Yahoo Sports How the Ottawa Senators Can Wrestle the City of Gatineau's Hockey Fans Away From the Montreal Canadiens
The Ottawa Senators continue to extend olive branches to Gatineau – long ones that stretch right across the National Capital Region's various bridges.
As part of owner Michael Andlauer's commitment to improving relations with fans in La Belle Province, the Senators will play an intrasquad game at the Slush Puppie Center Arena in Gatineau on September 21st.
Faceoff time is 11 am when Team Black takes on Team White (rosters TBA).
But there's much more planned than just the game. The day's schedule reads like Gatineau's personal version of Fan Fest, which is held outside the CTC every year during camp.
In Gatineau on the 21st, there will be a team practice (10am) before the game and another afterward.
The day starts at 8am with the players arrival on the red carpet, giving fans the opportunity to get photos and autographs. Afterward, families can enjoy activities like face painting, inflatables and more (we'll go ahead and assume there will be Slush Puppies for sale).
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. The proceeds will be donated to the Gatineau Social Pediatrics Center. Parking will be available in front of the arena, free of charge for three hours, and then $1 for each additional 30 minutes.
It's worth noting that it's obviously not the first time the Sens have tried to promote their product to Gatineau. It's a valuable potential market for the Senators and always has been. Gatineau is the fourth largest city in Quebec with a population of almost 300,000 people and it's a hockey hotbed.
Unfortunately for the Sens, it bleeds Montreal Canadiens' red and has for over 100 years.
Former GM Pierre Dorion is fluently bilingual and understood both the challenges and the potential of that market. So scheduling Ottawa intrasquad games weren't unprecedented on the Quebec side, but they were sporadic enough to have little effect.
Around the turn of the century, the Sens also tried a four-team rookie tournament each fall at the Bob Guertin Arena in Gatineau. The event was always lively, sometimes too lively, with a lot of fights and long-shot prospects taking runs at the top ones. It didn't last.
So it's clear that Gatineau's hockey fans have always mattered to the Sens, but the club has never done enough to (or could afford to) get their attention. Ottawa now has an owner that's willing and able to invest in a game plan to embrace a huge community of potential future customers.
He might convert a few life-long Habs fans, who aren't used to this bleak business of waiting three decades (and counting) between Cups. But Andlauer's bigger opportunity lies with the younger fans, which is why these added-on family events are crucial. It's not enough just to have a game in Gatineau.
If Andlauer stays consistent with his Quebec outreach, getting his players in front of young Gatineau hockey fans again and again and again, then maybe one day the kids will be asking for a Sens jersey at Christmas time instead of the bleu-blanc-rouge.
Then sprinkle in a decade or two of being a professionally-run organization, garnish with playoff runs and a new arena within walking distance from Gatineau, and then finally, top it off with a Stanley Cup someday.
Voila! The Gatineau conversion recipe is complete.
It'll take some time and it won't be easy, but now that they have a sensible, deep-pocketed owner, it's do-able.
2024-25 Ottawa Senators pre-season schedule (all times Eastern)
Sunday, Sept. 22: Ottawa at Toronto, 7 pm
Tuesday, Sept. 24: Toronto at Ottawa, 7 pm
Thursday, Sept. 26: Buffalo at Ottawa, 7 pm
Sunday, Sept. 29: Ottawa vs Pittsburgh (Kraft Hockeyville game in Sudbury), 7 pm
Tuesday, Oct. 1: Ottawa at Montreal, 7 pm
Friday, Oct. 4: Ottawa at Detroit, 7 pm
Saturday, Oct. 5: Montreal at Ottawa, 7 pm
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