Sens Roster Update: Hamel needs 25 stitches after being hit by puck
April 5, 2004

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Scott Lauber of Press Connects.com

Hamel needs 25 stitches after being hit by puck

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

PHILADELPHIA -- The right side of Denis Hamel's face, all red and swollen, was no sight for sore eyes, but his postgame appearance in the dressing room here Sunday night was a welcome sight for the Binghamton Senators.

Hamel, the Senators' leading scorer and a First Team AHL All-Star winger, needed 25 stitches to close a laceration above his lip suffered during a frightening moment in which he was taken to the locker room on a stretcher 6:55 into a 3-2 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms.

A clearing attempt off the stick of Philadelphia defenseman John Slaney struck Hamel in the face, dropping him to the ice in a pool of blood. Hamel lay face-down for several minutes and was not moving his legs when Senators trainer Mike Carlson called for the stretcher.

"I said, 'No stretcher,' but they brought out the stretcher anyway," said Hamel, who was not taken to a hospital but was expecting to go for X-rays late Sunday night once the Senators returned to Binghamton. "I remember getting hit. I remember almost everything."

Hamel, enjoying the finest season of his seven-year pro career with 28 goals and 37 assists for a personal-best 65 points, was not responsive when teammates tried to speak to him on the ice, but he does not think he lost consciousness.

"It's scary," center Cory Pecker said. "He went down, and he wasn't moving. A lot of the guys were very worried. Hockey's just a game, but something like that can mess with somebody's life."

Hamel watched the final 10 minutes of the third period and overtime from the press box, and while the swelling made it hard for him to smile, he cracked jokes -- "How were the first two periods? I've been a little busy," he said -- and cheered after defenseman Julien Vauclair's one-timer beat Phantoms goalie Antero Niittymaki with 1:09 left in overtime.

"I tried to talk to him on the ice, and he wasn't talking," Vauclair said. "It's tough to see that happen. He's our best player, so we were all glad to see him and to see he was all right."