Hamilton ready to lead Elis on and off the ice

Yale hockey's top threat returns for his final season with some unfinished business

By Albert Chen

A very odd scene unfolded behind closed doors last spring at the Yale Golf Course clubhouse. Last year's seniors on the Yale men's hockey team, typically seen live from the Whale, under the rink's bright lights, skating to the howls of the crowd and the rhythms of the Yale Precision Marching Band, crashing full speed into the white boards and being checked and flipped over on their backs onto the hard ice now sat in the banquet room solemn, quiet, and moved. It was then at the annual team banquet that Jeff Hamilton, SM '00, began to realize what this, his final year at Yale, would mean to him.

"I looked around," Hamilton recalls, "and saw everyone, so depressed and crying, that I understood it. I don't think there was a dry-eyed senior in the room that day. It hit me pretty hard." That day, Hamilton gave the traditional captain's speech. In his three years he had been led by the best: Josh Rabjohns, MC '97, Ray Giroux, BK '98, Keith McCullough, BR '99. But now he knew it was his time. This is, after all, now his team.

"That was the first moment that I became excited about this year," goaltender Dan Lombard, SM '02, says, recalling Hamilton's speech. "Everyone on this team remembers that speech. He talked about how the seniors have left a legacy for us, that we have a duty to honor those guys and everything they've done for us, that we can honor them with a great season."

The season begins this Saturday at Michigan, when the Bulldogs face the sixth- ranked Wolverines, without Hamilton and four other key players because of a recent NCAA suspension (see page 23). But Hamilton (he will make his return on Nov. 13 against Dartmouth), even though he will miss the season's first five games, seems unfazed by the setback. It is, of course, a long season, one that spans six months. And when it is all said and done, when the next senior banquet rolls around next April, Hamilton may have established himself as the finest offensive player to ever don a Yale hockey uniform.

Hamilton and history

In his 22 seasons as head coach of Yale's hockey team, Tim Taylor has seen his fair share of Bulldog hockey greats. During his tenure, while racking up four Ivy League titles, he has coached 21 All-ECAC players and eight All-Americans. So it should mean something when Taylor calls Hamilton "The best offensive forward I've ever seen at Yale."

Hamilton still has a season in front of him and already his name is well represented in Yale's record books. If Hamilton finishes with the same point total he did a year ago (48), he would finish as the all-time Bulldog leader in the category. He needs 30 goals (he netted 28 two seasons ago) to tie the all-time career goals mark that has stood in the record books for seven decades.

Perhaps, though, the most impressive record that Hamilton will be associated with has already been achieved. Hamilton has played in 94 games in his Yale career; in an astounding 14 of them, he has scored the game-winning goal (GWG). Hamilton's GWG career mark is already the best in Yale history and his 7 game-winning goals two seasons ago is a school record. "I'm especially proud of that mark," Hamilton says. "It's a personal stat that will directly influence the team."

Hamilton gets uncomfortable talking about personal achievements. He doesn't much like talking about anything that will put a shadow on the team's achievements. "I'd rather have a national championship ring on my finger than anything else," he says. "It wouldn't really mean anything if I broke a record and we were below .500 or a middle-of-the-pack team. It really wouldn't mean anything at all."

"I'm sure it gets very tempting to talk about himself," Lombard says, "all the achievements, records. But he just doesn't. He's humble, unassuming. There's nothing bigger than the team to him. He sets a good example for everybody."

A star is born

For Hamilton, it all began when he was three years old, growing up in Dayton, Ohio, when a neighbor took him to a local ice rink to go skating for the first time. After that, Hamilton's dad would freeze over the tennis court in the family's backyard, giving his three sons a personal arena to train for their future endeavors. Growing up, Hamilton closely followed hockey, a loyal follower of the local minor league team, the Columbus Bluejackets and the nearest NHL squad, the Detroit Red Wings. Hamilton had two other brothers to look up to. Both played hockey seriously in high school, and his brother Jason captained the 1997-98 University of Vermont hockey team.

