Arena: Canadian Tire Centre

Location: Approximately halfway between Ottawa and the North Pole

Game Attended: April 1, 2023 vs Toronto Maple Leafs

Game Result: Maple Leafs 3-0, and the Senators REALLY Stunk it Up

Seat Location: Upstairs, Shoot 2x End

Overall Impression: A Spirited Rivalry Game Won by the Big Brother, and a Fanboni!

Did you ever sit in a class in school and think to yourself, “How in the heck am I ever going to use this in real life?” I’m sure you did; I can remember countless occasions of this myself. And while I can’t ever say I’ve utilized my public school-gifted knowledge of the War of 1812, photosynthesis, or Hamlet, I can confidently claim the use of the transitive property to guide me on my way to Ottawa Senators fandom. 

Just eight days prior to our arrival in Ottawa, President Joe Biden visited Parliament and addressed the Canadian House of Commons. Speaking of the many similarities between the United States and Canada, the President referred to the symbiotic cross-border relationship that exists in the NHL. “Our labour unions cross borders. So do our sports leagues. Baseball, basketball, hockey, listen to this, hockey,” Biden said. “I have to say, I like your teams except the Leafs.”

“I’ll tell you why,” the President continued. “They beat the Flyers back in January, that’s why. … I married a Philly girl (Jill Biden), if I didn’t say that, I’d be sleeping alone and fellas I like you, but not that much.”

Now on to math class. During a Flyers game I attended many years ago with Dad, then-Vice President and Dr. Biden were in attendance, with Dr. Jill adorned in her bright orange Flyers sweater. So the Biden’s are Flyers fans, AND the President just said he doesn’t like the Leafs because they beat the Flyers in January, AND the Leafs were playing the Senators?

So it was an easy decision on who to root for in Ottawa: the Senators, of course! All thanks to the beloved transitive property. Oh, and Claude Giroux. He helped the “root for the Senators” cause too. More on him later. 

Drew, Mike, and I arrived in Ottawa by train after a rather scenic (see: boring) ride through the snow-covered farms of Eastern Ontario. We spent some time downtown exploring the many buildings of Parliament and chancing upon, of all things, a vocal but peaceful protest against Prime Minister Trudeau. Hey, politics, am I right? Politics aside though, Ottawa seemed a very stately and provincial city, with Parliament providing some very Victorian British vibes in contrast to Montreal’s Parisian style. 

We also enjoyed a great pregame meal downtown at Sansotei Ramen. Encouraged by my last ramen experience in Vancouver, I had high expectations for Sansotei and they delivered! 

And it was great to get a meal downtown because there wasn’t much in the way of food out at the arena. Not much in the way of food, of drink, of entertainment. Not much in the way……of anything really.

The Senators play at Canadian Tire Centre, located in the western Ottawa suburb of Kanata. It’s a 15-mile drive from downtown Ottawa to Kanata, which takes roughly 25 minutes with game traffic, making it easily the farthest arena from its city in the NHL. And it’s really a shame, because downtown Ottawa seems like it could easily support an NHL-caliber arena. It’s like when the Devils used to play at the New Jersey Meadowlands: a purely suburban arena with nothing but parking lots to greet patrons. Not exactly a recipe for the best game-day experience. 

And honestly, neither was the building itself. I found several design features puzzling and frankly, inaccessible. For instance, there is only one main entrance into the arena, so security lines were quite long. And once you were in, there was only one primary access route from the main concourse to the upper level seats: a large staircase. Stairs. No escalators at all. First time I’ve seen that in an arena. Granted, it wasn’t a ton of stairs, but it seemed very peculiar to me. 

And the concourses themselves were rather narrow, so the sold-out crowd of almost 20,000 crammed the hallways before the game and during intermissions. I found it very difficult to walk around to get concessions or to use the restroom. For an arena built on an old farm with tons of real estate, I’d think they would’ve done more to help the fans not feel packed in. 

