Height: 6-2
Weight: 195
Shoot: R
Born: 20 Aug 1946, Flin Flon MB
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Alberta | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| 1978-79 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Hamilton now a star, too • by Terry Jones • The Hockey Spectator • March 16, 1973
The year was 1966. There were two kids they were talking about in Canada. Both were defensemen in their final year of junior hockey and both seemed to have it written all over them, One was aplayer with Oshawa Generals in the East. Bobby Orr was the kid's name. The other was with Edmonton Oil Kings in the West, Alan Hamilton was what he went by. You may have heard of the Orr kid. Hamilton is no longer spoken of in the same breath. But who else is? Hamilton is a player with Alberta Oilers, At least that's about how you phrased it at the time. Now it is permissable to say Hamilton is a star with Alberta Oilers. Although Hamilton was good enough to make the World Hockey Association All-Star game, his play in the first half of tre schedule was not that which was expected of him. Coach Bill Hunter called him his "reclamation project" for the second half of the schedule. It was a success. Today Hunter is promoting Hamilton as "right up there with Jim Dorey and J.-C. Tremblay" in consideration for an all-star selection. Hamilton remained Oilers' most consistent and productive defensemen, and at times player, even when Hunter took his team on a seven game losing streak — including six in a row on the road — after starting out with that spectacular four-game winning streak of upsets and come-from-behinds. "I can't think of anybody better in our league at carrying the puck," said Hunter, "Not only does Hammy carry but he passes beautifully. And we know he can score." At the start of the season, Hunter, in his usual vociferous manner, said: "There is no reason why he shouldn't be the top scoring defenseman in the league." Hamilton was a bit more conservative in his forecasts for the season: "I've set my sights on 10 goals and 40 assists." As of the March 4 statistics, Hamilton had nine goals and 37 assists for 46 points, He was fourth in club scoring. Ray Kinasewich, who spent most of the season as coach until the Hunter takeover, also coached Hamilton in junior, "I paired him with Bob Falkenberg in junior and I did it again with the Oilers. Falkenberg is steady, Hamilton knows that, so when the opportunity comes I want him to go with the puck." Hamilton played last year for Buffalo Sabres in the NHL, and although the sudden rise of the Sabres has changed life slightly there, Hamilton wasn't overly fond of it. He and Punch Imlach didn't see eye to eye, which is about the kindest way of putting it, "The first year I played for Imlach we got along," said Hamilton, "I got 30 points and was on the power play. The next season we got into a contract hassle and he told mo I wouldn't ever play on the power play. I didn't, but I was still the fourth highest scorer on our team." "You can't figure Imlach out. Gilbert Perreault was way up in the NHL scoring, had about 30 goals at the time, and lmlach kept him out after practice for an hour to do stops and starts. "But what really tore it was Christmas Eve, We were onthe road and 10 of us were out for dinner at a restaurant, Who comes along but Imlach. He made a big scene in the restaurant and called us a bunch of alcoholics. We had four bottles of wine for 10 players, that's how much we were drinking. He embarrassed us right out of the restaurant and never wished anybody Merry Christmas." Hamilton said the crisis arrived the next day when the players called a meeting and Imlach refused to attend. "So Perreault got on the phone to owner Seymore Knox and told him he wanted to be traded," Hamilton continued> Eventually, the incident was smoothed over. Shortly thereafter, Imlach suffered a heart attack and was replaced by Joe Crozier. "We really like Crozier," Hamilton says. "We went into Chicago and tied them, so be bought us all some beer at the airport, The next night we beat Chicago at home and Crozier said as long as we kept playing like that he'd buy usall the beer we wanted." "Then somebody told Imlach, who was in the hospital, that Crozier was buying us beer and he almost had another heart attack. He called Crozier in and told him no more beer for the players." "I believe you need some discipline. Players shouldn't be in bars the day before a game or anything, but what harm can a beer after a tough game do?" Hamilton made an interesting comment at the start of the season that was duly recorded by the media: "The big thing with me now is winning. Maybe it is because we really never had a chance to win at Buffalo. Now I've come here and I'm surprised at how good of a club we've got." He must think about that. And maybe that has something to do with the outstanding performances of the players as the rest of the Oilers went in the tank and lost those seven straight. Buffalo was fourth at the time of writing. Oilers were fifth and sinking. |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander's Guide to Pro Hockey, 1978-79 (by Reyn Davis)
Only original Oiler left ... Fans' choice as the team's most popular player and best defenseman ... Warranted serious all-star consideration ... Missed last 21 league games and all of the playoffs with an eye injury after being hit with a shot by Houston's John Gray ... Oilers skidded badly in his absence ... Owns and resides on a farm 25 miles west of Edmonton ... Had his team's highest efficiency rating (+24) ... Once fractured the same knee twice in the same season ... Excellent on the point during power plays |
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