Hockey always takes a back seat to real life.
But at the same time, hockey can be a welcome distraction to real life. In a city that has been through something so traumatic, the busy Sens’ schedule ahead will certainly be a welcome distraction. The Ottawa Senators will play 12 games in the next 22 days including two this weekend. It starts on Saturday night when they host the New Jersey Devils in what should be an extremely emotional night at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Cyril Leeder spoke to the media yesterday and outlined some of the plans for tomorrow night’s game.
As you would expect, there will be some extra security while entering the building. Leeder also outlined a couple ways in which they plan to honour the victims of the recent tragedies. There will be a moment of silence prior to puck drop and a special national anthem. The Senators are also asking that everybody wear read to honour the Canadian Forces.
On the ice, the challenge for the Senators will be both to focus on the game at hand and at the same time, find their legs after a week between games. This sort of break in the middle of the season is almost unheard of.
MacLean gave his team a full day off today and will announce any lineup changes after tomorrow’s morning skate. I assume we can expect to see the same line up as he planned to play on Saturday which means Condra, Greening and Cowen as scratches. Anderson seems like the likely starter and then back to Lehner on Sunday night in Chicago.
“Back to normal” is something we’re going to hear a lot of in the coming days. The city was and remains rattled by Wednesday’s events. But as much as possible, it’s important that in all aspects of our day to day lives, we all find that normal again. Back to normal doesn’t mean forgetting. We’ll remember what happened on October 22 and remember the brave men and women who defended us that day and defend us every day. And we’ll remember Nathan Cirillo and Patrice Vincent.
But things will go back to normal in Ottawa. Tonight’s RedBlacks’ game (6:30 PM start, if you’re going) and tomorrow night’s Senators’ game will play a big part in uniting this terrific city during a challenging time.
I wanted to close by extending my thanks to everyone for the way you’ve all conducted yourselves the last couple of days.
Not only did this site become a great place to get up to the minute details of that day’s events, but it also became a community of its own. It became a place where people could share stories and experiences and in a pretty confusing time, look to one another for comfort. I’ve always been proud of what we created on SensChirp but the last couple days really showed how strong this community has become.
I think I speak for everyone when I say- it sure will be nice to watch Ottawa Senators’ hockey tomorrow night.
