Oakland Seals

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California Seals, Oakland Seals,
California Golden Seals, Cleveland Barons
Image:Calsealslogo.gif
Founded 1967-1968
As the Seals: Home ice Oakland Arena
As the Seals: Based in Oakland, California
As the Seals: Colors Royal Blue, Kelly Green and White (1967-1970)
</br>Kelly Green, California Gold and Snow White (1970-1974)
</br>Pacific Teal, Yellow and White (1974-1976)
As the Barons: Home ice Richfield Coliseum
As the Barons: Based in Richfield, Ohio
As the Barons: Colors Red, black and white
League National Hockey League

The Oakland Seals were a team in the National Hockey League (NHL). They were also known as the California Seals, California Golden Seals and Cleveland Barons.

Founded: 1967
Arenas: As the Seals Oakland Arena, As the Barons Richfield Coliseum
Uniform colors:
Logo design:
Stanley Cup Finals appearances: none
Stanley Cups won: none
Added in the NHL's 1967 expansion, along with the Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and St. Louis Blues.

Contents

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History

Image:Seals016.jpg Six expansion teams were added to the NHL for the 1967, partly because of the need to expand the league, and partly to squelch the Western Hockey League's attempt to turn itself into a major league. The San Francisco Seals were one such team from the WHL, and after it was purchased by Barry van Gerbig and moved across the bay to Oakland, the Seals joined the NHL.

Van Gerbig had planned to have the team play out of a new arena in San Francisco, but the arena never came into fruition, and the Seals played out of the Oakland Arena in Oakland instead. The franchise was named California Seals in order to draw in fans from San Francisco. The plan failed, and on November 8, 1967, only one month into the season, Van Gerbig changed the team's name to Oakland Seals.

Image:CAL-GS 264.gif The Seals were never successful because of poor attendance (Van Gerbig had reportedly threated to move the team elsewhere on numerous occasions if fans did not show up; first-year coach and general manager Bert Olmstead had publicly advocated the franchise move to Vancouver) as well as their dismal on-ice performance. This led to a major reshuffling of both the Seals' front office as well as the on-ice product (only seven out of the 20 Seals players remained) after only one season. The new-look Seals were somewhat successful, making the playoffs for two years. Unfortunately, those were the only two years that the Seals franchise made the playoffs.

Image:Sealslogo.gif Before the 1970-71 NHL season, the Seals were bought by flamboyant Oakland Athletics owner Charlie O. Finley, who changed the team's name to the California Golden Seals, among other gimmicks intended to sell the team to the fans (among them the changing of the Seals' team colors to match that of the Athletics). However, this was all for naught, as the Seals finished with the worst record in the NHL that year, and a series of promotional disasters would lead to the NHL assuming control of the franchise in February of 1974.

Image:Clebar77.gif The attempt to resurrect the Seals and move the team back to San Francisco in a new arena largely failed, and the team moved to Cleveland in 1976, rechristened as the Cleveland Barons, and under the ownership of the Gund family. The Barons played in the suburban Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio, the arena with the largest seating capacity in the NHL at the time. The Barons would not benefit from playing there, as a combination of factors would eventually lead the Gund family to merge the team with the Minnesota North Stars. As part of the deal, the Gunds became owners of the North Stars. The Barons/Seals thus remain the last franchise in the four major American sports to fold, disband or otherwise completely cease to exist.

In 1991, the Gunds wanted to move the North Stars to the Bay Area. The NHL vetoed the move, but agreed to allow the dissolution of the North Stars-Barons merger and take some of the North Stars roster to San Jose as the San Jose Sharks. Some have suggested that the Sharks are a revival of the old Seals franchise.

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Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Logo Season Team Name GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM Finish Playoffs
Image:CAL-GS 264.gif1967-681 Oakland Seals74 15 42 17 47 153 219 787 6th in West Out of Playoffs
Image:CAL-GS 264.gif1968-69 Oakland Seals 76 29 36 11 69 219 251 811 2nd in West Lost in Quarterfinal (LA)
Image:CAL-GS 264.gif1969-70 Oakland Seals 76 22 40 14 58 169 243 845 4th in West Lost in Quarterfinal (PIT)
Image:Calsealslogo.gif1970-71California Golden Seals 78 20 53 5 45 199 320 937 7th in West Out of Playoffs
Image:Calsealslogo.gif1971-72 California Golden Seals 78 21 39 18 60 216 288 1007 6th in West Out of Playoffs
Image:Calsealslogo.gif1972-73 California Golden Seals 78 16 46 16 48 213 323 840 8th in West Out of Playoffs
Image:Calsealslogo.gif1973-74 California Golden Seals 78 13 55 10 36 195 342 651 8th in West Out of Playoffs
Image:Calsealslogo.gif1974-75 California Golden Seals 80 19 48 13 51212 316 1101 4th in Adams Out of Playoffs
Image:Calsealslogo.gif1975-76 California Golden Seals 80 27 42 11 65250 278 1058 4th in Adams Out of Playoffs
Image:Clebar77.gif1976-77 Cleveland Barons 80 25 42 13 63 240 292 1011 4th in Adams Out of Playoffs
Image:Clebar77.gif1977-78 Cleveland Barons 80 22 45 13 57 230 325 1010 4th in Adams Out of Playoffs

1 named California Seals from October 11 to November 8, 1967

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Notable players

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Hall of Famers

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Team captains

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Not to be forgotten

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Retired numbers

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See also

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External links

National Hockey League 1917 to present
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Trophies and awards: Stanley Cup | Prince of Wales | Clarence S. Campbell | Presidents' Trophy | Adams | Art Ross | Calder | Conn Smythe | Crozier | Hart | Jennings | King Clancy | Lady Byng | Masterton | Norris | Patrick | Pearson | Plus/Minus | Rocket Richard | Selke | Vezina
Related articles: AHL | ECHL | UHL | WHA | International Hockey

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