Hi everyone! Oh boy, have I got something fun to share with you today. I’m willing to bet that anyone reading this right now is about to learn something about hockey that they never ever believed could possibly have existed. Today, you are about to read about a one-time NHL rule called the “free shot”.

Ok, I know what you’re saying: “What the hell is a free shot?” Let me explain. The free shot was an experimental rule that was only applied for about two weeks during the 1974 exhibition schedule. In essence, the free shot rule was brought in because games were becoming too slow. Players, and especially goaltenders, were constantly delaying the game, and NBC insisted that the NHL do something to make games more interesting, otherwise the TV network was not going to broadcast anymore games. The rule went something like this: a player would be allowed a shot on goal, unobstructed, if a) an opposing goalie froze the puck for more than three seconds, b) a opposing goalie delayed the game by placing the puck onto the goal netting, or c) an opposing player, including the goalie, despite not being checked by an opponent, chose to freeze the puck or play the puck along the boards in a way that led to a whistle.

What may shock you even more is that the free shot was not even the league’s first attempt to tweak the penalty for delay of game. In 1970, the NHL attempted to impose a free faceoff rule, which was basically the same as the free shot except, in this case, the centreman had to pass the puck to a teammate instead of shooting the puck himself. Can you imagine this rule being applied to the NHL of 2023? The NHL has definitely changed some rules over the years, like taking away the red line, adding no-touch icing, and implementing 3-on-3 overtime followed by a shootout. But giving a player an opportunity to let one rip on a defenseless goaltender? Not sure the NHLPA would be in favour of that, and NHL players of the 1970s were less than thrilled at the rule as well.

In the end, the free shot rule accomplished very little. It was called about two dozen times, resulting in less goals (3) than Law and Order spin-offs (too many to count). Obviously, neither of these rules were ever applied during a regular-season game, so most people don’t know about this odd little footnote in hockey history. The free shot/faceoff rules certainly weren’t widely reported in either 1970 or 1974, but they were indeed documented. You just have to look really, really, really hard in some old newspapers and Hockey News issues.

So there you have it, folks. You can now say for sure that you have learned something today. You’re welcome!

Of course, the Seals were around during both of these aforementioned periods. As far as I know, the Seals were never involved in a free faceoff situation, but they were indeed involved in one free shot on September 22, 1974 versus Atlanta. The game took place in Kingston, Ontario as did many Seals pre-season games in those days, and this partial article from the Ottawa Journal is the best description I could find of the unusual (and historic) event. Happy reading!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! I’m not sure if anyone else here is a subscriber to The Hockey News like me, but if you are, you are probably very excited about the news that all past issues of the magazine are going to be available online in digital format. I have been waiting for this day for literally years, so I was stoked when I saw that THN had sent me an email announcing the official launch of its archive. Of course, there are tons of Seals-related articles for you to peruse, so I urge you to head over to THN.com and subscribe to their new service.

This week, we go back to March 1975. As was the yearly tradition, the Seals’ season was all but over by this point, and so the troops were left to play out the stretch with very little to gain or lose. The only people who really benefited from these last few weeks of the season were the young players looking to impress enough so that they could earn a permanent spot on the roster in October. So this week’s article is about the Seals’ decision to go against the grain and continue to play with the same roster it had used all year. The team felt it was better to keep the youngsters down on the farm so that the Salt Lake Golden Eagles could challenge for the Central League crown. While the Eagles finished atop the North Division, they fell short in the playoffs. Many of those players, most notably Bob Murdoch, Bob Girard, Fred Ahern, and Jim Moxey would be a part of the Seals the following season. The Toledo Goaldiggers of the IHL, however, did capture the championship, but since this was a lower minor league, not many of these players made major impacts in the NHL or WHA.