The interior of the arena itself, in stark contrast, seemed to be vast and very spacious. The arena seats 19,347, which ranks 5th league-wide, but it appeared to be much larger. It seemed like a very tall, very intimidating place to play for an opposing team. Unless that opposing team is the Toronto Maple Leafs, of course. Leafs fans, Mike included, packed the building and probably equalled, if not outnumbered, Senators fans.

That even distribution of Senators and Leafs fans made for a very raucous and fun atmosphere at the game. Every time one group would start a “Go Leafs Go” chant, the other half of the building would respond with “Go Sens Go”, and vice-versa. It was a verbal tug of war that seemed quite even until the Leafs opened the scoring early in the 2nd period. Two more Toronto goals followed in the 2nd to extend the lead to 3-0, and goalie Ilya Samsonov held on from there. In all, he stopped all 31 shots he faced, including an impressive “windmill” save in the 3rd to shutout the Senators. It was the first, and only, shutout of a team on my Tour. 

But despite a ridiculous commute, tight corridors, and a dearth of goals from the home team, there were two great redeeming factors to the evening. 

The first was the opportunity to see Claude Giroux in action again. G, as he’s affectionately known on the ice, was drafted by the Flyers in 2006, starred during their 2010 and 2012 playoff runs, and captained the Orange and Black from 2013-2022. He was never the best player in the NHL, but he was one of the most consistent, and was a constant on an otherwise very changing Flyers roster. To my delight, he started alongside Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle, and I let out a traditional “ROUUUUUUUX” chant as Flyers fans did nightly for 15 years. I wish G all the best of luck with his new team in Ottawa. 

But the other redeeming factor was a two-part surprise from Drew. He was kind enough to reach out to the Senators to ask for help promoting the Tour and all my fundraising efforts for Hockey Fights Cancer and the 11 Day Power Play. Drew organized two cool experiences for me at the game. 

Cool Experience 1: The Video Board Message

A simple gesture, but Drew got a message up on the jumbotron at center ice stating, “Denis, one more hill to climb, congratulations!” A true Rangers fan salute, indeed! “One more hill to climb” was the call from Rangers radio announcer Howie Rose in 1994, when Stephane Matteau won the Eastern Conference Finals with a double-overtime goal. The Rangers indeed climbed that hill (“Mount Vancouver”, as Rose called it), defeating the Vancouver Canucks in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals. My hill to climb won’t involve the Stanley Cup, but it will be special nonetheless. 

Cool Experience 2: The Fanboni

Now the fun, goofy part! Drew’s contact with the Senators, Jenna, set the three of us up with a once-in-lifetime ride on the Senators “Fanboni”! And I know exactly what you’re thinking, loyal reader. “What in the hell is a “Fanboni”?

In addition to the two normal zambonis that clean the ice, the Senators added a third vehicle that ferries fans around the rink for a lap during the second intermission. We joined two other families on the ice for our “victory lap”, hamming it up and waving to the crowd wherever we could. Drew waved so much that I think he might have a future career in politics some day. Maybe a group of people will protest against him in front of Parliament in the future! 

The Senators PA announcer even kindly mentioned my Tour and my fundraising during our lap, and I couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. It was simply magical. We got a chance to see the last minutes of the second period (and two Toronto goals) up close behind the net, got to take the ice at an NHL game, so to speak. Got to celebrate this amazing journey and the great mission of Hockey Fights Cancer. And I got to do it with two wonderful friends. 

That’s what this is all about. Making memories. Making a difference. It might only be a small difference, a small grain of sand on a larger beach of raising money and awareness for cancer research. But it’s small grain of sand that I’m damn proud of. 

The next morning, Drew, Mike, and I boarded another train. Our bags were packed. We had one more stop to make. One more game to attend. One last exciting chapter to write of this amazing story. And two very special guests waiting for us at the station. 

Arena: 3 / 5

Atmosphere: 4.5 / 5

Neighborhood: 0.5 / 5

Overall: 2.5 / 5