Hi everyone! It’s that time of year again when I ask all of you to cast your votes for who you believe should be elected to the Seals Hall of Fame in July 2019. Like last year, you can vote up to three times per device, but unlike last year, I have whittled down the list of nominees from 10 to 8. The nominees come from all eras of the franchise’s history, from the early years in the WHL, all the way to the final two years in Cleveland.

Here are the eight 2019 nominees: Tom Thurlby, Charlie Burns, Bill Hicke, Ivan Boldirev, Gary Simmons, Jim Neilson, coach Fred Glover, and broadcaster Joe Starkey.

I invite you to check out the short bios of each nominee here to help you make your choice(s). The voting will continue until the summer, and the new members of the Hall of Fame will be announced at GoldenSealsHockey’s third anniversary in July. You can cast your votes by clicking on the player’s name right next to his picture, and you can vote up to three times on the same device.

The launching of the 2019 Hall of Fame vote is the big news on this site, but the big news in the Bettman circuit is the addition of Seattle as its 32nd franchise. In honour of this week’s big announcement, I’ve added a series of short articles from 1917 that are about the time when the Seattle Metropolitans took on the Montreal Canadiens in San Francisco in a three-game exhibition series that introduced hockey to the Bay Area.

That’s about it for this week. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! This week’s Seals article comes from the dreadful 1972-73 season when the team enjoyed a surprising amount of success against teams like Boston, Chicago, and the New York Rangers. Yet, for some reason they just couldn’t be the 30-point New York Islanders. Go figure. Of course, when speaking about the Seals, the term “success” is rather relative. You see, the Seals picked up ties against the three aforementioned teams, and for the season they went a combined 1-10-4, but when you lose half your team to another league, and win all of four games by Christmas, you twist around whatever word you can to try and make it sound positive. You can find the article here.

This week, in the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, we present to you a delightful piece of cardboard featuring former NHL star John Tonelli, who definitely had a different definition (the right one) of the word “success”! You see, Tonelli won four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders during their early 1980’s heyday, and he also participated in two other Cup finals, and he was a two-time Second Team All-Star to go along with his 325 career goals and 836 career points. You’re gonna love this Tonelli card, especially if you have anger issues, hate referees, or just enjoy people making funny faces that probably weren’t meant to be funny.

And that brings me (in the worst segue ever) to my weekly shill-fest… I must remind you that Christmas is now less than a month away, and if you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping yet, and are still looking for a great gift for great aunt Gladys, you can still pick up my book, The California Golden Seals: a Tale of White Skates, Red Ink, and One of the NHL’s Most Outlandish Teams, over at Amazon for the low, low price of… honestly I have no idea; Amazon keeps changing it like every 15 minutes, but it’s under $30 bucks U.S. most days, so head on over there now to pick up one for that special elderly aunt of yours, and pick up another for uncle Bernie too while you’re at it.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! The world has become a very dark and dreary place, indeed. I really need to find a way to look on the bright side of things, and accept life as it comes. I’ve recently been thinking of brushing up on Buddhism again. I found the religion interesting a few years ago when I visited the local temple and bought a couple of books that made me look at the world differently. I’m not a religious person, but I could see myself going Buddhist one day if sports, and TV, and the Internet ever disappeared from existence. If I could ever truly focus my energy, I could maybe even end up like Chris Kontos, the most blissful-looking hockey player in history. Just check out this classic Upper Deck card to see what I mean. If I can ever find that level of calm-blue-oceanness, I’m so going to achieve enlightenment like a boss!

There is also another new article from April 1972 that is all about the turmoil that took place in the Seals’ front office as the World Hockey Association threat was on the verge of becoming all-too-real. You can check it out here.

In case you haven’t done so already, please sign up for my weekly update by typing in your e-mail address in the box to the right. I promise no more than one e-mail update per week. You can’t ask for a better deal than that!

And since I haven’t shilled my book in a while, I would also like to remind everyone that Christmas is only a month a way, and what better way to say Merry Christmas than with the gift of The California Golden Seals: a Tale of White Skates, Red Ink, and One of the NHL’s Most Outlandish Teams. If you glance up you’ll notice a box with a picture of my book’s cover. If you scroll down, you can click on “Preview” to read a free sample chapter.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Can you believe it? It’s November 16th, and we’ve been walloped with 15cm of snow! I haven’t even had a chance to get my snow tires put on. Worst, this warm-up to winter is not even really a warm-up at all; we actually had snow before Halloween this year!

