Hi everyone! The expansion draft has come and gone, and of course, I had to sit down to watch it all live.  Have to admit that it made the entire NHL awards show much more interesting than usual. I’m actually pulling for the expansion draft to become an annual event, so much it improved the usually putrid awards ceremony.  Even the lame jokes seemed a little less hokey. I’m a little surprised at the players who were available, like Jonathan Marchessault, but good for Vegas picking him (and Reilly Smith) up, and boo to Florida for obviously not taking any of the proceedings seriously and letting two of their best (and cheapest!) take off for nothing.  I’m glad Montreal only lost Alexei Emelin, but I am a tad confused by what Marc Bergevin’s plans are for the Habs’ defense.  Man, this is going to be one OLD blueline with Jordie Benn, David Schlemko, and Jeff Petry at 30 years old, Shea Weber at almost 32, and Andrei Markov pushing 40.  Who is going to replace these guys when they start getting too many gray hairs in their beards?  Not that Beaulieu and Sergachev were great prospects, but trading them still seems like a risk to me, unless Bergevin has some plan no one is aware of, but I do like the addition of Jonathan Drouin.

Anyway, back to the reason you’re all here this week… one new addition to the site this week is a 1977 article about the night Philadelphia’s Tom Bladon ripped apart the Cleveland Barons’ defense and scored 4 goals and 4 assists en route to an 11-1 shellacking.  You can check it out here.

Also be sure to head on over to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame to find out why Darcy Rota was once the target of an on-ice assassination attempt.  Sounds like something from a movie, right? Rest assured, it is all too real, and I have the photographic proof right here.

Until next time, stay gold!

Is it just me, or have you ever seen so much hype around an expansion draft before.  I mean, they are actually going to televise it across North America!  At the original expansion draft, way back in 1967, most of the players didn’t find out they were going to Minnesota or Oakland until they heard about it on the radio the next day.  I don’t know if anyone realizes that there not going to be any superstars playing in Vegas this October unless you count the days when Pittsburgh and Washington come for a visit, so I don’t understand all the hype surrounding this year’s expansion draft.  Should we really get all that excited that Marc Methot may end up playing in the desert, or that Nail Yakupov might get a fourteenth kick at the can?  Still, who am I kidding, I’m actually looking forward to seeing how the Golden Knights are going to look on Day One, knowing full well that whatever real talent they draft, it is probably going to be traded away for prospects and draft picks. That’s because I’m a giant hockey nerd who loves analyzing the mundane details about rosters for the upcoming season.  And I’m going to watch TSN and Sportsnet, and listen to Bob McKenzie, and Nick Kypreos, and Doug McLean, and Bob McCown, and Damian Cox discuss all of the ins and outs of the Vegas roster.  And I’m going to watch the draft on TV as well because there’s always that hope, that teeny tiny little morsel of optimism that something earth-shattering will happen at next week’s draft.

With an expansion draft just around the corner, that means another season has come and gone, and a new (familiar?) Stanley Cup champion has been crowned.  The Pittsburgh Penguins certainly were not anyone’s favourite to win another Cup, considering no one else had gone back-to-back in twenty years, and the Penguins had more injuries than a World War I infirmary, but lo and behold, the Pens are champs once again.  To celebrate the occasion, we have a very special addition to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, that being a shot of L.A.’s Alex Martinez showing us what he did when he got to spend his day with the big mug.  Or should I say, the big cereal bowl.

That’s about it for this week, I’m afraid, as I’m currently elbow deep in reading my Seals manuscript for the thirty-seventh time, but this time it is to go over the typeset proofs, check for any last typos, and put together an index, which will probably mean reading the book over for a thirty-eighth time.  Then it will be out of my hands, and up to everyone else to do their part and read it (hopefully).  That being said, you can head on over to Amazon right now, if you want to pre-order it before the November 1 release date.

