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Joined: Dec 1969
A few days ago, the Sharks came back from a 5-1 deficit to win 6-5. It's the biggest comeback in the history of the Sharks. Not the biggest comeback in NHL history, but close. There have been 11 teams that have come back from five goal deficits to win.
8 of the 11 comebacks resulted in singe-goal victories. Three resulted in two-goal victories, and all three were on the road. The Bruins were the first, beating the California Golden Seals 8-6 after being down 6-1 in the second period.
I remember seeing the Seals when I was a kid. Started as the San Francisco Seals in the World Hockey League in 1961, became an NHL expansion franchise in 1967 as the California Seals, the next year they were the Oakland Seals, then in 1970 became the Bay Area Seals for a year, then were the California Golden Seals for six years. They threatened to move to Vancouver, then moved to Cleveland for three years, then folded. Changed colors three times, last iteration had teal for two seasons.
Five of the six expansion franchises from 1967 survive (Penguins, Flyers, Kings, blues and North Stars). Only the Seals folded. Cleveland still doesn't have a franchise, they merged with the Minnesota North Stars.
The original minor league Seals drew well at the Cow Palace, but drew poorly when they joined the NHL and moved to the Oakland Coliseum. 13 of the Seals' 20 players never played in the NHL again after the first season. The last Seals player was Dennis Maruk, who retired as a North Star in 1989.
Mel Swig bought the team in 1975 (I stayed in Swig Hall at SCU). The Gunds moved the team to Cleveland. After the merger with the North Stars, the Gunds originally wanted to move the North Stars to San Jose. But the NHL said no, and the Cleveland Barons folded, first NHL franchise since the Brooklyn Americans folded in 1942. The Gunds sold their interest and became the Sharks' first owners.
The California Golden Seals' best season was their second season, 1968-69, finishing 29-36-11, which qualified them for the playoffs and they lost to the LA Kings in seven matches in the first round. The Seals have one player in the NHL Hall of Fame, Harry Howell (who was a New York Ranger great, then became the GM of the Barons).
Craig Patrick is in the NHL Hall of Fame. He played for the Seals for three years, but made the HoF as a coach. He was Herb Brooks' assistant coach for the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" Olympic gold medal team. The Americans didn't win another medal in hockey for 22 years, not until 2002. Then, Patrick was the American GM, he hired Brooks again, and they won the silver medal. Interestingly, it was largely the same roster as the 1998 team. The Americans beat the Russians in 2002 as well, losing in the gold medal match to Canada.
Audaces fortuna iuvat