If you live anywhere in the East, enjoy these last few days of warmish weather as next week is going to be frigid. Happy Halloween! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! The current NHL season is less than two weeks old, and already we’re hearing hockey experts and journalists panic over how Alex Ovechkin is no longer going to catch up to Gretzky on the all-time goal-scoring list. You know, because we’re three games into the season. I think you will agree that this pretty much proves that Ovechkin has no chance of ever catching Gretzky. And it’s not just Ovi whose life has cratered. I mean, just look at the Edmonton Oilers, who are currently 1-3 on the season. With just 78 more games to go, I think it’s safe so say their season is over. And what about the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers each leading their respective divisions. Might as well cancel the rest of the season for the Atlantic and Metro Divisions, because those races have already been sown up, right? After all, such a small sample size is always an accurate predictor of the future. Remember last year when the New Jersey Devils started the year 0-2, and then they picked up 112 points the rest of the way? This yearly nonsense doesn’t bug me per se, but I do find it strange to read and hear so many online and print media hockey experts panicking in the worst way before the season is even a month old. Not every loss or missed shot should be treated as a major news event, but hey, welcome to 2023!

Where am I going with this? Well, this week I’ve posted an article from the November 27, 1969 Oakland Tribune. Even though the NHL was still cursing themselves for having given the Bay Area franchise to Barry van Gerbig and company, the Seals were starting to turn a corner attendance-wise. Numbers were up across the board, whether it was season tickets sold or average attendance. There was actually a chance this franchise was going to survive long-term. It didn’t, of course, as we all know, because blips in the radar don’t always mean the Luftwaffe is about to attack.

Before I leave you this week, I have to share this link with all of you who have enjoyed reading the entries in the Hockey Hall of Shame’s “Overexposed” wing. Oh, sweet Jesus, the treacle that has leaked out of the Upper Deck factory’s drain pipe in time for the new NHL season is just… just… oh my God, I can’t even describe it, you just have to take a look at it for yourself. I’d love to hear your comments on some of these atrocities, so feel free to drop me a line.

On that note, have a great weekend and stay gold!

Hi everyone! Ah, it’s that time again… time to get our puck on! We’re less than a week into the new NHL season, and I’m totally psyched. There is so much hope and optimism out there in October. Who is going to be the surprise team? What rookies are going to take charge? Who is going to underperform? Sure, my Habs lost their season opener against an incredibly sloppy Maple Leaf squad, but the fact they scored five times gives me a smidgen of hope that the Habs will finally start scoring some goals this year. I also enjoyed watching Connor Bedard when the Habs and Blackhawks met on Saturday night. It was my first chance to see the kid compete, and he certainly looks like the real deal.

This week, we go back to February 1969, a time of great turmoil in Oakland. That is indeed saying something since just about every day of the Seals’ history was filled with not only turmoil, but also stress, anxiety, depression, despair, and uncertainty. Interestingly enough, the Seals were playing fairly decent hockey at this point and were well on their way to their first and only second-place finish. Attendance, however, was horrible, and no one was happy to see all that red ink in the books. Barry van Gerbig was looking to move the Seals to Vancouver, and the Knox brothers, Northrup and Seymour, of Buffalo, New York were interested in buying the Seals and moving them to Buffalo, but the NHL made it quite clear the Seals were not leaving the Bay Area. This week’s article by Jim Coleman, the great Canadian sportswriter, goes deep into what was going on behind closed doors during this time. We all know how things turned out, so it’s interesting to see how sportswriters and league executives thought the whole situation would play out.

I hope you enjoy what’s left of the weekend, and that you manage to get a game or two in before heading back to work on Monday. Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had yourself a great week. It’s almost October, and you know what that means: hockey season is almost upon us. A few exhibition games are starting to pop up on TV, fading veterans are signing PTOs hoping to make enough of an impression to latch on to a new club, and the media is already wondering whether or not Ryan Reeves is going to be the difference between the Toronto Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup or doing what they usually do (Spoiler alert: it’s the latter). I personally am looking forward to see my team in action once again, not that I expect them to do much again this year. Like any fan of a rebuilding team, it’s perversely nice to not feel like every game is a life-and-death situation. You can watch the games just hoping that a couple of players take some big steps forward until there are enough players on the roster who can actually help the team make a charge to the playoffs. I see that in teams like Dallas, Buffalo, and Ottawa. Dallas has taken those steps after letting their prospects blossom into superstars. Buffalo has done the same and just missed the playoffs. Ottawa’s youngsters are wonderful to watch, but the playoffs are still a year away, in my opinion. And Montreal? Well, they’ll be better this year, but not good enough to leapfrog Buffalo and Ottawa.