Don’t forget to vote for the player you feel should be inducted into the Seals Hall of Fame.  The voting will close July 14, and the inductees will be announced shortly afterwards.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone!  June 6, marks the 50th anniversary of the first modern-day NHL expansion draft, hence, the day the major-league California Seals were born.  On that day, the Seals drafted what many experts believed was the best of the six new NHL franchises, and, at the time, it would be difficult to argue with that opinion.  After all, the Seals began the draft by selecting former two-time Vezina Trophy winner Charlie Hodge to tend goal.  The Seals concentrated on defense during the first few rounds of the draft, picking up solid veterans Bobby Baun, Larry Cahan, and Kent Douglas.  That was a pretty good top three.  On offense, choices were more limited, but with Billy Harris and Bill Hicke leading the way, there was potential for a couple of twenty-goal seasons.  Other than that, big names were few and far between among California’s draft choices, but Wally Boyer ended up scoring 13 goals and 33 points, Tracy Pratt would enjoy a 580-game NHL career, Mike Laughton would score 20 goals as a rookie the following year, and Bryan Hextall would finish his career with 549 games under his belt, so give Bert Olmstead, Bob Wilson, and Rudy Pilous credit for identifying players who would at least remain in the big leagues long after expansion.  J.P. Parise proved to be the best of the little-known players drafted.  He would end up with 594 in a successful 894-game career that included two all-star games and an appearance in the 1972 Summit Series.  Unfortunately, Bert Olmstead insulted his French-Canadian heritage during one pre-season game, and Parise told him off.  It was the Seals’ loss, but eventually (after a short detour in Toronto) Minnesota’s gain  Whatever the reason, the Seals never quite gelled that first year, and by season two, only a handful of players from the expansion draft remained.

Today, we celebrate one of the most significant moments in NHL history by featuring not one, not two, but three new additions to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame.  All cards this week come from the 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee set, featuring players who played on the West Division’s brand new clubs.  The first card features the Seals’ Bill Hicke.  The second card is of Hall-of-Famer Allan Stanley as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.  The final induction this week is of the St. Louis Blues’ Ab McDonald in one of the stupidest excuses for a hockey card.

Also be sure to check out a few new articles from the Seals’ inaugural NHL season.  These articles are about the Seals’ little-known Helmet Line, which consisted of Charlie Burns, and rookies George Swarbrick and Mike Laughton.  On the night of November 7, 1967, Laughton scored his first NHL goal, and Swarbrick was in the midst of a mini hot streak.  You’ll also find out what the term “El Foldo” apparently means.  Care to take a guess?  Head on over to the Articles section to read these rare gems!

There’s only one month left until the 2017 Seals Hall-of-Fame survey ends, so cast your vote before it’s too late!  The survey can be found on the right-hand side of the page.  The new inductees will be announced at the time of Golden Seals Hockey’s one-year anniversary.

Until next time, stay gold!

 

 

Hi everyone!  Well, it’s that time of year again where once again we Canadians have no representatives in the Stanley Cup Finals, but at least our Ottawa Senators made a valiant effort to break that unfortunate routine, losing an excruciatingly close series to last year’s Cup champs from Pittsburgh.  Had the Sens pulled it out in game seven, it would have made for an interesting Cinderella vs. Cinderella final series, but alas, it was not meant to be.  There’s always next year, I guess.  And there’s always the upcoming expansion draft to look forward too, which, coincidentally enough, is taking place in this, the 50th anniversary of the NHL’s first expansion endeavor, the one that gave birth (sort of) to the California Seals.  June 6, 2017, will represent, to the day, the 50th anniversary of modern-day NHL expansion, so we’ll be paying extra attention to that here at Golden Seals Hockey.

As for this week, we’ve added a brand new induction to the Hockey Hall of Fame: the sad story of Colin Chaulk’s jersey retirement, which took place just a few months ago.  For the most part, HHOS inductions are things that happened a while back, and have gained some notoriety of the years, but this week’s induction was so bad, I had to induct it right away.

As usual, there is also a brand new addition to the Overexposed wing of the HHOS.  This time, our cardboard crap fest features Don Luce in what appears to be some sort of Toronto Maple Leafs uniform, but I honestly cannot confirm this.  Since Hockey-reference.com claims he played about a half-season with the Leafs, I figure this must be true, but check out the card for yourself, and you’ll see why I have serious doubts.

Anyway, good luck to Pittsburgh and Nashville in the Stanley Cup Finals.  I’m sure they are going to put on a great show, as both have already done thus far in these playoffs.  We’ll have some special Stanley Cup-themed additions to the site very soon, so come on back and check them out.  Until next time, stay gold!

 

Hi everyone!

Well, the playoffs are heating up, and Canada’s capital city couldn’t be any more excited. Ok, sure Senators fans aren’t terribly enthusiastic about, you know, actually GOING to playoff games and regularly filling up the rink, but hey, at least Canada’s still alive in the Cup hunt.  As for me, I’ll be watching the game on the tube tonight – I’m a Montreal fan with a 17-month old at home; I, unlike Senators fans, am under no obligation to trudge down the Queensway to Kanata to spend $30 for parking at the Canadian Tire Centre…  Ooh, now THAT’S something that needs to be inducted one day.  What a ridiculous-sounding name for a hockey rink.

