Do you remember when it started for you?
Maybe there’s a certain goal that sticks out in your mind. Turris against the Rangers? Alfie in Game 5? Or maybe there’s a game you went to with your old man. Did you meet one of your favourite players when you were a kid?
If you’re logging on to SensChirp in early-September, chances are you have the same problem I do.
We’re all hopelessly obsessed, head over heels in love with the Ottawa Senators. Not me, you scoff as you browse six different Sens sites a month before the season starts and study line combinations from the first rookie camp practice.
While our commitment to this stupid wonderful team has been tested often over the last couple years, we keep coming back.
Some of us have decided we won’t support the team financially, yet when game night rolls around, we’re still glued to the result. We know this is a rebuilding year and that finishing last is the best case scenario but when puck drops on opening night, we’ll want nothing more than to take it to Cody Ceci’s Toronto Maple Leafs. Some of us swear we’ll never buy another piece of merchandise yet that that tattered Sens hat is still our favourite and and that old 2D jersey hangs proudly on the wall.
See, Sens fans have lost their way a little bit.
We’ve seen our favourite players leave town and had to listen while the people making those decisions tell us it’s for the best. Even though we know they don’t even believe it.
The bond between the city and its hockey team has been tested. Pushed to the limit, for some.
But for all of us, there’s a reason why we’ll keep coming back. A reason why this team is so important to us and why even through all the shit we’ve seen lately, we’re still Sens fans.
Last night, watching people completely miss the point and react with outrage to yesterday’s post, I got to thinking. How did I get to this point where even through the most obviously dark times, I still see hope in this hockey team? Is there something wrong with me? Obviously but how did I get here?
And then I remembered….
-It was the morning after the Senators had been eliminated in Game 7 by the Buffalo Sabres. 1997. At the age of 11, I was feeling heartbreak for the first time. That Derek Plante shot went through Ron Tugnutt’s glove, my soul and into the Ottawa net. My Dad, a fan himself, came up with an idea to cheer me up. We drove down to rink and parked just outside the player’s entrance. Lance Pitlick was the first player to stop to say hi. Wade Redden arrived later. Pitlick made a snowball out of the snow the zamboni left behind, threw it at Redden and blamed it on me. We all laughed. Moments later, we caught a glimpse of Alexei Yashin and Radek Bonk. In those moments, Game 7 was a distant memory.
-The biggest game in franchise history and for some reason, I had decided that watching it with non-hockey fans was the way to go. The stakes were so high, I couldn’t handle the idea of people pretending to care. It looked like nothing at first but in an instant, Daniel Alfredsson turned that 1 on 3 into biggest goal in Sens history. I remember running outside, finishing what was left of my beer and calling my Dad. “They did it”. It was all either of us could say. My Dad isn’t really an emotional guy but I swear I could hear him choking up a little bit. He’d deny it to this day though. The five or six hours that followed are a bit of a blur but I woke up with a chipped tooth and red paint all over me (from dancing with SensSquatch, apparently).
-Some of my best memories as a Sens fan happened in that Wiser’s Box. The memories I can remember anyway. I’m not really a religious guy but on that night in 2013, I said a prayer. Then, as per tradition, I made everyone switch seats for good luck. And then a miracle happened. With 29 seconds left and the Senators down a man, Daniel Alfredsson deflected a Milan Michalek pass over the shoulder of Tomas Vokoun and in the process, knocked the roof off the place. Many Wiser’s drinks later, Colin Greening jammed home a rebound off an Andre Benoit shot and my prayers had been answered. The usual host in that box left after the first overtime and asked me to settle up with the server before I left. Probably the biggest tip she got all year. I still love Colin Greening to this day.
-Norah was three at the time. I’ve made some questionable parenting decisions in my life but bringing my kid to a second round playoff game is right up there. Yet I don’t regret it at all. The first time Ottawa scored, I thought she’d never forgive me. The sound in that rink was so loud that day that even I was a little uncomfortable. It must have been on another level for her. She cried and cried and cried. Yet when Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored his third of the night, tying the game, and sending the CTC into a frenzy unlike anything I’d ever seen, there she was, standing…clapping…smiling. It’s hard to tell if my Sens fandom is going to transfer to my daughter (she’s still a little pissed about the Karlsson trade) but I’ll always remember the look on her face after that tying goal.
-There must have been 15 of us. Another biggest game in franchise history and a bunch of guys got together to watch it at a friend’s place. I often agonize over where to watch playoff games, convinced that the decision I make will have an impact on the game. Game 7’s are hard enough but with a chance to go to the Stanley Cup Final on the line, this was on another level. The number of stress-beers I drank that night was the same as the number of minutes Cody Ceci played- too damn many. It ended up being one of the most devastating nights in franchise history. I still can’t watch the highlights. But oddly enough, I’ll always remember the sound in that basement when Ryan Dzingel tied the game late. I don’t really understand the noise I made but it was like 20 plus years of bottled up frustration and hope coming out all at once. My attachment to the team has evolved over the years but there was something about that 2017 team that brought out the kid in me again. That group had a soul that reminded me why I invest so much into this team. It’s those moments where you feel like you’re a part of something bigger than yourself. I want to get back there. I need to get back there.
So much of what has happened with this team lately has been negative.
And while the Senators have quietly been building a roster stacked with young talent and potential, there is still a lingering resentment over the missteps of the last two years. And when you are constantly reminded of those gut punches on social media, it can be easy to forget why you bother with this team at all.
But if you look back a little bit, beyond the last two seasons, I’m sure you’ll be able to find your own moments that made you fall in love with this sport and with this hockey team.
That bond has been tested recently. But the link between this city and this team is built on countless moments like the ones above.
And for me anyway, it will take a whole lot more bad to make me forget about all the good moments.
Three days in a row! He’s heeeeeeaaaaaating up!
-Rookie Tournament preparations are underway this morning with the first game set for tomorrow night. The rookies hit the ice earlier today and you know what that means…LINE COMBINATIONS! That first unit is going to be fun to watch.
