The California Golden Seals by Steve Currier

Author:Steve Currier [Currier, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SPO020000 Sports & Recreation / Hockey
ISBN: 978-1-4962-0452-3
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 2017-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

Meloche, of course, being the affable team player he was, never blamed Leach for what happened. “Gilles told me after it happened that it was his fault,” Leach said, “[but] I know it wasn’t. It was a freak thing to happen. I heard the whistle, but I made just one more turn. The next thing I know, Gilles is bleeding.”24

When Marv Edwards was told he would be the Seals’ new number one goaltender for at least the next two months, he took it in stride. “I went home right away,” he said. “It may affect some goalies differently to find out they must start in a situation like that, but for a number of years I used to be the No. 1 guy and I was ready.”25

The Seals won their first game without Meloche, but things would get much tougher afterward. The one thing the Seals definitely did not need was a meeting with the Philadelphia Flyers. Over the last few years the Flyers had developed into the most fearsome team in professional sports. Their roster was loaded with wrestling monikers like Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, Don “The Bird” Saleski, Bob “Mad Dog/Hound Dog/Kamikaze” Kelly, and Andre “Moose” Dupont. Even the team’s nickname, The Broad Street Bullies, sounded like a sadistic stable conjured up by Vince McMahon. To add even more legend to the Flyers, the dreaded “Philadelphia Flu” had started making the rounds in various NHL cities around this time. Perfectly healthy players often claimed to be feeling ill the day of a game with the Flyers, especially those played in Philadelphia, hoping they could delay their next meeting with the Bullies by a few more weeks.

During the 1973–74 season, an intense animosity evolved between the Seals and Flyers even though, from that moment on, the two clubs would always sit at polar opposites of the standings. Less likely enemies you could not find; the Flyers averaged over 20 penalty minutes per game, while the Seals averaged about 8 or 9 minutes. According to the Drop Your Gloves website, the Flyers were involved in 108 fights in 1973–74, and the Seals just 25, but every now and then someone in the California dressing room would poke the Bullies in the chest. One Seal who was never afraid of the Flyers was Hilliard Graves. He and the notorious Dave Schultz developed a heated feud, but surprisingly it was Graves who used to come out on top when they went toe-to-toe. “He had a hip check that would just send people flying,” remembered fan Dick Pantages, “and he was feisty. . . . I think he gave [Schultz] the good old hip check once, and [he] never forgot about it.” Graves was never one to rack up tons of penalties, but “he fought Dave Schultz every time we played Philadelphia,” said Stan Weir. “He always held his own.” Fred Glover believed Graves “could beat up Dave Schultz any day of the week. . . . They started Schultz so I started Graves and Graves would go out and beat the shit out of [Schultz].

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