Changing the Game

by Stephen Laroche

  “It was an opportunity to play,” he said. “I felt fortunate to get a chance to play in the NHL again.”

  In early November, he had back-to-back two-assist games against Chicago and Los Angeles. He topped that with consecutive three-point outings when the Seals faced the North Stars and Kings in early January. Burns often played on a line with Mike Laughton and George Swarbrick.

  He also is one of the few original Seals to have positive things to say about coach Bert Olmstead.

  “He was very demanding and very tough. You had to have a lot of respect for him. There wasn’t much room for error as far as he was concerned. He demanded a lot, but you understood that because of the way he played the game himself.”

  When the Toronto Maple Leafs came to Oakland on February 11, 1968, Burns scored the game-winning goal with less than three minutes left in the third period. The Hockey News named him the West Division Player of the Week. As a result of his solid comeback season, the Pittsburgh Penguins picked him in the Intra-League Draft at the end of the year.

  Billy Harris

  Although Harris was part of three Stanley Cup championships in Toronto, he was traded to Detroit before the 1965–66 season and never really caught on with the Red Wings. Instead, the AHL’s Pittsburgh Hornets gave him a lot of playing time, and he had a big season with them in 1966–67, putting up 70 points and winning the Calder Cup.

  As he was obviously nowhere near being washed up, the Seals acquired him in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft. It was a bittersweet experience for the veteran forward. Although it was nice to be back at the top level of pro hockey, he was a constant victim of often-unjustified fines and benching from coach Bert Olmstead, and he actually walked out on the team during a 3–0 loss to the New York Rangers on January 20, 1968. The team demoted him to Buffalo of the AHL, but he hinted that he might just retire instead.

  “I’ve got pride,” he said. “I could have stayed on and gone through the motions and taken it all — the abuse and probably more fines, but I just didn’t feel like going through the motions. I’m dissatisfied with my own play, sure. I’d get going and then I started to think that maybe they were right, that I didn’t have it. When I got benched in the second period against New York, I knew I had to do something, so I walked out. I’ve made no final decision at what my future will be.”

  After eight games, he returned on Olmstead’s terms but was undoubtedly relieved to see Gord Fashoway take over behind the bench.

  Billy Harris

  Ted Hampson

  Hampson was an NHL regular with the New York Rangers in the early 1960s, but a trade to Detroit put his career on hold. After he spent three seasons mostly in the minors, he returned to the Red Wings in 1966–67 and made some solid contributions before he was traded to the Seals.

  Hampson fit in nicely with Oakland and scored a tying goal against St. Louis during his debut. He had a positive outlook on his team’s chances of making the postseason.

  “I hope we don’t quit now, we’ve got a good chance to make the playoffs. We’ve just got to concentrate for 60 minutes a game. We’ll be okay.”

  The veteran forward also earned his fair share of praise from the club’s second coach, Gord Fashoway.

  “He’s been great in every way. He’s just a great team man and a good guy. He’s a hard-working player who is going to get a few goals for us as well as pick up our playmaking.”

  All of Hampson’s hard work and perseverance paid off in 1968–69 when he became the second player ever awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.

  “I love the guy … he wasn’t afraid to go anywhere,” said John Brenneman. “I remember when we were in Philadelphia and somebody knocked into the boards and he went back out there. He worked hard and was willing to take a hit.”

  Larry Popein

  After he saw his last NHL action with the New York Rangers in 1960–61, Popein remained with the organization and starred for the WHL’s Vancouver Canucks for many years. When he wasn’t taken in the expansion draft, the Seals traded for him in December 1967.

  “In one respect, I was having a good year in Vancouver,” he said. “I had sent Emile Francis a resumé and wanted to finish up the year before moving on to become a coach. Bert Olmstead joked, ‘If you don’t get your skates and get on that plane, you won’t have that job with Emile!’ I took a lot from him in my own coaching career.”