Anyway, this week, I’ve added a new chapter to the Seals’ team history section, a look back on the six-year history of the Western Hockey League San Francisco/California Seals, something I had completely forgotten to add when this site was created nearly a year ago.  How this slipped under my radar for so long, I have no idea, but I’ve fixed the mistake, and you can read all about the most successful incarnation of the Seals in the Team History section.

If you’re here to check out the latest induction to the Hockey Hall of Shame, look no further than this week’s addition to the Overexposed wing, featuring a one-legged Bill White.  I often hear about players with leg injuries “playing on one leg”, but little did I know someone actually managed to play on one leg for real.  Seriously.  Check out Bill White’s 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee card to see for yourself.

If you need a break from the Stanley Cup playoffs, head on over to the Seals Hall of Fame survey on the right side of the page, and vote for the player(s) you feel should be inducted in 2017.  You can vote as many times as you wish, but only once per device.  So far, there are three definite front-runners, but so as not to influence your choice, I won’t say who’s in the lead right now, so head on over to the survey and make your selection.  The inductees will be announced in July on the one-year anniversary of the site.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone!  It’s been a crazy couple of weeks here in the Nation’s Capital.  The Ottawa Senators shocked the New York Rangers with a couple of comeback wins, and now they are going to face Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference final.  As a typical Canadian, I have to root for whatever Canadian team is still in the playoffs.  Canada hasn’t seen a Stanley Cup champion in 24 years, so every spring, we take what we can get, and we put our team loyalties aside for a few weeks.  So, I guess that means Go Sens Go!

We’ve added a few new articles to the site this week for your nostalgic reading pleasure.  The first one comes from the December 11, 1972 edition of the Lowell, Massachusetts Sun, and it describes the Seals-Bruins game in which Marshall Johnston scored his first and only career NHL hat-trick.  In the second new article, Reggie Leach also scores a hat-trick.  I’m sure you’re starting to sense a theme to the choice of articles this week.  Well, in typical Seals fashion, even though in both cases, one of their players scored three goals, the Seals still lost, and lost badly.  You can read find both pieces in the Seals/Barons Articles section.

You’re probably wondering what’s the deal with the title to this week’s blog entry.  Well, you’ll soon find out.  We’ve added a wonderful new card from the brutally awful 1991 Ultimate Draft set that is sure to clear up any confusion.  I would say poor Rene Corbet never saw any of this coming, but if you head on over to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, you will see it just ain’t true.

Anyway, since the Sens aren’t playing tonight, I’ve got to get back to watching Starcrash on Mystery Science Theater 3000, so I shall bid you good night, and good playoffs!  Stay gold!

Hi everyone!

I’ve made a few modifications to the “Steve’s New Seals Book!” section, including the addition of the book’s cover.  I can’t tell you how excited I am for November 1, when the book is finally released.  I can only hope everyone likes how it turns out.

It being playoff time, and most players around the league are looking hairier than the love child of a gorilla and a Sasquatch, I thought it appropriate to post a new article about the Barons’ one-time beard-growing fad.  I’m not sure if the Barons were trailblazers by growing some extra whiskers, but in 1977, hockey players didn’t collectively grow beards as a form of lucky charm.  Honestly, I don’t think hockey players pre-1977 could actually grow beards.  Mustaches, sure, but beards?  Just try to find a photo of the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, or Montreal Canadiens of the 1970s sporting beards.  I don’t mean “Cowboy” Bill Flett, circa 1974. I mean, multiple members of the same team.  Can’t find one, can you?  I believe it was the New York Islanders who started the trend when they started winning Stanley Cups in the 1980s, and as we all know, everyone loves to copy a winner, so I cute playoff trend was born.  But could the lowly Cleveland Barons have inspired the legendary New York Islanders in some small way?  Who knows.  Anyway, you can find the article on the Barons’ beards in the Articles section.

Also new to the site, as usual, is another installment of Overexposed, this time featuring one-time NHL prospect Mike Dubinsky. I wonder if he never made it to the show because too many general managers saw this card of his, and because seeing it made them go blind, they immediately cursed him to the minors to rot for all eternity.  Don’t believe me, head on over to the Overexposed section to see what I mean.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  Until next time, stay gold!

 

Hi everyone!  I hope everyone is enjoying this year’s NHL playoffs.  Sadly, my Habs lost to the New York Rangers, ending what was a very up-and-down season, but sometimes first-round losses are a blessing in disguise if it means figuring out what needs to be done to get to the next level.  In the meantime, Go Sens! and Go Oilers!, both of whom are off to great starts in their second-round series.

