October 7, 2026
October 7, 2026
The 1968-69 Oakland Seals: A Short-Lived Club’s Best Moment
Sports history isn’t always flattering, and some of its most unique chapters come from teams that didn’t last long as professional clubs. One such example is the last franchise to officially fold in American professional sports, a team that had high hopes of making a splash in the National Hockey League when it was granted the opportunity to play as an expansion team in the 1967-1968 NHL season.
The original plan was to award the city of San Francisco, California, an NHL expansion team as part of the league’s attempt to grow the game in the late 1960s. However, team owner Barry Van Gerbig was never able to build a new arena to replace the aging Cow Palace, so his team would call Oakland home instead, playing its home games at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, which is now known as the Oracle Arena. This team was originally known as the Oakland Seals.
In the 1968-1969 NHL season, the Oakland Seals went 29-36-11, finishing 19 points behind the St. Louis Blues in the NHL West Division. The Seals held up well at home, going 17-12-7, but it was a different story on the road, where they went 12-24-4. In head-to-head play, the Seals went 5-1 against the Chicago Blackhawks (then known as the Black Hawks), 4-3-1 against the Minnesota North Stars, 3-2-1 against the Montreal Canadiens, and 4-2-2 against both the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Right winger Norm Ferguson had 34 goals and 20 assists for 54 points, with 7 power play goals and 3 game-winning goals on 217 shots. Center Ted Hampson was the captain of the Seals, and he had 26 goals and 49 assists for 75 points, with 9 power play goals, 13 power play assists, and 3 game-winning goals on 189 shots. Right winger Bill Hicke had 25 goals and 36 assists, with 4 power play goals, 4 power play assists, and 3 game-winning goals on 171 shots. Left winger Gary Jarrett had 22 goals and 23 assists for 45 points, with 5 power play assists on 201 shots. Right winger Gerry Ehman had 21 goals and 24 assists for 45 points, with 4 power play goals, 8 power play assists, and 3 game-winning goals on 160 shots.
Center Mike Laughton had 20 goals and 23 assists for 43 points, with 3 power play goals and 5 game-winning goals on 103 shots. Defenseman Carol Vadnais had 15 goals and 27 assists for 42 points, with 4 power play goals, 9 power play assists, and 4 game-winning goals on 274 shots. Center Brian Perry had 10 goals and 21 assists in 61 games. Center Joe Szura had 9 goals and 12 assists on 102 shots in 70 games. Left winger Earl Ingarfield had 8 goals and 15 assists, with 3 power play assists, in 26 games. Left winger Bob Dillabough had 7 goals and 12 assists in 48 games.
Penalty minutes were taken mainly by two Seals players. Carol Vadnais spent 151 minutes in the penalty box, while fellow defenseman Bryan Watson spent 97 minutes there.
Goaltender Gary Smith went 21-24-7, allowing 148 goals in 2,993 minutes for a 2.97 goals against average and 4 shutouts. Goaltender Charlie Hodge went 4-6-1, allowing 48 goals in 781 minutes for a 3.69 goals against average. Goaltender Chris Worthy went 4-6-3, allowing 54 goals in 786 minutes for a 4.12 goals against average.
In just their second year of existence, the Seals qualified for the playoffs, and it appeared that they would easily handle the Los Angeles Kings in the NHL Quarterfinals. However, the Kings had other ideas, prevailing in the seven-game series, 4 games to 3.
In Game 1 on April 2 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, the Kings beat the Seals 5-4 in overtime. In Game 2 on April 3, the Seals secured a 4-2 victory. In Game 3 on April 5 at the Great Western Forum, the Seals beat the Kings 5-2. In Game 4 on April 6, the Kings won 4-2. In Game 5 on April 9, back at the Coliseum Arena, the Seals won 4-1. Returning to the Great Western Forum for Game 6 on April 10, the Kings edged out the Seals 4-3. Finally, in Game 7 on April 13 at the Coliseum Arena, the Kings outlasted the Seals by a score of 5-3.
In the playoffs, Earl Ingarfield had 4 goals and 6 assists, with 1 game-winning goal. Ted Hampson had 3 goals and 4 assists. Mike Laughton had 3 goals and 3 assists. Bob Dillabough had 3 goals, one of them a game-winner. Gary Jarrett had 2 goals and 1 assist, with 1 game-winning goal.
The Oakland Seals eventually changed their name to the California Golden Seals, and the franchise spent only nine seasons in the NHL before relocating to Cleveland, Ohio, where it became the Barons. The Barons lasted only two seasons, suffering from the same lack of fan attendance that had plagued the Seals. Charles O. Finley oversaw the operations of the Seals from 1970 to 1974, but he lost patience with the team’s consistent losing, a sharp contrast to the consistent World Series championships he enjoyed with Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics from 1972 to 1974.
The early 1990s saw the official return of professional hockey to the Bay Area when the San Jose Sharks joined the league as an expansion team, and the memories of the Seals losing on the ice soon faded. Still, the Seals laid out the blueprint for how to build, and how not to build, a strong hockey fan base.
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