The Canadiens of 2023-24 are a lot like the Seals of the early 1970s in that they are diamond-studded with future stars. I can only hope that unlike the Seals, the Canadiens can actually take that next step forward. Montreal will certainly be helped by the fact they don’t have to compete with the WHA for talent. Which brings me to the topic of this week’s article. The WHA was one of the major reasons why the Seals went on a downward spiral starting in 1972. The team lost all sorts of talent to the rebel league, but one player they didn’t lose was defenseman Dick Redmond. Well, the Seals eventually lost him, and part of the reason why was because the WHA had made him a huge contract offer that Seals GM Garry Young reacted to with an offer of his own. This week I’ve posted an article from legendary Montreal Star writer Red Fisher detailing the entire Dick Redmond contract fiasco.

Since next weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, that means I will be heading out of town to visit with family and friends, so there won’t be another site update until the following week. If you are living in Canada, I hope you have yourselves a great long weekend, and if you are living in the States, Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! Max and Doug, Bobby and Dennis, Maurice and Henri, Frank and Peter, Henrik and Daniel; the number of brother combos to have graced NHL ice is indeed a long one. What I find surprising is just how many brother duos have played on the same team at the same time. Indeed, all of the aforementioned brothers played together for long stretches, and many of them captured Stanley Cups together as well. Brothers have played a big role in the history of professional hockey, and the Seals are no exception. Bill Hicke and his younger brother Ernie played just one season together, but they made the most of their time together, engaging in a playful competition to see who could score the most goals.

This week, we are going back to the dying days of 1970. The Seals have just won four in a row for the second time that season, and the dressing room has become a fun and loose environment. Winning can have that kind of effect on a team. The Seals, as you know, didn’t have a lot of moments when they could brag about being on a hot streak. I imagine the Seals’ dressing room being a pretty dour place most of the time, but certainly not on December 23, 1970. The Hicke brothers were needling each other about which of their lines was the most effective. Unfortunately, the atmosphere in Sealsland quickly changed for the worse, and the team won just nine more games the rest of the way. This week’s article, a great piece from John Porter of the Oakland Tribune, captures the Seals in one of those very rare moments when everyone on the team was jubilant and looking forward to the next game because they felt that victory was well within their grasp.

Have yourselves a great weekend and, if you can, enjoy the last remnants of summer! Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone, and welcome back! Have you ever had one of those days where you thought to yourself, “Jeez, I must be the unluckiest person in the world. Nothing ever goes right for me!” Well, this week, meet the unluckiest man in hockey history: Michel Belhumeur. On October 17, 1975, Belhumeur was a unbelievable 0-26-3 in his Washington Capitals career. The poor guy faced an average of damn near 40 shots a night, so even one win would have at least made all that effort sort-of worth it, but no, the hockey gods are indeed cruel. Just ask any Toronto Maple Leafs fan about the fickleness of hockey’s supreme beings. But I digress… back to that October night when the Capitals were in Oakland looking to make it two road wins in a row versus the Seals. You see, the last time these two teams had met was March 28, 1975, and if you need a refresher on what happened that night, might I suggest you head on over to the series of articles from 1974-75 I’ve already posted. Coles Notes version: the Seals lost, and the Caps had themselves their first and only road win of the season. The Seals and Caps had both improved quite a bit since then, and their latest contest was a very close tug-of-war. As the third period drew to a close this time, the Caps were up 3-2, and Belhumeur could taste victory, but was his hunger actually satisfied? You will have to read this week’s article to find out.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! As I was looking around for a new Seals article to post, it dawned on me that one thing we don’t often read about is the relationships between players on opposing teams. Actually, we do read about that sometimes these days in the Hockey News, but not so much back in the day. I think coaches and general managers still didn’t like the idea of their players fraternizing with anyone wearing a different uniform. Nowadays, players intermingle all the time on world championship teams and all-star teams, not to mention various NHLPA meetings. Players have come together three times in the last thirty years to vote in favour of not playing at all. But back in the 1970s it didn’t happen too often that we would learn a lot about friendships between players on different teams. So this week we’re going back to January 6, 1972. The Seals have just beaten their state rivals from Los Angeles, and Carol Vadnais has had the game of his life scoring two goals and two assists against his good friend Rogie Vachon. This has come one night after Vachon put the Seals on ice in a 4-1 Kings victory. Vadnais and Vachon had been friends for years going back to their time with the Montreal Canadiens, and you can see in this article from the Oakland Tribune‘s John Porter that Vachon and Vadnais liked needling each other after a Kings-Seals battle. You can read all about the V-Men’s (patent pending!) playful rivalry, and the Seals’ big win right here.