Hamilton was a three-sport standout at Avon Old Farms in Farmington, Conn. He was the MVP of the soccer team twice, and was named to the all-conference, all-state, and All-New England teams his senior year. He also played on his school's undefeated baseball team. But hockey was Hamilton's passion. In his final year, Hamilton scored 29 goals and 52 points in just 24 games.

"He led every league he played in," Taylor, who heavily recruited him four years ago, remembers. "He led every prep league, led every clinic, every tournament, summer, spring. But he was still raw." Taylor says that he still had a long way to go. "He wasn't particularly complete at all. He was one-dimensional when he got here." Hamilton's first year was inconsistent. While his final numbers were solid (10 goals, 13 assists), Hamilton still often looked overmatched on the ice. After a strong start, Hamilton tailed off, partly because of a nagging illness, mainly because of the troubles that any freshman goes through during the transition from the high school to the college game.

Taylor, though, calls Hamilton's sophomore year simply "phenomenal." "It really made me realize what a player he is." Hamilton was the highest scoring sophomore in the nation that year (27 goals) and led the ECAC in goals. Last year, Hamilton was just as spectacular. With more defenses keying on him, Hamilton found other ways to dominate, dishing out 28 assists.

This year, Hamilton's objectives on the ice will remain the same. But now that he is the captain, there are even higher expectations—he will be asked to be the leader in the practices and locker rooms as well as on the scoreboards. While Hamilton has never been known to be a vocal leader, there is no doubt on the team that his leadership is the team's centerpiece. "He's always been an underrated leader," defenseman Joe Dart says. "We've had strong captains in the past, but he's always been a leader on the ice."

Lombard, the backup goalie last year to Alex Westlund, SM '99, says Hamilton was a tremendous influence on him during his freshman season. "Last year was very tough for me," Lombard says, of his rookie campaign, "but Hammy kept reminding me about the future, keeping things in perspective, always telling me in practice to work hard because my time would come. He was always supporting me." Lombard's time has come. He will take over where Westlund left off this Saturday against Michigan.

Unfinished business

Still, there are many things left to prove. While Hamilton has enjoyed remarkable success in the regular season, his performances in post season play still trouble him. Last season, Colgate trounced the Bulldogs in two lopsided ECAC quarterfinal wins, silencing the Yale offense and shutting down Hamilton on their way to 5-1 and 7-2 wins. The previous year, Hamilton struggled in a surprisingly tight series against St. Lawrence, then was injured in a game against Princeton in the ECAC Semifinals. In the next two games, the Bulldogs were outscored 8-1 to finish the year. His freshman year, Hamilton's Bulldogs were outscored 9-3 in the ECAC Quarterfinal against Clarkson.

His playoff struggles haunt him to this day. "The last three years, I've let the team down, no doubt about it," he admits. "It shows; I didn't really do anything in the playoffs last year, and I didn't really do anything before I got hurt in the playoffs the year before. And freshman year I didn't do anything either. It's kind of the monkey that I'd like to throw off my back this year. We'll see."

Of course there is talk about Hamilton's chances of playing in the NHL. There are concerns about his small 5'10", 180 lb. frame. There are concerns about the differences between professional and college hockey—the size of the players, the speed of the game, the rigorous schedule. There are, however, always concerns. But Hamilton, a Hobey Baker Finalist (the hockey equivalent of the Heisman Trophy) last year, is simply one of the best collegiate players in the nation.

"He does understand," Taylor says, "that he has to train harder, get physically stronger. But there's no doubt he's a unique talent. There are always some quesiton marks [about playing at the professional level]. But Jeff's got as good a shot as any to be a success."

For now, though, Hamilton is still a Bulldog. He is a captain, and he understands his role. He realizes that this is no time to look ahead. How could he? As he realized last spring at the team banquet, this season—his last act, his last run at the record books, his last chance to prove himself in the post season, his last months when his closest friends are still his teammates—will prove far too important and meaningful to do so.

Photo of Jeff Hamilton by Julia Tiernan.

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