WRITTEN BY- DJ Whämmerström
I know you’ve been sitting around the house thinking, “Man I miss hockey and I miss the Sens. I wish there was some way of filling this empty void with new and interesting Sens information.” You’ve looked at YouTube clips of Sens highlights. You keep checking in on SensChirp to see the latest COVID-19 updates. But it’s not enough. Well look no further…I have scoured the archives for you and put together 5 random Ottawa Senators forgotten or little known facts with the hope that they are old enough and obscure enough that it feels new.
Let’s go back shall we…
1. At the 1992 Expansion Draft, Ottawa GM Mel Bridgeman attempted to draft two players who were ineligible because their teams had already lost the maximum number of players allowed (2) as well as a third player who wasn’t even on the list of available options. (Bonus points if you can name those players and from which teams they were on). The line “Ottawa apologizes” became a bit of a joke around the league. Thank god Twitter was only a figment of someone’s imagination back then.
How can this happen you ask? The story that came out after the fact was Ottawa had all its information stored on a single laptop and when the battery inevitably died (because 1992) and they did not have a backup, they had to go from memory. I guess no one thought of bringing the power cord and plugging that bad boy in. Technology can be hard.
Did this impact the fact that Ottawa only won 10 games that season? Well Tampa was also drafting that day and did not lose power to their laptop. Let the record show Tampa managed to win 23 games. Tampa has also won a Stanley Cup and Ottawa has not. We are also well aware of the rough patch Ottawa has gone through recently. The coincidences are too strong not to think that as much as we want to blame Melnyk for all our woes this is all on Bridgeman for cursing this franchise from the get go.
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2. There has only been one Jamaican born player to play in the NHL and he also played for your Ottawa Senators in 1993-94. I’m not sure what his 14 game stint with 0G and 0A in Ottawa says about the state of the game in Jamaica but Graeme Townshend at least holds this unique distinction. That said Townshend was 6th in team scoring during his stint with the sad sack Sens of 93-94 (Don’t bother fact checking this). Currently Townshend is listed as the Head Coach of the Jamaican National Team, which sounds great but with a record of 0W – 0L, I’m suspicious. A quick check of the internet also shows there are still zero ice surfaces in Jamaica. There Is a Jamaican Ice Hockey Federation so maybe hockey is a thing and it’s just a slow burn. There is an interesting story about Townshend in the Hockey News with his personal anecdotes about racism in hockey. Some interesting takes from someone with first hand experience.
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3. In 1999 the Senators traded their GM, Rick Dudley along with forward Andreas Johansson to Tampa Bay Lightning for Rob Zamuner. Some of you may remember Zamuner as one of the odd selections to the 1998 Canadian men’s team at the first Olympics where NHL teams were permitted to play. Zaumner was so good he beat out Mark Messier for a spot on this team … errr. Anyway before I go off on Bobby Clarke and that whole boondoggle of a tournament for Canada, back to The Trade!
Technically the trade included the rights to negotiate with Dudley, but as fate would have it, Dudley did indeed sign in Tampa to become their GM.
Zamuner played 115 games with the Sens collecting 28G and 30A. Johansson only played a dozen games with Tampa before he moved on. Dudley was GM for Tampa from 1999-2002 where they did not qualify for the playoffs during his tenure, which led to his dismissal. Let’s call this trade a W for the Sens. I’m not sure who orchestrated this deal but as Dudley was Ottawa’s GM at the time of the trade, I like to think he came up with this idea himself. Either way, I can recall years back Quebec Nordiques Head Coach Michel Bergeron getting traded to the NY Rangers but I think Ottawa may have the claim to fame of being the only team to trade their GM. When asked to comment Dudley said “I was fist pumping in my underwear when I announced the trade to myself … my finest moment as a General Manager” or something to that effect.
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4. Former Ottawa Senator Joe Juneau (1999-2000) may go down as the smartest player to ever don the Senturion having earned an Aeronautical Engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in NYC in just 3 years, before making his NHL debut. He did this despite the fact he didn’t speak any English when he arrived in New York. He also set and still holds an NHL record from his time in Boston. (More bonus points if you know what his record is).
Juneau has spent a number of years up in Kuujjuaq, Quebec in the Arctic after his retirement, where he ran a hockey program for Inuit youth. Unfortunately after 11 years the program lost its funding. If interested, an article by Roy MacGregor provides the details of what went wrong. All in all Juneau is one of the more interesting guys to suit up for the Sens. His best years were behind when he arrived as pseudo replacement for Alexei Yashin and Juneau moved on after just one year with the Senators.
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5. So this tidbit is weird and I’ll admit something I did not know until about now, but then again, former Ottawa GM Pierre “Turncoat” Gauthier was an odd guy. Gauthier had a policy that no player could have a number greater than the highest goalie number. Huh? Maybe he thought Lou Lamarellio’s power move of a no facial hair policy was pretty sick but he realized he needed his own sweet signature. Fortunately Patrick Lalime was on the team and he wore #40 so they could squeeze everyone in between 2-39.
The Ghost signed a 5 year contract as GM for Ottawa in 1995 but left in 1998 due to “family issues” saying he needed to explore time away from hockey. 17 days later his exploration saw him sign as President and GM with Anaheim. Gee, Pierre I guess you must have been surprised as the rest of us to realize how much you can grow and find yourself in 2 ½ weeks. I wonder how he’s making out right now during this time of self-isolation Rumour has it he is currently the Director of Hockey Operations with Chicago Blackhawks but I think he may end up changing jobs 3 or 4 times before he can leave the house again with his track record of finding himself
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So there you have it, a quick look back at 5 uniquely Senator stories, But wait, why end the article there. Who doesn’t like a hidden track on a record or CD…
My, where are they now, I loved that guy, ex-Ottawa Senator All-Star Team.
G – Matt “Honestly kids, I was the Opening Night starter for the Ottawa Senators in 2015” O’Connor. Five seasons and nine teams later, O’Connor is last listed as a goalie with a team called Rodovre Mighty Bulls of the Danish Hockey League.
LD – Patrick “I do Advanced Stats well” Wiercoch is playing for Bolzano HC in the Austrian League after 1 season in the KHL. I guess he had a good season with 13 pts in 19 games, but then again, Austria.
RD – Chris “I wish I had walked and not taken an Uber or at least I should have sat in the back like DeMelo” Wideman is playing for Anaheim’s AHL affiliate in San Diego and had a decent season.
LW- Shane “Ahhh I can’t believe they traded Shane Prince” Prince has spent the past two seasons in the KHL and looking at his numbers, he may not be good enough for that league either.
C – Matt “Let me suck the life out of your team” Duchene. Rumour has it he signed a huge contract in Nashville but I’m pretty sure he hasn’t shown up yet.
RW – Tom “I hope Guy gets another coaching gig soon” Pyatt has bounced between the Swedish and Swiss hockey leagues this season and seems to be doing Tom Pyatt like things.
Well that’s all I got. This is a product of not being able to sleep last night and after wasting a couple of hours as I went down a rabbit hole of self-isolation “entertainment” decided to share some memories that were triggered. I figure if there is anyone who can appreciate 1 or 2 of these ramblings, he/she may be in SensChirp.
These are crazy days. I hope all of you here are managing okay and you and your families are safe and healthy.
Cheers,
-DJ Whämmerström
