Hank LAMMENS

Hank Lammens has the unusual distinction of having competed at the world-class level in both sailing and ice hockey, starting as a youth with the Brockville Yacht Club and the Brockville Minor Hockey Association. Lammens played hockey at St. Lawrence University, and then was drafted by the New York Islanders in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. But he never played for the Islanders, spending most of his professional hockey career in the minor leagues, although he did play 27 games for the Ottawa Senators in the 1993-94 NHL season, scoring one goal and three points as a defenseman. Lammens played in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the Springfield Indians, Capital District Islanders, and the Prince Edward Island Senators, playing in that league from 1988-91 and 1993-94. He played with the Kansas City Blades in the International Hockey League (IHL) in the 1990-91 season. In 1990 he helped the Springfield Indians win the Calder Cup one day, and the next day won the New England Finn Regatta. Lammens was on the Canadian national team in 1992-93, captaining the team but he never competed at the Olympics in ice hockey.

Throughout his hockey career Lammens competed in sailing, mainly in the Finn class. He won the 1990 and 1991 Finn Gold Cup, considered the World Championship of that class, but he struggled at the 1992 Olympics, despite taking that season off from ice hockey to train for the Olympics as a sailor. He placed 13th at Barcelona, which included a puzzling disqualification in one race when his life vest was not in the boat at inspection. Lammens also won a silver medal at the 1994 Finn Gold Cup. He was named Rolex Sailor of the Year by the Canadian Yachting Association from 1990-95.

Lammens entered the business world after failing to make the 1996 Olympic team, joining Merrill Lynch, later Bank of American Merrill Lynch, in 1997. He was an investment trader with that group for seven years, until 2009, when he joined Thomas Weisel Partners in New York as a managing director of trading. Lammens was inducted into the Brockville and Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.