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Shorthanded: The Untold Story of the Seals: Hockey's Most Colorful Team
The saga of the Oakland/California Seals nine-year journey through the NHL is a strange, funny and sad tale that is nearly forgotten and has never been told...until now. Off the ice, the history of the Seals is practically a tale of how not to run a franchise. The team joined the NHL in 1967 as part of the "Second Six" expansion teams and stayed in Oakland until moving to Cleveland in 1976. The Seals had seven different ownership groups in nine years and chaos reigned throughout the process. This book shows you the inner workings of a hockey club that was always on the brink of bankruptcy and/or relocating and takes you behind the scenes of many of the mistakes made by NHL owners and executives during the early years of expansion. It also chronicles the crazy days of ownership by Charlie Finley, a man who admittedly knew nothing about hockey but knew he wanted to run his team his way. Hilarity and disaster resulted.On the ice, the Seals met with little success but were never dull. In nine years, the team had to put up with white skates, few fans and a cast of characters that were uniqueThis book allows the players and coaches to tell their own story. More than 110 interviews were conducted with former Seals players, owners, coaches and employees to get a clear picture of what it was like to play in the NHL in the 60s and 70s. The rise of the WHA, continuing expansion and more hilarious stories of what really happens to an NHL team on the road and in the locker room. Hockey fans will love this true tale of the Seals...hockey's most colorful team.
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 5, 2012
Hockey players are the approachable athletes when people ask them to share stories about their playing days and this books has plenty of those stories. The author was able to obtain stories from nearly every player who donned the sweater of the Oakland Seals franchise and they spun some great tales. There is comedy, drama and history in nearly every one of them.
My problem with this book was the structure. The book starts with a recollection of Seals history that was not in depth but more anecdotal. Good if you wanted just stories but I prefer history like that to be more fact based.
There were three main sections of the book in which the player's musings were shared. Early middle and late years were the sections and while that was fine, there were some tidbits that were repeated over and over by the author not the players. Example: the Seals missed the playoffs in 1972 by six points. This was stated by the author, not the players, in every story about a player who was on that team. Unless the player talked about it, it was not necessary to say this fact over and over again. Same with other facts such as nine players leaving the Seals for the WHA or that they wore white skates for a short time.
These and similar flaws made reading the book a chore. It was worth the trouble because the players shared wonderful memories. But the reader has to endure a lot of repetition to do so.
My problem with this book was the structure. The book starts with a recollection of Seals history that was not in depth but more anecdotal. Good if you wanted just stories but I prefer history like that to be more fact based.
There were three main sections of the book in which the player's musings were shared. Early middle and late years were the sections and while that was fine, there were some tidbits that were repeated over and over by the author not the players. Example: the Seals missed the playoffs in 1972 by six points. This was stated by the author, not the players, in every story about a player who was on that team. Unless the player talked about it, it was not necessary to say this fact over and over again. Same with other facts such as nine players leaving the Seals for the WHA or that they wore white skates for a short time.
These and similar flaws made reading the book a chore. It was worth the trouble because the players shared wonderful memories. But the reader has to endure a lot of repetition to do so.
November 19, 2017
As a Seals fan, this book is a treasure trove of stories, anecdotes, and quotes. Brad Kurtzberg took the time to interview dozens of players, coaches, and front office people to put together this remarkable history of the California Golden Seals.
It isn't too heavy on statistics, so if you're not into numbers, you won't feel intimidated at all. It starts off with a look back at the Seals back-room deals, such as who bought the team, and when. That, in itself, is one complicated story, but Kurtzberg does a good job piecing it all together in a simple-to-understand, funny, and interesting way. The other three quarters of the book is a series of profiles of the Seals players, and not just the stars, but all of them, so you get to hear everyone's perspective of the infamous white skates, Charlie Finley's crazy promotions, and Fred Glover's scrimmages (where the AHL legend participated with his players!).
The biggest drawback of the book, however, is its structure. Since the book is mostly a series of player profiles, some information gets repeated a number of times, especially when players are asked to talk about Finley, Glover, and the white skates. We end up hearing about a dozen times how much the white skates weighed a ton because they needed to be repainted over and over again. If you can get past that minor problem, however, the book is definitely worth reading, and it answers any question you may have about the team.
