It can’t be easy to follow in the footsteps of a hockey dad who has a Memorial Cup ring on his finger.
Second-year Oiler Tariq Hammond is trying to make a name for himself as a steadying force on a tremendous Okotoks Junior A blueline.
“He never really put pressure on me, I put more pressure on myself to just live up to his name,” said Tariq about his father “And to try and go farther than he did just to show I have some skill in hockey too.”
Tariq’s father, Jon Hammond, was a member of the legendary Regina Pats Memorial Cup winning team in 1974, a squad featuring the likes of former New York Islander star Clark Gillies.
It’s a winning legacy Tariq, a Holy Trinity Academy grad, is eager to carry on with the Oilers, who are in the midst of a terrific playoff run in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) post-season, just six wins away from a championship.
“It’s huge if I can follow in his footsteps,” said Tariq, who chipped in 17 points in the regular season. “That would be pretty cool if we could get that done this year.”
Though Jon lined up as a forward and Tariq is a physical blueliner for the Oilers, the father has passed on some important assets to his son.
“I was an overall athlete and was a sprinter in my teenage years,” Jon said. “I think Tariq is a pretty strong skater with good speed and that was kind of my forte and just reading the ice, reading the game and that comes from my parents and my grandfather who played hockey.”
Jon’s father Richard Hammond was in the New York Rangers system, but had his career cut short due to injury. Jon’s grandfather Alvin Hammond won an Allan Cup with the Regina Victorias in the 1910s and was an Olympic hopeful in track and field.
“He qualified for the Olympics, but they took somebody else because he was from the west of Canada and the boat was leaving from Eastern Canada to go to London,” Jon said. “They took the guy from down east instead.”
The athletic gene has worked its way down to Tariq and his older brother J.R., a varsity volleyball player at the University of Toronto.
Despite the deep lineage in Canada’s pastime, Tariq said he didn’t feel any pressure to lace up the skates. It was a passion that came naturally and started to blossom when Tariq first tried on Fisher Price roller skates and marked his territory around the kitchen island.
“He would whack it around and would say ‘if you don’t want to play hockey get off my ice’,” Jon said. “He had a passion for hockey since he was really young and I nurtured it and didn’t really push him. You can’t force him to play.”
Tariq’s road to Junior A hockey took a few detours as the late-bloomer was often overlooked in minor hockey and missed out on many of the marquee prospect showcases at a young age.
“We never let that get us down. He didn’t make Alberta Cup, didn’t make the rep teams,” Jon said. “He kept developing, kept playing and kept persevering and I have to give him the credit for that.”
Tariq kept improving gradually climbing the ranks to a starring role with the Calgary Midget AAA Northstars prior to joining the Oilers.
“He’s influenced me a lot, helped me out a lot since he’s been through the Junior ranks,” said Tariq of his father. “It’s been huge having him as a father who’s gone through that too.
“In minor hockey he was always my coach and whenever I had a question I could always ask him and he would know the answer.”
The Oilers have found all of the answers thus far in the AJHL postseason, a run Tariq attributed to everyone embracing their specific roles on the club.
“Everyone’s buying into one system and we’re all pursuing one goal,” Tariq said. “It’s not about individuals right now, it’s about the team.”
For Jon, the concept of buying in to the team philosophy was at the heart of Regina’s memorable national championship season almost 40 years ago.
Jon pointed to a trying Christmas trip to Sweden as a catalyst for their Memorial Cup run.
“We were playing against Division I Swedish national teams and we got pounded, played a Russian team and just got pounded,” he said. “We basically bonded as a team and when we came back from that experience we were pretty much united and went on a huge run.”
Part of the Pats’ historic 1974 roster was Okotokian and former NHLer Rob Tudor, who happens to billet Tariq.
“Rob can do the same nurturing he does to his son (Connor) to Tariq and knows what it takes and has been there and done that,” Jon said. “I thought it was a really good match.”
From being around the 2012-13 Oilers, Jon senses the same togetherness and team unity on the Oilers that they had in Regina.
“This is a really solid club, very, very tight. I’ve noticed a lot of camaraderie, hanging out together, enjoying each other; that radiates and I can pick that up,” Jon said. “That’s powerful and that’s going to get you through some really tough situations.
“It’s got them to this point and hopefully they can continue it on.”