Traffic was lousy all day, it’s bitterly cold, my boots are wet, and I’m just glad it’s the weekend, and I don’t have to face nature for a few days. Looking to get my mind off the awful crap going on outside my house, I did a bit of searching for some new Seals articles people might be interested in, and I’ve been able to locate some great new stuff so come back to find out what I’ve got.

Two great new additions to the site this week! For those of you looking for more accurate Seals stats, check out the updated year-by-year scoring and goaltending records. The goaltending stats, which have always been the bane of old time stats hounds because there was absolutely no way to accurately determine how many minutes a goaltender played in each game, and how many shots they faced. Now, however, these stats, for all NHL goaltenders, can now be considered complete and accurate thanks to the NHL publishing all of its game summaries on NHL.com. You can also find all of these updated stats on Hockey-reference.com if you’re looking for numbers pertaining to your other favourite goaltenders of the 1960s and 70s. Goaltending stats will literally never be the same as just about every goaltender that has played the game in the pre-expansion and immediate post-expansion eras will have slightly, if not completely different stat lines now that we have easy access to shots-on-goal and minutes-played records. Be warned, however, that I have not yet updated the Seals goaltender register, so the stats do not match up, but that will change in due time when I get the chance to update it.

In the articles section, I’ve added a brand new piece from Hugh McDonald of the San Mateo Times about a March 1972 game against the Chicago Black Hawks. The game featured some great action, including a scuffle between former teammates Paul Shmyr, Gerry Pinder, and Keith Magnuson.

Until next time, stay gold!

Welcome back! Ah, how I love the early NHL season! It’s always fun wondering when the story of the season is going to pop up on television screens and Internet sites. And then, all of a sudden it appears! In my own back yard, no less! I have to ask: Is anyone really surprised the Ottawa Senators crapped the bed once again? Can’t this team do anything right these days? Like more than a few corner men have said to their fighter: “I think you’re done. Just stay down; this ain’t your night.”

Sweet Lord, how bad has 2018 been for the Sens? First, Eugene Melnyk ruins the Heritage Classic by talking about moving the team. Then Erik Karlsson talks about signing a free-agent contract with someone else. Then Mike Hoffman’s girlfriend is accused of harassing Karlsson’s wife, causing both players to find themselves elsewhere before the start of the new season. Then, the Senators one-up themselves by going all Taxicab Confessions in an Arizona Uber! I may just have to induct the Senators’ 2018 into the Hockey Hall of Shame, because this may very well be the absolute worst calendar year ever strung together by a professional sports team ever. And remember that I have written an entire book about the California Golden Seals and I’m currently writing a book that heavily features the Washington Capitals’ 8-win 1974-75 season; I know a miserable season when I see one! Yeah, Ottawa has some problems, to say the least. They may have to hire Trump’s publicist one of these days, because no matter how idiotic his behaviour and comments, that guy is like a modern-day Chuck Wepner wrapped in Teflon. No matter how much you throw at him, nothing hurts him, and he just keeps coming back for more.

Current-day news aside, we’ve added a brand new feature article on San Francisco-California-Oakland Seals checker Gerry “The Hook” Odrowski. He never got much attention as a member of the Seals, but he was indeed a very valuable player, scoring the majority of his goals with the team while it was shorthanded, an incredible feat to say the least. Hope you enjoy this article from “the Maven” Stan Fischler!

I’m also sad to hear that Joel Quenneville has lost his job as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. He did a great job with that team over the years, and in the process he quietly crept up the all-time wins list. I’m sure he’ll find himself a new job real soon, but in the meantime, here’s one of his all-time worst cards, a true atrocity from his days as a Hartford Whaler.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! As you may have guessed by some of my previous posts, Hall of Shame entries, and otherwise snide remarks about all things blue-and-white, I don’t have a lot of room in my heart for Canada’s second greatest hockey franchise. Of course, I’m talking about the Edmonton Oilers and their sorta-recent history of winning Stanley Cups. (What other franchise did you think I was talking about? Who else could be Canada’s second-best franchise). I’m not really much of an Oilers fan although if they are in the playoffs I’ll cheer them on. I will especially cheer them on if they are taking on another Canadian franchise known for wearing blue and white: the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now I admit I chuckled a little bit when I found out Auston Matthews is going to be out until for the next four weeks or more, and that the Stanley Cup parade is on hold for the time being. And that got me thinking… can you put a parade route on retainer like one of Trump’s many, many lawyers? If so, no wonder the city of Toronto loves the Leafs because fifty-one years of street rental, wow, is that some nice coin or what! But I’m not a hard-hearted man, folks, and my beloved Habs had their own injury issues last year, and many other years previous. Leaf fans, I understand your pain. To prove I’m not trying to bask in your misery, I’m posting a rare article about a huge Leafs win against… the San Francisco Seals? You see, way back in September 1963, the Seals were the defending Lester Patrick Cup champions, and they took on the Leafs, who were the reigning Stanley Cup champs. That’s right: it’s NHL vs WHL in the ultimate grudge match! Or maybe it was just a pre-season exhibition game. I’ll let you decide.