As someone who did his own research on the Seals, this book filled in many voids I had in my own work, and it helped me piece together the Seals' complicated history. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading team histories or who grew up watching hockey in the late 60s and 1970s.
It isn't too heavy on statistics, so if you're not into numbers, you won't feel intimidated at all. It starts off with a look back at the Seals back-room deals, such as who bought the team, and when. That, in itself, is one complicated story, but Kurtzberg does a good job piecing it all together in a simple-to-understand, funny, and interesting way. The other three quarters of the book is a series of profiles of the Seals players, and not just the stars, but all of them, so you get to hear everyone's perspective of the infamous white skates, Charlie Finley's crazy promotions, and Fred Glover's scrimmages (where the AHL legend participated with his players!).
The biggest drawback of the book, however, is its structure. Since the book is mostly a series of player profiles, some information gets repeated a number of times, especially when players are asked to talk about Finley, Glover, and the white skates. We end up hearing about a dozen times how much the white skates weighed a ton because they needed to be repainted over and over again. If you can get past that minor problem, however, the book is definitely worth reading, and it answers any question you may have about the team.
As someone who did his own research on the Seals, this book filled in many voids I had in my own work, and it helped me piece together the Seals' complicated history. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading team histories or who grew up watching hockey in the late 60s and 1970s.
August 24, 2018
Probably only of interest to people who actually followed the Seals. It is an interesting portrayal of how not to run a sports team. They had many talented management people and players but managed to have ownership that was only interested in short term reward. A lot of fun to read if you are into the history of the game. 3 stars!
May 11, 2021
A dreat book about the California Seals
March 5, 2017
Ok, first off, I really, REALLY want to rate this book high because it is a great story in hockey history, and readers must be aware of the author's lack of experience with regards to this overall work. It was a Herculean effort to gather up all the information, track down all the personalities, and somehow gel it all together.
That said, the beginning narrative is great, while the player-by-player accounts at the end, the bulk of the book, are just okay. In a perfect world with the Hockey Gods smiling down from their ice rink in the sky, having all this info meshed into a cohesive narrative, from team inception to team disintegration, would have made the book perfect, and could have better highlighted the minefield these guys skated through season after season, being hamstrung by management, sabotaged by owners, and screwed by the league. The Seals were undoubtedly the Trojans of the NHL's Iliad, and they deserve recognition for their sacrifices. Kurtzberg gave it his very best.
That said, the beginning narrative is great, while the player-by-player accounts at the end, the bulk of the book, are just okay. In a perfect world with the Hockey Gods smiling down from their ice rink in the sky, having all this info meshed into a cohesive narrative, from team inception to team disintegration, would have made the book perfect, and could have better highlighted the minefield these guys skated through season after season, being hamstrung by management, sabotaged by owners, and screwed by the league. The Seals were undoubtedly the Trojans of the NHL's Iliad, and they deserve recognition for their sacrifices. Kurtzberg gave it his very best.
January 14, 2013
This is a tough book to rate. The first part of the book seemed like it could have been folded into the second part of the book almost as an intro. Most of the points made (save the team records and maybe a couple of other items) were repeated in the part about the individual players. I enjoyed the portion about the players a lot. The team came to life in that part and I learned a lot of things (like certain players who were Seals). If the book was the second part only, the book would have been at least 4 stars. The biggest drawback (at least in the Kindle edition) was that multiple times, someone failed to see that Saskatoon is a city, substituting it for the province's name of Saskatchewan (eg., one player was from Creelman, Saskatoon according to the book which is phyiscally impossible). That flaw was annoying and held it back. I did enjoy the book though and would reccomend it (in spite of the errors) to hockey fan.
May 18, 2015
It was really awesome to see all the players that made up the Seals history and about what caused the relocation of the team. Allowed in-depth interviews with the players and was a fun read.
August 16, 2014
the stories the players tell are quite entertaining
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews