At my age, memory starts to fade a little bit.
You remember the big stuff sure but the further back you look, the harder it is to piece it all together. And yet there are moments from the Battle of Ontario that are just there forever. As clear as the day they happened. Permanently tucked away in a dark corner of my brain. I’ve learned to close off that corner but every once and while, I’ll open the door just a crack and in an instant, it all comes flooding back.
A calendar will tell me that it was some 21 years ago now and yet it feels like yesterday. The main characters, the plot twists, the highs and ultimately, the devastating heartbreak. It’s all still there.
Because the fact is, those were defining years in my journey as a Sens fan. For a lot of us actually.
Bane said it best, “You think darkness is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, moulded by it.”
Every time, we’d say…we’ll get ’em next year. And every time, we’d come up short. There is zero doubt in my mind that my somewhat deranged approach to hockey fandom was born in the darkness of the Battle of Ontario. And now two decades later, we finally get another shot. Another chance to slay the dragon once and for all.
Those Ottawa teams had all the talent in the world and the expectations that went along with it.
They’d cruise through the regular season unscathed but when the playoffs rolled around and things got tough, they just couldn’t find a way to get over, around or through that same blue obstacle.
That happens sometimes in hockey. A roster looks great on paper, works well in the regular season but there’s just something missing. And it’s not the kind of thing you can sign or trade for or will away. You can say it’s different but that doesn’t mean it is. There are certain collections of players that just don’t have it when the heat gets turned all the way up.
That’s just the way it is sometimes.
Fast forward 21 years and it’s the same two teams again. The same, although slightly more weathered, fans. The same two cities separated by the same 450 km.
Only this time…
See, this version of the Ottawa Senators is new to the playoffs.
After a long eight-year playoff drought, they come into this with an unmatched desperation and they finally get their chance. And it just so happens that the guy leading the way has been waiting his entire adult life for this exact moment. He was built for this.
The thing is, this roster was too. Every time I look at that Ottawa lineup, all I see are potential playoff heroes. A mix of guys that are new to the post-season but with games that are perfectly suited to playoff hockey. And that youthful enthusiasm is surrounded by smart veterans that have done it before. It’s one of the reasons the fan base was so desperate to see them find a way to get in this year. Because you all feel it too.
This team was built for this.
As heated as this series will be on the ice, the real Battle of Ontario will be fought across this city and in theirs. In our bars and in theirs. In our rink and in theirs. There will be times when they have the numbers and when their voices are louder. And there will be moments when the roles are reversed. They’ll remind you about the pain of two decades ago but in their eyes and in their souls, you’ll see a pain that’s far worse. A pressure that we don’t feel. On the outside, you’ll see confidence. But just below the surface, demons lurk.
Look, there’s no doubt that the Ottawa Senators enter this series as an underdog.
The other guys won the Division and were viewed by many as one of the top teams in the East all season long. Their talented forwards have felt playoff heartbreak over and over again but there is a belief, somewhere anyway, that this year might actually be different. The pressure is all on them to finally deliver. And there seems to be a consensus among the self-proclaimed experts that they shouldn’t have much trouble with Ottawa.
Sounds familiar.
One more sleep.
