The Hamburglar’s return brings back great memories for Ottawa Senators fans

The Hamburglar will be in the house on Saturday night.

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A decade after Andrew ‘The Hamburglar’ Hammond led the Ottawa Senators down a magical path to the playoffs in the spring of 2015, he’ll be back at the Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday night as the club hosts the San Jose Sharks.

With 24 games left on the schedule, the Senators are in the mix to make the playoffs for the first time in eight years, but people love to turn back the clock and remember Hammond taking this club on a magical ride to the post-season under former head coach Dave Cameron.

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Hammond took the Senators from last place in the National Hockey League standings to a berth in the playoffs with an incredible record of 20-1-2, a goals-against average of 1.91 and a save percentage of .941 after top goaltender Craig Anderson was sidelined with an injury.

It will be a nice salute to a man who created fond memories and Hammond looks back at that run as a special time in his life. Hammond struggled to stay healthy after that run and finished his career bouncing around various places in the minors before hanging up his skates in 2022.

Hammond uses the word “grateful” to describe what it meant to him.

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“I have a different perspective now (because) compared to the rest of my career I didn’t get hurt, which was an issue after that,” the 37-year-old Hammond said on Friday. “It’s one of those moments that you either laugh or cry about, but it’s also the reality of it.

“For the most part, the team and (himself) had the same mental approach in the sense that I had been written off, the team was written off and we were going to get a lottery pick. We just embraced the fact that we didn’t want to go out that way.

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“We wanted to put up a fight and prove people wrong. Proving people wrong was the biggest motivation for me and the team. It was one of those things when teams start winning you get confidence and you start believing.

“It’s no different for a goalie. Once you start putting four or five games together, you develop confidence that you’re a good team and you’re a good goalie. That confidence was a big thing.”

The whole group had synchronicity and one goal in mind.

The decision to go to Hammond and his fairytale run only happened because the Senators were left with no other choice. Anderson was out with a hand injury and backup Robin Lehner left the club’s 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at home on Feb. 16, 2015, after suffering a concussion.

Forced into duty, Hammond wasn’t very good in the 20 minutes and 46 seconds he played. He couldn’t stop a beach ball and gave up three goals on the five shots he faced from the Canes in the third period.

But the club didn’t have any other options, so Hammond started two nights later against the Montreal Canadiens. Hammond started his incredible streak with a 4-2 victory over the Habs on Feb. 18 at home with 42 stops.

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Coach Paul MacLean was fired on Dec. 8 by late general manager Bryan Murray with the club off to an 11-11-5 start and Cameron took over. The Senators didn’t qualify for the playoffs until the final day of the season with a victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on the road.

The club arrived home around 5:30 p.m. and more than a thousand fans lined the streets outside the airport terminal to celebrate the fact there would be playoff hockey in Ottawa that spring.

“There was pressure throughout, but that last game there was the most pressure,” Hammond said. “If we didn’t win there was a chance we would still get in, but being able to win and put ourselves in was big. There was a release of emotion at the end because it had been such a long journey.

“All this stuff had been building and people wondered if we going to do it. There was vindication that we did. From a personal standpoint, the fans provided memories for me by throwing hamburgers on the ice, but from a team perspective, people were lining up at the airport for a team getting into the playoffs in the eighth position. That just doesn’t happen.”

It was so improbable and something we likely won’t see again in our lifetime.

Hammond, his wife Marlee, and the couple’s three children came to Ottawa from their home outside Detroit on Thursday night.

The Hammonds are thrilled their kids will get the opportunity to relive some of these moments with their dad and understand how special that time of his life was. Marlee noted on the social media site X this week that she changed her phone screensaver to The Hamburglar.

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“To do what they are doing is pretty special,” Hammond said. “I never thought that I’d get asked back. I had a journeyman-like career so to have the team reach out and do what they are doing is special.

“The biggest thing for me is having a young family and this is a chance for them to get a little peak behind the curtain what life was like for me and (Marlee) 10 years ago.”

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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