Backchecking: Ken Hammond's Whirlwind Career
The following article featuring former Rensselaer standout Ken Hammond appeared November 21 on the Hockey News Web site.
By Kevin Glew
When Ken Hammond was preparing for his first NHL game on April
2, 1985 against the Edmonton Oilers, his Los Angeles Kings
teammates Mark Hardy and Jay Wells offered him advice on how to
neutralize Wayne Gretzky.
“They just said, ‘Gretzky is going to try to exploit
you. He does this great stop-up when he gets across the blueline,
where he’ll move away from the defenseman. Just try to close
your gap on him,’ ” Hammond recalled. “Then
during the game, Gretzky came across the blueline and I tried to
jump up on him and I knocked him over. As I was marveling at how
wonderful I was, Dave Semenko came over and just flattened me. He
stood over me and said, ‘We don’t do that here
kid.’ ”
That was Hammond’s welcome to the NHL moment. The gritty
blueliner would be knocked down many more times over the course of
his 12-year professional career that saw him play in 14 different
cities, but he always got back up. And while he may not own a
Stanley Cup ring, he has enough great hockey stories to pen an
interesting memoir.
Complete article can be accessed via the Hockey News Web site by clicking here.