  The December 15, 1967, contest against Boston marked Popein’s first NHL game in nearly seven years. He scored a goal to give the Seals a 3–0 lead in what turned out to be a 4–1 victory. Just 10 days later, he had a pair of assists in a rematch with the Bruins, but the celebration was marred by the death of his father.

  “On Christmas Day, my father passed away. My concentration wasn’t there for the rest of the year,” he said.

  The 1967–68 campaign was his last in the NHL, but Popein managed a couple of solid two-point performances before the end of the year. One of them saw him score a shorthanded goal and add an assist in a 4–0 win over Philadelphia on February 14, 1968.

  Kent Douglas

  A rugged veteran who learned a lot of his defensive craft from the legendary Eddie Shore, Douglas spent five great seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bert Olmstead’s former teammate, he was earning accolades for his tremendous play before the coach and general manager chose him in the expansion draft.

  “Kent should be the best point man on the power play and one of the best at getting his puck out of the zone in the league,” said Olmstead.

  From the start of training camp, it appeared Douglas was going to move to the beat of his own drum. He made waves with management when he ripped the numbers off the shoulders of his new sweater, as he believed that was something for football players rather than ice warriors. He scored the first goal in franchise history at 3:23 of the first period against Bernie Parent of Philadelphia on October 11, 1967, and he also chipped in a pair of assists in the winning effort.

  “He was a hard-nosed defenceman who didn’t take shit from anybody,” said Gerry Odrowski. “He’d talk back to Bert, but Bert knew better than to say anything to him. He had a heart of gold, but if he didn’t like you — look out!”

  By the halfway mark of the season, his welcome in Oakland had been worn out and he was dispatched to the Detroit Red Wings. Since the Seals had played more games at that point, Douglas finished the 1967–68 season with 76 games played and set a league record in the process.

  Kent Douglas

  Bob Baun

  Grit personified, Baun was one of hockey’s best blueliners in the 1960s, in part because of his incredible checking talents, but many fans are most familiar with the story about him scoring a game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup Final on a broken leg. In 1966–67, he still played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and his clashes with coach Punch Imlach were well documented. Once the season ended, he was not surprised to find he was on his way out through the expansion draft. Whatever team acquired him was in for a real treat, thanks especially to his leadership abilities.

  “I was prepared for the draft before it happened. I had Jim Blaney, my attorney, draft an announcement of my retirement if I had been taken by any other club than Bert Olmstead and the California Seals,” he remarked at the time. “I’m pleased with the way things are going here. We have no abnormal problems but when you’ve got 20 players thrown together, having never played together as a team before, it’s tough to mould them right off the bat and it’s unfair to expect miracles in such a short time.”

  Hand-picked by Olmstead to be the team’s captain, Baun worked hard in training camp by leading calisthenics and shouting out instructions to young players in scrimmages. He hesitated to sign a contract with the Seals until just a few hours before their first game.

  “Expansion is much better than I thought it would be,” he said at the time. “The new teams are better and that proves that enthusiasm and spirit is accomplishing something — it certainly makes up for a lack of overall ability and depth.”<
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  Baun was Oakland’s lone representative in the NHL All-Star Game and missed some time that year as a result of a pinched nerve in his shoulder. Over the course of the 1967–68 campaign, he scored just three goals, but two of them came against the Philadelphia Flyers within a two-week period in February. He also had a pair of assists in a loss to Detroit on March 13, 1968.

  With Olmstead out of the picture at the end of the season, the Seals dealt Baun to the Red Wings soon after.

  “Bobby was always a great guy. I played junior against him,” said Charlie Burns. “His desire to win overshadowed everything else.”

  Bob Baun

  Gerry Odrowski

  With his bald head, Odrowski was instantly recognizable on the ice in the days before helmets were commonplace, but he was also known as a respected blueliner who focused on defence first. He got his NHL start with Detroit in the early 1960s, but after he was traded to Boston, he never played for the club and instead settled in with the California Seals of the Western League. When the team became part of the big league, his rights formed part of the package and he got another shot at the highest level of competition.

