NHL Hockey Trivia: Oakland Seals and California Golden Seals

The California Golden Seals existed in the National Hockey League for nine years from 1967-68 to 1975-76. The team was one of six expansion teams in 1967-68 that doubled the league in size from the ‘Original Six’.

Test and expand your knowledge of the California Golden Seals with the following four hockey trivia questions.

Q. The Golden Seals franchise originally entered the NHL under what name?

A. For the first three years that the franchise existed, they were dubbed the Oakland Seals. Originally, the plan was to be called the San Francisco Seals. They became the California Golden Seals and then the California Seals.

The ‘Seals’ nickname originated in 1961-62 with the San Francisco Seals of the WHL. That franchise played in the minor pro league from 1961-62 until 1966-67.

Q. What defenseman from the inaugural Seals team starred with the Toronto Maple Leafs the year before?

A. Bob Baun played one season with the Oakland Seals in 1967-68. The long time Toronto Maple Leafs blue liner played a major role as Toronto won the 1966-67 Stanley Cup with a victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Baun would eventually return to the Maple Leafs to finish his career but the Stanley Cup has yet to return to Toronto.

Other Original 6 castaways that played for Oakland in that first season include: Bill Hicke, Charlie Burns and Bert Marshall. The team’s goaltending duo was quite decent with Charlie Hodge doing the bulk of the work with Gary Smith as his backup. Another member of that 1967-68 Oakland team was Alain Caron. It was the only full NHL season for Caron but a few years later, he would score an amazing 78 goals in the North American Hockey League.

Q. After the 1975-76 season, to what city did the California Seals move to?

A. For the 1976-77 season, the California Seals moved to Cleveland, Ohio and became the Cleveland Barons. The Barons lasted just two seasons in the National Hockey League before merging with the Minnesota North Stars.

The North Stars were a struggling franchise at the time and were also one of the six 1967 expansion teams. In their second year after the Cleveland Barons ceased to exist, Minnesota reached the Stanley Cup semi-finals before losing to the Philadelphia Flyers. The following year, the North Stars marched right to the Stanley Cup finals before losing to the New York Islanders.

Minnesota would reach the Stanley Cup finals one more time in 1990-91, losing to Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins. After 1992-93, the franchise moved to Dallas to become the Dallas Stars. With Dallas, the franchise finally won a championship in 1998-99 over the Buffalo Sabres.

Q. Who did the Oakland Seals meet in their first Stanley Cup playoffs series?

A. In their second season, the Seals faced off against the Los Angeles Kings in the quarter-finals, losing in seven games to their California rivals. 1968-69 was the team’s best season in their short history with 29 wins and 69 points to finish second in the weak West Division. The team would make the playoffs just one more time, losing in the first round the following season to the Pittsburgh Penguins in four straight games.