Al Hamilton
Allan Guy Hamilton ( born August 20, 1946 in Flin Flon, Manitoba ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who in his playing days from 1965 to 1980 among others for the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League and the Alberta / Edmonton Oilers played in the World Hockey Association and the NHL.
Career
Hamilton played in 1963 in the Central Alberta Hockey League with the Edmonton Oil Kings, with whom he reached three times in a row, the final round at the Memorial Cup. In the third attempt finally succeeded in also winning the title.
His debut in the NHL he was in the 1965/66 season when he played four games for the New York Rangers. Mostly it was used in the following years in various farm teams. Most matches he played it for the Buffalo Bisons of the American Hockey League. After he had finally made the breakthrough in the season 1969/70, brought him the Buffalo Sabres during NHL Expansion Draft 1970., Where he played in the following two seasons.
As in 1972, the World Hockey Association was founded, this meant an increased demand for players and higher salaries. Also benefited in Hamilton, the Alberta Oilers joined. A year later, the team was renamed the Edmonton Oilers. Hamilton was there to support in the defensive area. He was one of the best defenders the league and was also nominated for the Summit Series in 1974, when a Canadian selection of players from the WHA played against the selection of the Soviet Union. When the WHA was dissolved and the Oilers were added to the 1979/80 season in the National Hockey League, Hamilton remained in the squad. Handicapped by an eye injury from the previous year he arrived in the NHL still 31 missions in the regular season and also played once in the playoffs, before he ended his career.
For his leadership in the first eight seasons of his Oilers jersey was hung with the number 3 in the hall roof in Edmonton and since then this number is no longer assigned. A ceremony as common today did not exist then. This has been rescheduled for April 2001.