Oddleifson was the first pick of the California Golden Seals in the 1970 amateur draft. But the team that was famous for making its players wear white skates chose not to keep the Winnipeg native, but instead traded him to the Boston Bruins. Now, it must be pointed out that the Bruins were defending Stanley Cup champs with the likes of 76-goal scorer Phil Esposito, the great Bobby Orr and a long list of other star players such as Ken Hodge, Johnny McKenzie and Wayne Cashman. So for "Oddy" to crack the Boston lineup was going to be a tall order.
But that winter night in Oakland, the stars and moon must have been lined up just perfectly. Prior to this, Oddleifson had been a utility right winger for the Bruins, but on this occasion, Derek Sanderson's colitis was acting up and Gregg Sheppard was too ill to play. Oddleifson, a raw rookie, was called upon to centre a line with Terry O'Reilly at right wing and Don Marcotte on the left side. In the first period, he scored a goal. Then he scored another in the second frame. Now, remember, even though he'd never played for the Seals, Oddleifson had attended their training camp and knew a lot of their players. So now, some of them are chirping at Oddy from their bench, yelling betcha a beer ya don't get your hat trick'. Well, as luck would have it, he scored two more in the third period and ended up with a four-goal night as the Bruins hammered the Seals 8-1!
The ultimate indignity, though, was yet to come. For the next morning, the headline in the sports section of the Oakland Tribune read: SEALS LOSE 8-1...ESPOSITO HELD OFF SCORE SHEET, and the sub-head read: rookie scores four.
It truly was Oddy's finest hour, but it wasn't enough to preserve his Bruin status, as they traded him to Vancouver just 40 days later.