  Part of a veteran defence corps, Odrowski embraced his offensive side with some occasional switches to left wing. Three of his four goals of the season came in November. He had a shorthanded tally against Montreal and two more came in a battle with the Philadelphia Flyers when he scored yet again while the Seals were down a man. On December 6, he got a pair of assists in a rematch with the Flyers.

  Not long after scoring his fourth goal of the year in a January 21, 1968, win over Los Angeles, Odrowski was hit in the eye with Rod Gilbert’s stick in an outing against the New York Rangers and was hospitalized for several days.

  “We were in New York and his stick came up and caught me in the eye,” he recalled. “I asked Larry Cahan where the hospital was and he said, ‘I know where to go.’ I was out for a month, but it hasn’t bothered me since.”

  Despite some concerns about Bert Olmstead’s coaching methods, he felt the experience of playing for the Seals was a positive one for the most part.

  “We had a lot of laughs in Oakland. We weren’t the best hockey team, but we had fun.”

  Once Gord Fashoway took over as coach, Odrowski had a confrontation with him that resulted in a demotion to the minors.

  “We were waiting for the bus to leave, and I piped up because a couple of guys weren’t there. He responded by telling me that I was going to Vancouver and to pack my bags. That’s what you call an asshole. We used to call him ‘Liver Lips.’ I called Bert [Olmstead] about it, but he couldn’t go against him.

  Years later, I was playing for the San Diego Gulls and we were taking on Portland and he had his knuckles on the boards. I came by and rapped them with my stick and said, ‘Take that you son of a bitch!’”

  Charlie Hodge

  Small in size but large in talent, Hodge was an established veteran in the late 1960s, but he often missed out on play in Montreal because of a goaltender glut or his injuries. He served as the understudy to Jacques Plante for many years, but once the Hall of Famer was traded to New York, he got a chance to shine and his name was carved on the Vezina Trophy twice in the last years of the Original Six era.

  Faced with the dilemma of protecting only two goalies, the Habs chose Rogie Vachon and Gump Worsley and left Hodge exposed to the new clubs. The Seals happily brought him on board and he signed a contract with them after Plante chose to end his attempt at a comeback during their first training camp.

  Thanks to Hodge’s tremendous play early on, California started hot and he was named the West Division Player of the Week after he limited the Philadelphia Flyers to a single goal in the season opener and followed that with a shutout on the Minnesota North Stars on October 14, 1967. From then on, the wins became scarce, but he was in net for the club’s first back-to-back victories, which came against Los Angeles on January 21 and 24, 1968. He also looked good sharing a shutout with Gary Smith against the Flyers on February 14 and in a big win over Boston three days later.

  Although the Seals finished far out of playoff contention, it is safe to say that Hodge managed to keep the club in a lot of games. He remained there until the end of the 1969–70 campaign as Gary Smith gained a greater share of the workload.

  Charlie Hodge

  EXPANSION YEAR RECORD: 31–33–10

  (72 points — second in West Division)

  COACH: Red Kelly

  GENERAL MANAGER: Larry Regan

  FIRST GAME: October 14, 1967 —

  4–2 win vs. Philadelphia Flyers

  FIRST GOAL: October 14, 1967 by Brian Kilrea

  LOS ANGELES

  KINGS

  The idea of hockey in Los Angeles may have seemed strange to the casual hockey fan in the 1960s, but the reality was the city had hosted several minor league clubs over the years. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Monarchs played in the Pacific Hockey League, and in the time leading up to NHL expansion, the WHL’s Blades ran strong.

  Jack Kent Cooke was a transplanted Canadian entrepreneur who had made a name for himself in sporting circles as owner of the NFL’s Washington Redskins and the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers. Since hockey was close to his heart, it was natural that he pursued an NHL franchise. But his bid was opposed by the ownership group of the Blades, which had the support of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, and they were not about to let him use the local sports arena. Undaunted, he built an arena of his own in suburban Inglewood and the NHL gave him the expansion franchise.

