Adirondack forward Denis Hamel scored twice to help the Phantoms rally from a 1-0 deficit to claim a 3-1 win over Hershey on Friday. In the process, he became just the 19th player in history to reach 300 goals for his American Hockey League career.
Hamel attained the milestone when he beat Bears goaltender Dany Sabourin at 11:28 of the third period on Friday at the Glens Falls Civic Center, marking his team-leading 10th goal of the season in just 19 games since joining the Phantoms (10-7-17).
A 33-year-old native of Lachute, Quebec, Hamel has now totaled 572 points (300-272-572) in 729 career AHL games with Rochester, Binghamton, and Adirondack.
Among active players, only Oklahoma City’s Alexandre Giroux (318) has recorded more goals than Hamel’s 300.
Hamel broke into the AHL as a 20-year-old rookie with Rochester in 1997 and put up 116 points (60-56-116) over the next three seasons, including a 34-goal showing in 1999-00. That earned him a spot in the AHL All-Star Classic, and the season culminated in the Amerks’ second consecutive trip to the Calder Cup Finals.
Hamel spent the next two seasons in the NHL with Buffalo before splitting 2002-03 between the Sabres and Americans. He registered 27 goals and 48 points in just 48 AHL games during that campaign.
The 2003-04 season saw Hamel join the Binghamton Senators, where he would flourish in a big way. Hamel racked up 124 goals and 236 points during his first three campaigns in New York’s Southern Tier, punctuated by a league-best 56-goal showing in 2005-06 en route to his second AHL All-Star Classic selection.
After spending the entire 2006-07 campaign in the National Hockey League, Hamel returned to Binghamton in 2007-08 and picked up where he left off.
Hamel topped the 20-goal and 50-point plateaus each of the next three seasons as captain of the Senators – including a third AHL All-Star Classic berth in 2008 – and currently stands as the B-Sens’ career leader in goals (203), assists (189), points (392), and games played (438).
