Andrew Hammond is one step closer to realizing a dream of playing in the National Hockey League.
And though it’s a dream shared by nearly every youngster who grows up playing hockey in Canada, the 25-year-old Ocean Park native admits now – just days after signing with the Ottawa Senators – that it wasn’t a dream he spent much time considering during his days tending goal in the BC Hockey League.
“It wasn’t something I thought about about in the BCHL, because at the time I was more focused on securing a scholarship,” Hammond said from Binghamton, N.Y., where he was setting in with the Senators’ American Hockey League team.
“When I was a kid, it was always something you dream of, but then you progress through the different levels of hockey (and) start realizing it’s a very real possibility.”
Last month, Hammond wrapped up his senior year at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Senators.
“The whole experience has been great, but I think the best part was calling my parents, brother and sister,” he said.
“All of them have always been really supportive and proud of me but to tell them what was happening was really special.”
The Earl Marriott Secondary grad is likely a familiar name to those who follow the BC Hockey League – after beginning his junior-hockey career with the Westside Warriors, he played 32 games with the Surrey Eagles in 2007/08 before being shipped to Vernon, where he helped lead the Vipers to a RBC Cup national championship – the first for the team in 18 years – before heading to the NCAA with Bowling Green.
“Winning the Royal Bank Cup is still my best memory,” said Hammond, a Semiahmoo Minor Hockey alum. “Signing with Ottawa is very exciting, but I still haven’t accomplished anything. My goal is to play in the NHL and all this does is give me an opportunity to get closer to that goal.”
Hammond came to the attention to the Senators after a strong four-year NCAA career; this past season he led the team into the second round of the playoffs, and in 2011/’12, he played in every one of his team’s 44 games.
“Ottawa was a team that had come up a few times when talking to my agent – I had known they had come out to watch me this year – but our season ended (March 23) and I didn’t really know what my options would be the next morning,” Hammond explained.
“Then my agent called me and told me Ottawa had an offer on the table.”
Playing for a Canadian team was a dream for the Surrey netminder, he said.
“It seemed like a great fit, and they were open to letting me finish school and get my degree, which was one of the most important things for me,” said Hammond, who will return to Bowling Green State’s campus in mid-April to complete his classes.
Returning to school to tie up loose ends will also give Hammond the chance to reflect on a college career that really has gone from one extreme – not winning a single game as a freshman; to the other – going pro.
“My freshman year was difficult,” he said. “Looking back, that adversity was great for me. It has driven me to keep working harder every year.”