Have a great Labour Day weekend! Enjoy whatever nice weather you can get wherever you are. Until next time, stay gold!

So far, 2023 has been a tough year for the California Golden Seals. Since the team is no longer active, it is only a matter of time before there aren’t any more former players, coaches, and employees left. This year we’ve lost, among others, Dave Gardner, Marv Edwards, Vic Stasiuk, and Danny Belisle, and now unfortunately we have to add the great Bobby Baun to that list.

I wasn’t going to add anything to the site this week since I’m on my summer holiday, but I also felt I couldn’t let Bobby Baun’s passing go by without a mention. After all, he was the NHL Seals’ very first captain, and the first skater chosen in the expansion draft. Despite other quality players such as Billy Harris, Charlie Hodge, Kent Douglas, Gerry Ehman, and Bill Hicke who were all on the opening day roster, it was Bobby Baun who truly was the brand new franchise’s marquee name. He wasn’t particularly flashy or fast. He didn’t score many goals or pick up a lot of assists. What he did do, however, was hit… hard! He was a defensive specialist of the first order, and a highly respected defenseman around the league. Part of that respect was earned in game 6 of the 1964 Stanley Cup Final when Baun broke his leg blocking a Gordie Howe shot. He could have taken the rest of the night off (not to mention the rest of the playoffs off) considering his physical condition, but Baun chose to have his leg frozen and to get back into the game. It’s a good thing he did too, because in overtime, the puck found its way to Baun, who let an awkward shot go from near the blue line, and somehow it bounced and fluttered its way to the net and past Terry Sawchuk for the game-winner. Baun also played in game 7 two days later where the Leafs won 4-0 to clinch the Cup, their third in a row. Baun’s remarkable achievement has become one of the NHL’s most famous moments, and an excellent example of how tough hockey players truly are. So, this week, I’ve added a new Oakland Tribune article from February 2, 1968, the day after Baun scored his first goal as a member of the Seals.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had an excellent, not-too-stressful week. I personally find that when one gives it their very best effort, the week goes by much faster and is much more satisfying in the end. It doesn’t mean working so hard that your heart gives out on the spot, but giving an honest day’s effort, doing whatever you can do to make a situation better, and walking away knowing you did alright.

Where am I going with this? Well, this week I found an interesting piece from January 18, 1973. At this point the Seals were playing their best hockey of the season, albeit a bit late to make any impact on the standings, but there was reason to believe the team was finally turning the corner after having suffered dearly at the hands of the free-spending WHA. A new batch of youngsters, such as Stan Weir, Hilliard Graves, Reggie Leach, Joey Johnston, Pete Laframboise, Walt McKechnie, Ivan Boldirev, and Gilles Meloche made fans optimistic that things were going to be better. It didn’t turn out that way in the end, but once in a while, the aforementioned bunch DID look like future Stanley Cup contenders, and on this night, the Seals gave it their all against a very talented Toronto Maple Leafs team. The article from the San Francisco Examiner‘s Nelson Cullenward can be found in the articles section here.

In closing this week, I will be on vacation with the family the next two weeks, so there won’t be any updates until September, but if you still need your fix, I invite you to read some of the past articles I’ve posted here, and to check out some of the inductions in the Hockey Hall of Shame.

I hope you all have a great two weeks, and I’ll see you back again in September! Until next time, stay gold!