  Cooke named his new club the Kings and even picked their colour scheme of purple and gold, the same as the colours worn by his basketball team. That particular shade of purple was dubbed “Forum Blue” by Cooke and he chose the same crown logo used by soccer club Real Madrid.

  Even before the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft, Cooke secured a minor league affiliate for the Kings following a player strike held by the AHL’s Springfield Indians. Several of the players he acquired in the purchase of that club ended up playing for Los Angeles in their first few seasons and that gave them a great deal of pro experience heading into the 1967–68 season.

  Once Larry Regan was hired as general manager, the Kings sought a strong coach for their first season and signed the recently retired Red Kelly to fill that role. That move was not without some controversy. Toronto Maple Leafs coach and GM Punch Imlach cried foul because he was not given a chance to protect Kelly in the 1967 expansion draft. The teams eventually struck a compromise, and the Leafs got a young defender named Ken Block as compensation.

  Much to the glee of the Kings, they obtained the first selection and chose the legendary Terry Sawchuk, fresh off a Stanley Cup victory. From there, Los Angeles focused on new talent with limited NHL experience, but the team made many shrewd picks, such as Gord Labossiere, Real Lemieux, Ted Irvine and Lowell MacDonald.

  “There are going to be some mighty red faces around hockey after we’ve been around the circuit awhile,” said Cooke. “We look like we have a very fine team.”

  Picked by some reporters to finish last, the Kings ignored the critics, and in “home games” played at the Long Beach Arena, they won their season opener against Philadelphia on October 14, 1967, and defeated Minnesota the following night. The unique arena had yellow and red goal lights instead of green and red ones and the faceoff circles also appeared to be in a different spot each game!

  Celebrities regularly frequented early Kings games, and several Canadian ex-pats such as Lorne Greene, Art Linkletter and Monty Hall were on hand for the action. Academy Award–nominated actor George Kennedy, who used to attend New York Americans games as a child, was one of the early Kings fans.

  “It is the greatest sport of all. I introduced my wife to it, and she loves it, too, and we don’t miss a game if we’re in town,” he said. “We did give up on the Blades, finally. But we’re thrilled by the NHL. You see the difference in major and minor league play very quickly. The way they get the puck t
o one another is amazing. We also love and support pro football, but hockey is the best.”

  After a six-game road trip, the Kings returned to California at the end of the month and played out of the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena before the Great Western Forum opened on December 30. This stretch of games featured a very controversial moment when Montreal Canadiens coach Toe Blake punched a heckler when fans moved down toward the bench after a fight finished on the ice. The heckler threw the first punch and Blake retaliated. Several Montreal players swung their sticks and bloodied the troublemaker and another fan, who ended up being taken to the hospital.

  “I don’t mind the heckling. I can take that,” said a steamed Blake. “But the price he paid for a ticket doesn’t entitle him to punch me. When the fans come at us, we’re going to defend ourselves.”

  The two fans injured in the scuffle planned a civil suit and brought criminal action, resulting in a warrant being sworn out for the arrest of Blake and Claude Provost for “assault with a deadly weapon.” They were set to return on March 6, 1968, to answer the charges, which were held over until May 20. Witnesses testified that Blake hit Bernard Weisman only after he punched first and that Provost went to his aid. The case was dismissed in early August.

  CBS televised the opening of the “Fabulous Forum,” but Los Angeles lost to Philadelphia by a score of 2–0. At the time, the Kings were mired in what became a nine-game winless streak.

  Regan was not pleased by this turn of events but remained hopeful.

  “I’m not happy with our recent play, but I’m happy with our overall play so far. And, despite the recent bad stretch, I think we’ll get stronger as the season goes along. For one thing, the depth we have and Philadelphia has, having purchased farm clubs, which the other expansion clubs do not have, begin to show as injuries mount.