playoffs, finally! ottawa senators reward their fans' patience
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for the past several months, crazy horse stonegrill steakhouse and saloon general manager dakota henning says, there has been a noticeable spike in the moods of people around the kanata centrum restaurant.
on ottawa senators game nights, fans have been arriving earlier and leaving later. they’re smiling more. they’re tipping more. somehow, even, the beer tastes better.
“it’s not just that there’s more people,” said henning, whose restaurant sits within eyesight of canadian tire centre, across highway 417. “the biggest difference for us and everyone else working here close to the games is there’s more of an air of hope.”
indeed, the agonizing, demoralizing, frustrating and oftentimes embarrassing stretch of missing out on that great canadian pastime — watching the home team compete for the stanley cup — is finally over for ottawa fans.
the senators officially clinched a spot in the national hockey league playoffs on tuesday night despite losing 5-2 to the columbus blue jackets — thanks to the detroit red wings 4-1 defeat against the montreal canadiens — ending a postseason absence dating back to may 26, 2017.
way back in 2017, the senators lost to the pittsburgh penguins in double overtime of game 7 of the nhl’s eastern conference final, falling one shot short of a trip to the stanley cup final against the nashville predators.
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since returning to the nhl in 1992-93, the senators have only once advanced to the stanley cup final, losing in 2007 to the anaheim ducks in five games.
now, though, fans can scratch that collective eight-year itch of missing out on all the fun of trying to get back to the top again, living through the successes of a team now owned by michael andlauer and built around a new generation of stars including brady tkachuk, tim stutzle, drake batherson and jake sanderson.
“it has helped to liven up the area a ton,” henning said. “it’s something to look forward to every day. people are more engaged. for the past several years, there was a sense that people were still going to games because it was their local team, but not necessarily thinking they were going to win.”
you can see the enthusiasm in city fashions, too. a manager at bayshore’s sportchek location estimates the store has sold 50 per cent more senators-related merchandise — including jerseys, hats and flags — as the playoffs have approached.
ottawa tourism destination development vice-president catherine callery says all areas of the city, including sens mile along elgin street, centretown and the byward market, become “electric” in the playoffs, creating “economic and social spinoffs.”
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the now is quite the change from where we were in the spring of 2017.
on the legal front, the westin hotel was suing the city of ottawa and the rideau transit group for $100,000 due to the massive rideau street sinkhole that emerged during tunneling for the lrt.
in politics, andrew scheer emerged victorious from the conservative party leadership campaign, defeating maxime bernier on the 13th and final ballot.
on the outskirts of the city along the ottawa river, residents were recovering from dangerous flood waters.
south of the canada-u.s. border, donald trump was in the early months of his presidency, talking loudly about the need to renegotiate his country’s trade deal with canada.
(okay, maybe some nightmares repeat themselves.)
erik karlsson (65) and jean-gabriel pageau celebrate a goal against the new york rangers during the 2017 nhl playoffs. neither karlsson nor pageau remains with the senators, and the team missed the playoffs in the next seven years.
jean levac
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postmedia
as for the plight of senators fans since 2017, there was the selloff of a slew of star players, headlined by erik karlsson, mark stone and jean-gabriel pageau. head coach guy boucher was shown the door, and so, too, eventually was his replacement, d.j. smith.
no player remains with the senators from that last playoff run. karlsson, stone, pageau, cody ceci and colin white are, in fact, the only skaters from that 2017 postseason run who have even played in the national hockey league this season.
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away from the ice, there was endless dissention and dismay stemming from the words and actions of owner eugene melnyk.
melnyk — he would die in 2022 — didn’t have the cash to compete with the nhl’s top spenders and threatened to move the franchise. in those darkest days, a “melnyk out” billboard campaign popped up around the city. season-ticket sales fell below 2,000 from a one-time high of more than 13,000.
the covid-19 pandemic came and went, including stretches of nhl games played without fans and a season played within an all-canadian division.
in 2017-18, the senators finished 30th of 31 teams. they were dead last in 2018-19 and 30th overall again in 2019-20, when the pandemic wiped out what remained of the season.
all told, in the seven seasons from 2017 to 2024, the senators lost 323 of 537 games (61 per cent).
the one benefit from being bad, of course, is the right to select higher in the nhl draft. tkachuk, stutzle and sanderson were all top-five selections by former general manager pierre dorion, but a genuine turnaround takes time. tkachuk has already played 511 games.
so, give some credit to the fans who have exercised great patience, hanging on through the drought.
that includes good friends connor von zuben and zachary noseworthy, 21-year-olds who spent their teen years watching the senators flame out without a sniff of the playoffs.
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zachary noseworthy, left, and connor von zuben have been die-hard senators fans forever, but haven’t seen their team in the playoffs since 2017.
ken warren
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postmedia
as they walked into the main concourse at canadian tire centre last saturday, von zuben wore a senators jersey with “spezza” on the back. noseworthy sported a “phaneuf” jersey.
“it has been rough, very rough, but it’s nice to see that we might see them past april now,” von zuben said. “yeah, it has been a little embarrassing. i mean, i don’t know if i wanted to be the guy repping an ottawa jersey all the time. there has been a lot. now, it’s nice to get away from the chirps a little bit, hearing everyone chirp you for being an ottawa fan. but i’m just a local boy who is cheering for the home team.”
von zuben was carrying a beer with him. the last time the senators were in the playoffs, he was drinking out of juice boxes in middle school, hanging senators banners outside his family’s home.
there was a time when senators fans took being in the playoffs for granted — the team qualified every season from 1996-97 to 2008-09 — but, now that the longest post-season drought in franchise history is over, expectations remain relatively modest.
“i’m so looking forward to the playoffs,” noseworthy said. “it will be great to see the boys out there, to see if they can make it past the first round.”
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