This week, I’ve added a link to a new podcast from Good Seats Still Available, this time featuring the Seals’ legendary cheerleader Krazy George Henderson.  I honestly had no idea he had a book out, Still Krazy After All These Cheers, which actually came out in 2014!  How that slipped under my radar, I really don’t know.  For some reason, whenever I type in “California Golden Seals” into Amazon’s search bar, it mentions squat about Krazy George, but it tells me I may be interested in… hey, wait a minute, there’s my book!  According to Amazon, my book will be released November 1, 2017, and you can pre-order it now.  You can also catch a glimpse of the cover, which, in my opinion, looks great.  Oh, yeah, and getting back to Krazy George, when I type in “California Golden Seals”, Amazon suggests, of all things, The Shroud of Turin by Summer Lee.  It doesn’t even suggest Brad Kurtzberg’s book, Shorthanded. or Krazy George’s book, both of which feature the Seals prominently  Weird.  Anyway, you can pick up the Krazy One’s book here, and listen to his interview with Tim Hanlon of Good Seats Still Available here.

Also new to the site this week is the latest installment of Overexposed.  This week’s odd addition (edition?) features none other than Hall of Fame goaltender Dominik Hasek looking calmer and more serene than a comatose monk on Prozac.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone!  After almost three weeks away, we’re back and bringing you a whole whack of cool new stuff both Seals and non-Seals related.  I had to take a break from the website due in part to vacation time with the family, as well as a computer malfunction that forced me to bring my laptop in to the shop for a week or so.  But now that everything is back to normal, I can finally get back down to business.

New to the site this week, we have a brand new original article detailing the California Golden Seals-Philadelphia Flyers rivalry that existed from 1973 to 1978.  When I interviewed many players for my upcoming book, I was surprised that most of them said their biggest rivals were St. Louis, Boston, and Los Angeles.  St. Louis, I could never quite understand, except maybe for the fact they were the West Division’s top dogs for the first three years of expansion, and the Seals used to have a heck of a time beating them.  Boston usually annihilated the Seals when they met, so the Seals probably didn’t think too fondly of the Bruins, but nothing really dirty happened between the two teams to call it a “rivalry”.  Los Angeles doesn’t surprise me so much, I guess, since the Kings were a state rival, and the Bay Area is always looking to beat their neighbours to the south, but other than the 1968-69 seven-game playoff series between the Seals and Kings, very little animosity seemed to exist between the teams according to the newspaper articles I read.  What surprised me in the interviews I conducted was that no one mentioned Philadelphia as being the Seals’ biggest rival, because these two teams had some pretty nasty moments.  I mean, really nasty!  So nasty, in fact, that several players were suspended, penalty records were set, dozens of stitches were required to sew up wounds, and four-letter expletives were thrown around in subsequent newspaper interviews.  I present you with what I’ve learned about the Seals-Flyers rivalry, and you can find it in the articles section.

The other new addition to the site this week is a new Overexposed card featuring the Winnipeg Jets’ Pat Elynuik, who you may not know was the world’s biggest fan of Topps hockey cards.  In fact, he may be the owner of more 1991-92 and 1992-93 Topps hockey cards than anyone on the planet.  At least, that’s the impression I got from his 1992-93 Topps Stadium Club card.  Check out the Overexposed section to find out for yourself.

I hope everyone is enjoying the playoffs and that their teams are playing to their expectations.  If you’re on your laptop reading this while watching the game, check out the survey section to the right of your screen and vote for the Seals player you feel should be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame.  If you like reading these pieces every week, and you enjoy the content on the site, sign up for my e-mail updates letting you know when I add anything to the site.

Until next time, stay gold!

Hi everyone!  Welcome back to Golden Seals Hockey!  We’ve got some great new stuff for all of you today.  First off, a brand new Hockey Hall of Shame induction, this time involving the Cleveland Barons.  The transplanted Seals certainly had their fair share of problems in Oakland and in Cleveland as well, but they probably had no to idea that a simple October luncheon would be the catalyst of one of their most embarrassing moments.  Check out the latest article on Cleveland’s bad bussie to find out more.

Also new this week is the latest installment of Overexposed.  Check out Ron Asselstine, yes REFEREE Ron Asselstine’s rookie card from Pro Set 1990-91.  This card may be the reason why Pro Set never produced another referee card again.

That’s about it for this week.  If you have time, head on over to the right side of the screen and vote for the player you feel should be inducted into the Seals Hall of Fame, and you can also subscribe to Golden Seals Hockey to receive my latest blog entry in your mailbox every week.

I also appreciate your feedback concerning this site, so keep those comments coming, not to mention your stories and memories involving the Seals. I’m thinking of adding these memories to the site so everyone can read them, so let me know if you think this is a good idea.

Until next time, stay gold!