And because it has been a while since we’ve posted any new articles, check out this other rare one from November 1961. The Seals were just starting their inaugural WHL season, and things were not going so well. They famously began the season on, get this, a 14-game road trip. Making matters worse was the Seals’ 1-8 record to start the season. And making matters even worse than that was the 11-1 shellacking they suffered against the Seattle Totems just three days before Halloween. The loss, and the immediate criticism the Seals received in the media, may have been the spark they needed to turn their season around. The team won three of the last four games of the trip, and eight of eleven overall as they made a slow, steady climb into a playoff spot.

Finally, we’re also bringing you a brand new induction to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame. This week, we are featuring former NHL player Jason Marshall in one of the worst hockey card photo you have ever seen.

Well, that’s it for this week. Keep coming back for more new stuff about the Seals, including stats updates, and the announcement of this year’s nominees for the 2019 Seals Hall of Fame! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! It’s been a difficult process double-checking all of my goaltender stats, but I’m starting to see some major progress. In fact, I had the opportunity to update two more stats packages this week! The first one is the one-and-only Definitive Seals/Barons Record Book. I’ve updated the shots on goal records for forwards and defenseman, first of all, but I also updated all single-game and career shots-on-goal records for goaltenders. I uncovered a few other mistakes in the document as well, so those have been corrected too. And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve also updated the All-Time Scoring and Goaltending Records. The stats for forwards and defensemen haven’t changed, but most of the goaltending stats are different, but these can now be considered “official” now that the NHL has released all of its game summaries and started publishing them on their website. Even the glorious Hockey-reference.com has updated their stats, so it’s a bit of a numbers revolution in professional hockey! Thanks go out to Chuck Nan who provided me with a few missing or questionable WHL attendance figures for this week’s stats update.

So that’s about it for this week. My plan is to keep updating the stats packages on the site, so when I get more done, I’ll add them. At the same time, I’ll be enjoying the early-season hockey, which has been great so far if you’re a fan of Canadian hockey teams. Who would have thought Montreal would be 5-2-2 at this point?

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Yes, like this week’s subject line indicates, I’ve included a massive new stats update to the site. As you may remember, the NHL published game summaries for every game in league history going all the way back to 1917-18. It was a bit of a mixed blessing for me personally. You see, I spent literally years putting together summaries for every Seals/Barons game, including shots on goal, attendance, minutes played by each goaltender, and more. I knew these statistics were never going to be perfect due to the fact all I had to go on was newspaper summaries, which in many cases, are rather spotty. Some newspapers were not well-scanned so numbers were difficult, if not impossible to read, other newspapers contradicted sources I had found, so it was a difficult task triangulating the right numbers. So while I was happy to find out that all game summaries were available in great detail on NHL.com, I was disheartened to find out these became available AFTER my book was published, which means there are a few stats which are unfortunately not correct in my book. I can take solace in knowing that pretty much every other hockey stats book that has ever been published is also riddled with mistakes. Some I was able to pick up myself, like the fact goaltender Bob Sneddon played seven career games, and not five like all NHL records had previously shown. Now the NHL has officially corrected that statistic on its website, not to mention several others, especially those relating to goaltenders. While other stats in my spreadsheet, like shots on goal, were, for the most part correct there were five or ten games in each season where I had to make a few updates. That being said, I am proud to present to you the new and improved Seals/Barons All-Time Game-by-Game Summary. Feel free to download it. After all, it really isn’t all my work. For the most part I had the stats down correctly in the first place, but the league helped a great deal at getting the Seals’ record straight. The next step is going to be updating the Seals and Barons goaltender register as well as the team record book, but that will be a project for another time.

I’d like to thank Bob Marceau for allowing me to use his outstanding Seals attendance spreadsheet. I was able to confirm many of my attendance stats from 1967 to 1976 thanks to his diligent work. In cases where there was a discrepancy between my findings and his, I indicated on the right of my attendance figures what Bob found. Hopefully, someday, we’ll be able to truly confirm all of the attendance figures much like the NHL has done with shots on goal, minutes played, and other game statistics. For the time being, however, I hope these updated stats answer a few of your questions and help you along with your own research.

