Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Unfazed By Trade, Former Viper Hammond Helps Belleville Senators To Another Win:

Here is an article on former Vernon Vipers goaltender Andrew Hammond.

The Ottawa Senators traded Hammond to Colorado November 5th 2017. Hammond will remain with the American Hockey League's Bellville Senators until the Colorado Avalanche trade Hammond.

Hammond has played the past five seasons with the Ottawa Senators/American Hockey League Binghamton Senators. Hammond has spent this season in the American Hockey League with the Belleville Senators.

After four seasons with Bowling Green University, Hammond signed his first pro contract with the Ottawa Senators on March 20th 2013. Hammond attended the Chicago Blackhawks 2012 development camp and Ottawa Senators 2013 development camp.

Hammond made his NHL debut  February 27th 2014 vs the Detroit Red Wings. Hammond was called up that night from the American Hockey League as the backup for Senators starting goaltender Robin Lehner. Hammond would replace Lehner late in the 2nd period who was pulled after giving up six goals on fifteen Detroit shots. Hammond would finish the game playing just over thirty four minutes stopping all eleven Red Wing shots in a 6-1 loss to Detroit. Hammond made his first career NHL start February 18th 2015 vs the Montreal Canadians, recorded 42 saves in a 4-2 win over the Habs for his first career NHL victory.

Hammond played parts of two years in Vernon (2007-2009) after coming over in a trade with the Surrey Eagles during the 2007-08 season. In 52 regular season games with the Vipers Hammond posted a (33-15-1) record recording 6 shutouts.

Andrew Hammond's Player Profile:

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=38007

This was posted on the insidebelleville.com

Unfazed by trade, Andrew Hammond helps Belleville Senators to another win

Sports Nov 09, 2017

by Stephen Petrick  Belleville News

Belleville — Give a hand to the Hamburglar.

Three days after being traded by the Ottawa Senators he was still playing great for the Senators — the American Hockey League's Belleville Senators that is.

The goaltender made 25 saves to lead the B-Sens to a 4-3 win over the Binghamton Devils on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at the Yardmen Arena.

Hammond, nicknamed the Hamburglar in his stint with the parent Ottawa Senators, was traded to the Colorado Avalanche organization on Sunday as part of an NHL blockbuster trade.

But the Avalanche decided to loan his services back to the Belleville Senators, as they look to trade him to another team with more urgent goaltending needs.

Despite the uncertainly over his future, Hammond played sharp, turning away a number of shots late in the team’s dismal third period, when the Sens nearly blew a three-goal lead and missed an easy empty-net goal opportunity that would have made the final 30 seconds a breeze.

After the game, Hammond said he knew from the time of the trade that the plan was for him to stay in Belleville — and he was happy about that.

“Obviously it’s a unique situation, but I’m happy to be here and able to play with these guys,” he said.

"I had a conversation with (the Avalanche organization) on Sunday night. The gist of it was 'just keep playing well, it will take care of itself. Just try to keep winning games.' And that’s what I’m going to do.”

Hammond has played his entire pro career with the Senators organization and will forever be remembered for a great stretch with Ottawa in 2015.

After Sunday’s trade, he Tweeted an emotional message of thanks to the Senators organization and its fans. “Thank you to the Senators for giving me my first chance in the NHL,” he wrote. “Through good bad, healthy, injured … I can’t say enough about my teammates, Sens staff and fans.”

On Wednesday, he said he’s grateful for the opportunity to stick with his Belleville teammates for the time being.

“It’s nice to have the guys still and not have to be on the side of things where you have to make friends with 25 new guys. I really like it here. The guys, the coaching staff, the fans, everything.”

Belleville Senators coach Kurt Kleinendorst praised the play of his goaltender following the win.

When asked if there’s any dilemma with playing Hammond now — given that his role is to ensure Ottawa Senators prospects are developing properly — he chuckled a bit and said, “no there’s no dilemma, no no no.”

The decision to play Hammond on Wednesday was based on the fact that he’s been playing great of late. Danny Taylor, who’s also been solid in goal, will still get playing time, too.

But Kleinendorst said Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion would never ask him not to play Hammond, if he’s helping Belleville win games.

“He’s a part of our family. He got traded to Colorado — I get that. But we’re not going (to bench him). We’ve got a guy running hot here. We’re getting timely saves and he’s a big reason we won tonight.

"You develop through winning. You make more progress through winning.

"Pierre has not said, 'don’t play him' and I don’t think he will say 'don’t play him.'”

Jim O’Brien also had a great night for the Senators, scoring the opening goal at 14:49 of the first and what would turn out to be the game winner, at 13:53 of the second. Colin White and Max McCormick also scored in the second period for the Senators, helping the home team build a 4-1 lead.

Binghamton scored two goals three minutes apart late in the third period to make things interesting. But the defence held down the fort in the dying seconds of the game, when Binghamton, with a pulled goalie, had a five on four and brief six-on-four advantage.

A rough third period aside, Kleinendorst said the team, overall, played a good game, despite being down a number of players due to injury. Ben Sexton was a late scratch, causing the team to play with just 11 forwards.

“We battled hard. It was a gutsy effort by everybody,” he said.

The Senators welcome Rochester to the Yardmen next, for a two-game series Friday and Saturday. Puck drop is 7 p.m. both nights.

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