on the right side of the screen.

Since I will be away for the Christmas season, and I may or may not have Internet access, this will be the last update until January. Until then, I invite you to check out some classic Hall of Shame inductions such as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ atrocious all-white uniforms, that horrible hockey playing monkey movie, and the Apple USB Mouse that everyone has pretended never existed.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! All the best to you and your loved ones in 2019!

Hey everyone! I’m at home watching the Sens-Habs game and having just finished my Christmas shopping for this year. Got to enjoy myself a nice long weekend too, having taken Friday off to take in a matinee viewing of Bohemian Rhapsody with my wife. All in all, it has been a good weekend, and now I’ve got myself a few minutes to add some new stuff to the site.

This week I’ve added an updated version of the Seals goaltenders register to the stats section. As you may already know, the NHL has since made all of its game summaries available for public viewing, and anyone who keeps tabs on league stats from before 1990 is busy completely rewriting everyone’s records, from superstars to fourth-liners to back-up goaltenders who have played less minutes than you have fingers and toes. Just about everyone’s stats have been updated, which means that just about every hockey book you have sitting on your shelf is now completely inaccurate. Sigh… Anyway, gradually, everything will fall back into place and our beloved stats will be as accurate as they will ever be.

There is also a brand new induction to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame. This week, we are featuring an awkward shot of Elmer “Moose” Vasko which may give you a splitting headache, but probably not worse than the one Vasko surely had after this photo was snapped.

Weekly reminder time: Don’t forget to cast your votes for who you think should be inducted into the Seals Hall of Fame for 2019. You can vote up to three times per device, and the voting will continue until the summer, when the site celebrates its 3rd anniversary.

You can also pick up my book, The California Golden Seals: a Tale of White Skates, Red Ink, and One of the NHL’s Most Outlandish Teams here. I don’t need to explain (but I will) that it makes a great Christmas gift, and since there are a limited number of shopping days left, you might want to get on that now.

Until next time, stay gold!