Messalonskee’s Myles Hammond plays in game against Cony/Monmouth/Hall-Dale on Saturday at at the Camden National Bank Ice Vault in Hallowell. Hammond scored his 100th career point in the game. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photo
HALLOWELL — Myles Hammond has played so many roles for the Messalonskee hockey team over the course of his career, he’s lost count.
As a freshman, he was part of a team that fielded only eight rostered players by the midpoint of the season. As a sophomore, he was one of the upcoming talents on an undersized Eagles team. As a junior, he was a point-producer alongside central Maine Player of the Year Dylan Cunningham.
This season, he’s the lone senior on a Messalonskee team that is again building for the future with underclassmen driving the Eagle train.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” said Hammond, who hit 100 points for his Messalonskee career in the team’s win over Cony/Hall-Dale/Monmouth/Erskine on Saturday. “Every year in itself has its own greatness. My freshman year, all those seniors really took me under their wing, and it was great. Last year, playing with Dylan and winning all those games, that was incredible. Every year, they were all good in their own ways.”
First-year Messalonskee coach Dennis Martin was complementary of Hammond and what he’s brought to a team that closed out its regular season with a 3-2 loss to Camden Hills on Monday night at the Camden National Bank Ice Vault.
“He brings a lot to the table,” Martin said. “His leadership, he’s really a calming presence for the younger guys. He plays with a freshman and sophomore and he’s really taken them under his wing. He just keeps things under control.
“He keeps things positive for the guys, too.”
It was a strange Senior Night at the Ice Vault.
Not only was Hammond the lone senior recognized, but he skated out to accept the honor in a building that felt very much like a storage vault — not “The Vault” packed to the gills with family, friends, fans and the raucous “Eagle’s Nest” student section.
Given everything that Hammond has seen this season, and over the course of his four-year career, it was just another weird tick on the clock tracking down the final moments of his high school hockey career.
“This year did have some normalization,” Hammond said. “I still hit 100 points in a season like this, so you don’t need all the people in the stands and everything going on. I’ll still be able to say it was something I did.”
But there is more to come for the elder statesman of the Eagles, with the six-team COVID Cup. The tournament, with a round-robin format, begins for Messalonskee on Saturday night against Capital Region.
Hammond would love to go out on a high note.
“I definitely want to win it — bad,” Hammond said. “I hope we can come together and put our best game together.”
• • •
Camden Powell’s power play goal at the 7:39 mark of the second half broke a 2-2 tie and lifted Camden Hills to the victory over Messalonskee on Tuesday.
The Eagles got a pair of goals from Tyler Hanson before the intermission and a 31-save effort from junior goalie Mitchell Grant to put them in position to tie the game late.
A five-minute major for hitting from behind to Windjammer Emmet Marshall handed Messlaonskee a power play with 3:55 remaining, but Brady Doucette hit a post with 2:25 to play and Bryce Crowell was robbed by a great save from Camden’s Will Gardner with 15.3 seconds remaining in regulation.
“We had some great looks,” Martin said. “We won the draw with 15 seconds to go, but we hit a foot. We had traffic in front and got the shot we wanted, it just didn’t go in.”
Gardner replaced starter Jackson Bernier just 9:09 into the game, when Bernier exited with an apparent leg injury.
Charlie Griebel and Nolan Delehey also had goals for Camden Hills. Delehey tied the game 2:52 into the second half.
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