Here is an article/story on former Vernon Vipers goaltender Andrew Hammond.
Hammond was is in his first season with the American Hockey League Rochester Americans/Buffalo Sabres before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Hammond was a free agent signed with the Buffalo Sabres July 1st 2019 was reassigned to the Americans September 22nd 2019. In 33 games this season, Hammond is 16-12-3 with a 2.53 GAA
The American Hockey League has advised its clubs that the indefinite suspension of AHL play due to the Coronavirus will not be lifted before May.
Hammond made his Sabres preseason debut September 17th 2019 in a 4-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Hammond replaced Sabres starting goaltender Linus Ullmark halfway through the 2nd period, allowed two goals on fifteen shots.
Hammond played last year with the American Hockey League Iowa Wild. In 33 games last season Hammond went 19-14-0 with three shutouts and a 2.81 GAA Hammond & the Wild clinched a playoff spot for the first time in franchise history.
The Minnesota Wild signed Hammond July 1st 2018, reassigned Hammond to the Iowa Wild October 1st 2018. Hammond played the past five seasons with the Ottawa Senators/American Hockey League Binghamton Senators before being traded to the Colorado Avalanche November 5th 2017.
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 is the only goaltender in NHL history to earn 21 wins in his first 27 games.
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:
This was posted on the Athletic.com
How Andrew Hammond brought his idea for a Buffalo-inspired goalie mask to life
The Athletic By: Joe Yerdon
Dec. 24, 2019
Andrew Hammond’s “Hamburglar” nickname has followed him to each of his NHL stops. He’s done his part by sporting the cartoon image of the McDonaldland burglar on his goalie mask in different forms since his early days in Ottawa.
After signing a one-year, two-way contract with the Sabres in July, Hammond wanted to add a little Western New York flavor to his mask art. He’s been known as the “Hamburglar” since his college career at Bowling Green. The nickname gained national recognition when he carried the Senators to the Stanley Cup playoffs late in the 2014-15 season, going 20-1-2 with a .941 save percentage. During that run, Ottawa fans began to toss hamburgers on the ice to celebrate wins.
When moving to the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, Hammond brainstormed a way to localize his now-famous “Hamburglar” mask.
“The process, when you get the mask painted, is my painter will send me an email with broad questions if you have ideas, themes you want to go with, what colors you’re looking for, sometimes other masks that you like and you follow along with that style,” Hammond said. “For me, it was my first time to Buffalo/Rochester living here and I wanted to have something that I thought went with the area.”
The 31-year-old Hammond came up with an idea, but in order to bring it to life, he had to find the right artist. The creative mind behind Hammond’s previous masks, Jason Bartziokas, had recently left the business.
Enter Sylvie Marsolais and partner Alexandre Mathys, the creative duo at Sylabrush based west of Montreal. For Marsolais, a hockey goalie herself who grew up in Quebec and has been playing the sport for about 25 years, there is more to the artistic process than taking an idea and a request to “draw this.”
“We start first by asking a couple questions to the goalie,” Marsolais said. “Just basic things like, what would he like to have on his chin? Does he have a nickname or would he prefer to have a logo there? After that, we do a sketch — me and Alex — and then we send the sketch to the goalie. And when he approves the sketch, we start the painting.”
In the 20 years that Marsolais has been in the business, she’s built an impressive clientele of professional and amateur goalies who seek her out to come up with their designs. The masks of Tampa Bay Lightning starter Andrei Vasilevskiy, Columbus Blue Jackets starter Joonas Korpisalo, Tristan Jarry of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Dallas Stars backup Anton Khudobin are counted among her latest designs.
Hammond’s idea that made the cut was an image featuring “Hamburglar” going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The concept is a morbid, yet fascinating, part of Western New York’s history. Since 1901, only 12 people have barreled over the Falls and lived to tell the story.
Before Marsolais and Mathys went to work, though, they considered one other idea.
“I think he’s a bit of a funny guy by his previous masks,” Marsolais said. “So he wanted to keep his ‘Hamburglar’ and he wanted him to do something funny like going down Niagara Falls in a barrel. His other idea was to have the Buffalo Bills Mafia and have Hammy jumping from maybe a Zamboni or something and jumping on a table.”
Hammond’s inspiration for the Bills-themed mask came from the NFL fan base’s notorious tailgating behavior, which includes the rowdiest fans jumping off the tops of cars onto (and sometimes through) tables. He also recognized the Sabres’ connection to the Bills, with Terry and Kim Pegula owning both Buffalo franchises.
“Outside of the Sabres, probably the most passionate thing about this area is the Buffalo Bills,” Hammond said. “I try making (the mask art) funny at times and you see all the videos that are coming across that go viral of people jumping through tables, so I thought if the ‘Hamburglar’ was jumping through a table, it might draw a few extra fans or something.
“But, I think from the painter’s perspective, it may have been a little easier to have the ‘Hamburglar’ going over the Falls rather than through a table off a port-a-potty or something.”
Marsolais explained why they landed on the Niagara Falls theme from the artists’ perspective.
“We always start with one sketch and we’ll redo it if they really don’t like it,” she said. “He told us he liked a mask we did in the past for Jeff Glass when he played for the San Diego Gulls. He wanted to have the colors similar to that, like the same kind of recipe, so we based the design on a little bit of Glass’s previous elements. So we started with the two ideas and we discussed that, Alex and I, the one with the barrel and Niagara Falls were more representative of the Buffalo area and the team and that’s why we went with that idea.”
A goalie’s mask is an artist’s canvas, but the functions of the mask — the area for the cage and the fit on a player’s head — don’t leave the artist with much real estate to work with. It’s one thing to come up with an idea that could go viral if done right, but it’s another to find a combination that fits the surface area and represents the artistic vision of each person involved.
Creating the mask from first sketch to finished product, Marsolais said, takes anywhere from 20 to 60 hours, depending on the complexity of the designs.
“With the kind of design Andrew wanted, and to get something similar to Jeff Glass, it wasn’t leaving enough room to be able to do that,” she said. “So we thought the other idea, the barrel, was better for that. The idea of the Buffalo Bills Mafia was good, too; we just thought (the barrel) was fitting better with the design and representing the Buffalo Sabres better than the Buffalo Bills because they’re the football team.”
Nailing a goalie mask is a point of pride for all involved. It gets people to notice the goalies and artists alike.
A mask connecting Buffalo’s two sports franchises may have attracted outside attention for the message alone. But, on top of the artistic challenges, Hammond knew the Bills Mafia tribute might face other roadblocks.
“It’s got to get approved by (Sabres equipment manager) Dave Williams up in Buffalo, but it never got to that point really,” Hammond said. “We erred on the side of caution and it turned out great, so I don’t have any regrets about that. Who knows, maybe in the future it can still happen. We’ll see.”
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