‘Hamburglar’ reminisces at home with family
AHL’s pause doubles as paternity leave for hero of Sens’ 2015 Cinderella story
Andrew Hammond considers himself a lucky man today.
In this instance, we’re not talking about that unparalleled stand-on-his-head goaltending performance he treated us to five years ago, a stretch that unleashed Hamburglar mania and carried the Ottawa Senators from Nowhere Land to a playoff berth.
Rather, it’s about being healthy with his family at home in Ohio.
Only two weeks ago, his wife Marlee gave birth to the couple’s second son, Carson, in Rochester, N.Y., where Hammond was playing for the Rochester Amerks of the American Hockey League. The Hammonds also have a fouryear-old son named Cal.
“(Carson) was born two days before the league was suspended,” the even-keeled Hammond said Wednesday morning during a telephone interview. “There was talk about (the novel coronavirus), but there really hadn’t been a lot of cases. The first (confirmed) one in Rochester was that day. Then they told everyone to go home. It wasn’t really that complicated for us, but it definitely wasn’t the usual process. We got lucky. So, right now, this whole thing is kind of like my paternity thing.”
Hammond, 32, is primarily occupied with his young family while in self-isolation. As he was speaking on the phone, calls for attention from “Daddy, Daddy!” could be heard in the background.
Yet, when Ottawa sports radio station TSN-1200 posted an informal Twitter poll last week asking Senators fans for their best memories of the Hamburglar run, Hammond joined in on the fun, offering up his two cents.
“I don’t normally (tweet), but I was bored,” he said Wednesday.
Just in case you have forgotten the details of a story too bizarre to be believed, Hammond was recalled from Binghamton of the AHL (where he owned a record of 7-13-2, a 3.51 goals-against average, and an .898 save percentage) and thrust into the Senators net after Craig Anderson and Robin Lehner were both injured.
All he did from there was post a record of 20-1-2, with a goalsagainst average of 1.79 and a save percentage of .941, as the Senators climbed from the NHL basement into a first-round playoff matchup with the Montreal Canadiens.
Which wins stood out the most for Hammond? That’s kind of like asking which Springsteen song is the best.
In his three tweets about the experience, Hammond talked about his memories of victories over Montreal, Boston, Winnipeg, and the playoff-clinching triumph over Philadelphia. And then there was the 4-3 overtime win over Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, a game in which the Senators rallied all the way back from a 3-0 first period deficit.
“That was my first (game) against Crosby and he scores 10 seconds in,” Hammond tweeted. “I was able to confirm he’s pretty good.”
On Wednesday, he also brought up the 3-0 shutout victory over the New York Rangers, a vital victory in the last week of the regular season before facing Philadelphia.
“Every game has its own story and it’s hard to pick one,” he said. “How we came back and won some games, different things. One that was special to me was the win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. That was the one team that beat me (in Ottawa) and I got pulled in that game. Then we beat them and I got a shutout. I went in there and kind of redeemed myself.”
While Hammond will always be proud of what he and the Senators accomplished in 2015, he has moved on.
He spent the past year with Rochester — Buffalo’s AHL affiliate — posting a record of 16-12-3 with a 2.53 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage. While with the Amerks, he had a few conversations with former Senators first-round pick Curtis Lazar, who has since been recalled by Buffalo.
After a fan tossed a hamburger on the ice to celebrate a Hammond win over Boston, Lazar grabbed it and took a bite out of it, one of the signature moments of the ride.
“We would talk about it from time to time,” said Hammond. “Both of us are in the same situation somewhat (of trying to return to the NHL on a full-time basis) and we both think back on it fondly, but I’m not consumed by it or anything.”
On the topic of hamburgers, whatever happened to that gift card allowing Hammond to eat free at McDonald’s for the rest of his life?
“I gave them to friends because they were only valid in Canada,” he said. “But I’ve got one of them in a frame.”
That was my first (game) against Crosby and he scores 10 seconds in. I was able to confirm he’s pretty good.