This past Sunday, I was at the Capital Trade Show in Ottawa selling and autographing copies of my book, and it was a great experience. I sold a few copies, met some nice people, and made a few connections. Before the show even started, I was approached by a film crew from the local community access TV station, and they asked if they could interview me about the book. Of course I said yes, and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product. When it becomes available on YouTube, I will be sure to post the clip.

Well, that was one long update! Next week, I hope to have another stats package ready to go, so I’ll start working on that soon. In the meantime, don’t forget to keep spreading the word about the book. Ask your local library if they carry it, and if not, tell them to get off their butt and buy it. And if you’ve already read the book, please leave feedback anywhere you can on the Internet. You guys have been great at spreading the word, so keep it up! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! This week, we bring you a new article from January 1978 which describes a game in which the Barons mounted a failed comeback against the Montreal Canadiens. The fact the Barons even scored was enough of an accomplishment as the team never really had much success against Montreal. The Barons had gone on a pretty successful 4-1 stretch in early January to vault them back into playoff contention, and what was surprising about this was that they actually played four games in four nights. Then Pittsburgh came along on night number four to bring the Barons back to earth. The Barons then got three days off before Montreal came to Ohio. Maybe the Barons were a little loopy from all the games in a row, or perhaps from the three-day layoff, but Montreal came storming out to an insurmountable lead before the Barons made their comeback. Despite a few clunkers in January and early February, the Barons went 8-6-1 at one point and stayed within striking distance of the last “wild-card” spot. Yes, the 1977-78 season was one of the few back then which featured wild-card teams in the playoffs. Anyone who finished first or second was automatically accepted into the playoffs, while the other four playoff spots went to the next best third-and-fourth place teams. It was a good idea in that it allowed strong teams buried in the basement of a tough division to qualify for the playoffs. This short-lived playoff format provided a little excitement for Cleveland fans in what would prove to be the Barons’ last season in the NHL.

Also new to the site this week is a classic Joe Nieuwendyk card from the 1991-92 Topps Stadium Club. Sometimes, even the best of us has trouble tying our skates, but most of the time, when that happens, we don’t have a professional photographer capturing the moment for generations of hockey fans to enjoy in the comfort of their own home. Unless you count all those moments when strangers find us in the middle of awkward situations and start snapping away on their cell phones, in which case, you probably know exactly how Joe Nieuwendyk feels about this card. Or maybe not, since he’s currently sitting on a lifetime of hockey earnings and probably couldn’t care less about a card everyone’s has forgotten about. Everyone except me, that is, and you too very shortly.

For any of you who are going to be in the Ottawa area this Sunday, October 14, I will be at the Capital Trade Show, which is basically a sports card, memorabilia, and comic book show. I will be there from 10am to 3pm selling and signing copies of my book. The event will be taking place at Walkley Arena in the Jim Durrell Complex (1265 Walkley Road).

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Thanks for coming back once again! Glad you were able to tear yourself away from watching your favorite team start off yet another NHL season. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by Montreal’s first game, even though they lost in overtime to Toronto. I thought the Habs controlled the pace of the game, made nice crisp passes, and the defense held up nicely. Of course, “lots of shots and not many goals” has been Montreal’s mantra the last twenty-five years or so, so not everything was a total surprise. I have to say though, that I find this year’s line-up interesting. There aren’t any superstars up front, and the defense is pretty nondescript with the exception of Shea Weber, but I’m actually interested in seeing who will stand out this year and break out for 20 or 30 goals.

Check out the articles section for a new piece from the January 17, 1976 San Mateo Times. I haven’t posted any smaller articles about specific games in quite a while, so I thought this would be a good one, a rare blowout win for the Seals, this time over the fading New York Rangers. The article says it was a high-point for the season, and it was right. January 1976 was a very good time to be a Seals fan. The team went on a 7-1-1 stretch, easily the best nine-game period in club history. For the first time in years, the team was closing in on a playoff spot and a .500 record to boot. While neither of those things happened in the end, the franchise’s future never looked brighter.

After a brief break, we’re also back with a brand new induction in the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame: the classic 1970-71 Norm Beaudin rookie card! Not sure if you’ve ever seen this one before, but if not, be warned: once you see it, you cannot un-see it. Halloween is coming soon, so it might help you get into the spirit of the thing.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all of you! Until next time, stay gold!