The death of a former Island junior hockey star in a car crash early Wednesday in Shawnigan Lake has left many in the local hockey community in shock and mourning.
Mike Hammond, 33, was born in Brighton, England, but raised in Greater Victoria. He played hockey in the U.K. last season with the Nottingham Panthers.
Shawnigan Lake RCMP are investigating the single-vehicle crash, which happened just before 5:30 a.m. on Shawnigan Lake Road, near Baden Powell Road. Initial evidence indicates a Porsche Boxster went off the road and hit a tree. The B.C. Coroners Service is investigating.
Hammond, who was a standout ice-hockey forward for the British national team, was also considered an outstanding ball hockey player and was playing this summer with the Victoria Devils club.
He was recalled fondly on Thursday by former coaches and teammates.
Geoff Grimwood, then assistant coach of the Victoria Cougars, says Hammond was practically swimming in his first junior jersey with the Cougars in 2005, which reached past his knees at training camp at the Archie Browning Sports Centre. He hoped to join older brother Gary on the team.
“Everybody in camp was looking at, and wondering about, this scrawny 16-year-old kid in a jersey that was far too big,” Grimwood said.
That skinny rookie who started out with the Juan de Fuca Minor Hockey Association would go on to win the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League scoring title that season, and would help lead the Cougars to the Cyclone Taylor B.C. Junior B championship.
He ended up playing in the International Ice Hockey Federation world championships for his native Great Britain, earning the nation promotion from the second tier to the top tier.
“I have coached players who have gone to the NHL but Mike was so good and so quick and the best player I have coached,” said Grimwood, now assistant coach of the Victoria Grizzlies of the B.C. Hockey League
“But he was an even better person from a tight-knit family with good values.”
Hammond, a five-foot-10 and 180-pound winger, graduated after the Cougars to the Junior A level in the BCHL with the Grizzlies. He blossomed with the Cowichan Valley Capitals of the BCHL, where he led the team in scoring in 2009-10.
Hammond split the 2010-11 BCHL season between Cowichan Valley and the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, and won the BCHL scoring crown for the Brett Hull Trophy.
“Believe it or not, it was hard to convince a BCHL team to take Mike,” said Mark Van Helvoirt, former head coach of the VIJHL Cougars for nine seasons, and assistant coach for four seasons.
“He went from the little brother tag-along to travelling the world playing hockey and became an international with Great Britain.”
While he wasn’t “blessed with size,” Hammond had an “incredible hockey mind and high hockey IQ and always found a way to be successful and a winner,” Van Helvoirt said.
“He was one of the most talented players I have coached, but is on the top of my list of people I have coached. Mike’s entire family has a special place in my heart. They are just wonderful people.”
Hammond played for four seasons with Lakehead University before turning pro in the ECHL in 2015-16 with the Cincinnati Cyclones and Brampton Beast.
His European career from 2016-17 included stints in the British Elite Ice Hockey League with the Braehead Clan, Manchester Storm, Coventry Blaze and last season with the Nottingham Panthers.
“Rest in peace Hammy. You will never be forgotten,” tweeted the Panthers.
Team GB Ice Hockey tweeted: “The memories will never leave us — RIP Hammy.”
Hammond also played pro in Germany for the Hannover Scorpions and Lausitzer Foxes.
“Mike played longer through junior and pro hockey than 99 per cent of the players he started out with in minor hockey, and that is saying something,” said Grimwood.
Contact the Shawnigan Lake RCMP at 250-743-5514 with any information about the crash.
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