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Dorion said the diagnosis of Nicholle’s cancer is the biggest disappointment of the first half of the season — and it has nothing to do with hockey.

“Hockey is our job. Life means everything,” said Dorion. “That’s the biggest (disappointment) but we’ve rallied around it. We’ve faced a lot of adversity but if you could change anything, that’s one thing I wish we could change.”

Dorion said there is no rush to bring Anderson back.

“This year, it’s not a 100-metre race to win one game,” Dorion said. “With the way Mike has played, we’re going to get a Craig Anderson that will be good and a Craig Anderson that’s fresh that can help us in our stretch.

“We’ve got 39 games left and there’s going to be ups and downs. We won’t go 39-0 because the league gets tougher in the second half. We’re going to face adversity and we’re facing adversity now. Having a healthy Craig Anderson is going to help us later on.”

OFF THE GLASS

The forgotten man in all of this is goalie Andrew (The Hamburglar) Hammond. He is out with a high ankle sprain and there’s no update when he might play again. Even if he is ready, Hammond likely has played his last game in an Ottawa uniform and he’ll finish the year with a minor-league team if the Senators can find one to take him. “With his injury, with a goalie, you have to be 100%,” said Dorion. “With him, I think it will be sometime in February (when he’s ready) if the healing goes well, but if it’s bad it could be a bit later. Once we see Andrew on the ice, it will be a few weeks after that.” … Dorion has liked the way the players have bought into coach Guy Boucher’s system. “I know people talk about culture, and we’ve all been around NHL teams, but the guys have bought into what we need to do to win games,” said Dorion. “It’s way more fun to run and gun and get goals but to win games and to win in the playoffs you have to play good defensive hockey.” Dorion noted he congratulated winger Mike Hoffman on the team bus for the way he helped to defend the lead Thursday in Columbus. “When you see Mike Hoffman with an empty net not cheating, I think that tells me a lot about our team. It tells me a lot that the players get it,” said Dorion.