[Gotham Dark Knight]

Does anyone out there remember the California Golden Seals, that colorful collection of loveable losers that joined the league in 1967 and then proceeded to have nine losing seasons in their short stint with the NHL? Well if you do, then I have the site for you http://www.sealshockey.com/. The site belongs to Brad Krutzberg author of the Shorthanded: The untold story of the Seals -Hockey's most colorful team. According to Brad, this site, dedicated to the Seals, will take a more statistical look at the franchise, as opposed to the more oral history featured in his book. Among the colorful bit of Seals Trivia found at the site are these little nuggets of information:

- A Seal's game once had, "A woman also streaked across the ice with only skates on, during a home game in a plan that was engineered by one of pro sports' first professional cheerleaders, the inventor of the wave, "Krazy George" Henderson." It seems Crazy George was a regular fixture at Seals home games.

- Also in what appears to be a brush with a famous artist (no pun intended), the Seal’s mascot over it last two years in the league, "was Sparky the Seal, drawn by "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz, who was also a season-ticket holder."

There is also a link that takes you to a season by season, game by game breakdown of the franchise. This link supplies you with such little known facts as the team record for worst (+/-) rating. The record is held by former Flyer record setting winger Reggie Leach, who when with the team in 1973-74 amassed a dreadful -61 rating.

For the more visual of fans, there are 19 pages of photos, of which the old Topps/Opee-chee hockey cards are my personal favorites, though even the black and white photos give you a pretty good feel for the players and the team.

The statistical geeks also have a section called “Super Stats”, which is just that. It has every player and team stat you can imagine short of what players did during their time off ice. Finally the site lets you post your own Seals memories under a section “Memories.”

Overall this site is nothing short of a labor of love for the defunct but not forgotten quirky franchise that was once the California Golden Seals.

We caught up with the author of the book and site and asked him a few questions on his work.

Question: During research for your book, you got the opportunity to speak to a lot of people associated with the franchise, of these what was your personal favorite moment?

(Krutzberg) My favorite interview was probably with goaltender Gary Simmons. Simmons is a real character and we were talking for more than 3 hours easily. The stories he shared were very funny and also provided insight into what life was like playing for the Seals.

Question: Do you have a personal favorite moment from a Seal game?

(Krutzberg) A personal favorite moment from a Seals game is tough. I would choose two...the first would be a 4-3 win over the defending Cup champion Canadiens in 1974 in Montreal. It was one of only 2 road wins the entire year for the Seals. The second would be the awful 12-1 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden in November of 1971 when Gilles Meloche cried on the bench when he was pulled from the game. Meloche thought his NHL career was over. He played another decade and a half after that.

Question: Any plans to do a follow up book for another defunct franchise?

(Krutzberg) I don't have definite plans to write about another defunct franchise right now, but it's very possible I will in the future.

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions Brad.

As for the rest of the Board, bet you guys didn't think I knew how to write a favorable review did you?

[blueandwhite]

I have never heard of the Seals - that is so much fun that you found out all that.
I love the image of meloche crying on the bench.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by blueandwhite

I have never heard of the Seals - that is so much fun that you found out all that.
I love the image of meloche crying on the bench.

Likewise, I never saw them play bluenandwhite girl...I only knew them from Hockey Cards I collected as a kid...just trying to make the board a bit more fun for the readers...

[blueandwhite]

I guess the "Dark" stands for "Fun".

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by blueandwhite

I guess the "Dark" stands for "Fun".

Not according to my co-workers who dubbed me "Lord Vader" for my style of Management...

[ThePundit]

I remember the Golden Seals Gotham. Chalie Finley the owner of the A's owned them right? He also owned the Memphis TAMS of the hold ABA who had the same gold and green color scheme as his beloved A's. I don't think the Seals were gold and green though.

[Lefty Noob]

Believe it or not, but I'm actually familiar with the Golden Seals too.

If I recall correctly, they were originally the Oakland Seals. Finley bought them and renamed them the California Golden Seals. Their attendance was lousy, though, so they were ultimately sold to George and Gordon Gund, moved the club to Cleveland and became the Barons.

Is it true that technically the franchise lives on in the San Jose Sharks?

[blueandwhite]

what is says on the net is, the seals became the barons, merged with the North Stars, then moved back out to California.