- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,225
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
In late May, when hockey’s annual war of attrition had reduced 16 NHL playoff teams to four Stanley Cup contenders, the Ottawa Senators stood tall.
They went toe-to-toe, like Ali-Frazier back in the day, throughout a seven-game Eastern Conference final against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ultimately, the Senators died a hero, falling in double overtime in Game 7 against the eventual Cup champions. A single goal kept them out of the Cup final.
Four months later, it is as though the Cinderella run never happened. Compared to the 30 other hopeful NHL franchises (hello, Vegas), you can’t find the Senators on a radar screen.
Most hockey experts have the Senators trending downward after their three-round playoff. The Hockey News had Ottawa among the “three playoff teams that could miss” this season. Boston and San Jose were the others.
On Sept. 11, Bodog, a betting line that puts its money where its mouth is, listed Ottawa at 40-1 to win the Cup, down from 33-1 earlier in the summer. Just two teams went further than the Senators last spring, yet 19 have better Cup odds this fall. Bodog has Ottawa’s over-under point total at 91.5 and the win total a modest 41.
Clearly, the consensus is that the Senators’ spectacular run was a one-off. Not repeatable.
Superstar defenceman Erik Karlsson is recovering after ankle tendon surgery (though he did skate Saturday), while his defence partner, Marc Methot, was lost in the Vegas expansion draft (and then traded to Dallas) . . . and Clarke MacArthur, after several concussions, couldn’t pass his physical . . . and forward Derick Brassard might not be ready for the Oct. 5 opener . . . and promising rookie Colin White had surgery Tuesday for a broken wrist . . . (FORWARD HELP WANTED). All this has only emboldened experts who doubt Ottawa.
We’ll see. They’ve shown a remarkable tendency to punch above their weight, this team that will literally punch less minus Chris Neil.
Preseason predictions are supposed to be fun and provocative. The Senators certainly don’t have a roster to compare with the NHL elite, but the lack of respect, or even outside interest, in Ottawa’s hockey team is a recurring theme, one that predates their very existence. (Hamilton was going to win the expansion bid in 1990, remember? Everyone knew that!)
Last season, the Senators were expected to miss the postseason, but new head coach Guy Boucher found the inner defensive soul of every player to stake out second place in the Atlantic Division with 98 points. The Senators made a habit of winning one-goal games, another reason experts doubt they can pull it off again.
Boucher, incidentally, is thrilled that his team is expected to fail. The last thing he wants is a room of swelled heads.
“You’ve done nothing this year, zero,” Boucher says of his team, citing the “guilty and hungry” rivals who didn’t reach the top eight of each conference last spring and want in.
Veteran forward Zack Smith says the players know they have more to do to win people over.
“That’s fine, it worked for us last year,” Smith says of their flight beneath the radar. “No one is disappointed or pissed off about it in here, you’ve got to earn respect.
“We had one good year. It’s how you follow it up.”
The pundits love the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have exciting young talents such as Mitch Marner, left, and Austin Matthews in their lineup.
Judging by the mania over the young and improving Toronto Maple Leafs, one would think they were the ones coming off a long playoff run, rather than a first-round loss to the Washington Capitals.
Even the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau is gaga over the Leafs logo. The museum recently acquired a massive collection of Leafs memorabilia for display. It takes a historian, or an aging fan, to remember when the Leafs were last glorious, 50 years ago. Yet, there is a rush to be among those who proclaim this Leafs group is made of championship stuff — bound to ripen — one of these years.
On the national front, the western Canadian franchises create more of a buzz than Ottawa. ‘Twas ever thus, even when the Senators were truly elite, between 2003 and 2007.
At least then the march to the Stanley Cup final in 2007 created a similar march to the ticket office. In the summer of 2007, season-ticket sales reached an all-time high of 13,500. That would be a bad year in Toronto, but combined with the game-to-game walk-up it resulted in an average attendance of 19,821 per game in 2007-08.
Today, the stirring run to the Eastern Conference final is met with such indifference that the most conspicuous ticket move of September was the black draping placed over 1,500 seats in the upper bowl. Can’t fill the rink? Then shrink the rink. Capacity is now around 17,000.
Season-ticket sales bottomed out last season at 7,500 (8,500 including suites). New president Tom Anselmi has said the goal is to increase the base by 1,000, a modest improvement that may or may not be met.
Last season’s average gate dropped to 16,744, and while there was lots of anecdotal explaining about a budget team and boring defensive play, it shouldn’t be forgotten that some 80,000 civil servants have had their pay disrupted by the Phoenix pay system snafu in the past couple of years.
Economic issues were a factor.
A lot of Senators fans cheered from afar and went to games when they could.
At least they cared. Outside this region, the Senators can’t stir a pulse. They are unloved, as usual, and don’t seem to mind.
wscanlan@postmedia.com
twitter.com/@hockeyscanner
查看原文...
They went toe-to-toe, like Ali-Frazier back in the day, throughout a seven-game Eastern Conference final against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ultimately, the Senators died a hero, falling in double overtime in Game 7 against the eventual Cup champions. A single goal kept them out of the Cup final.
Four months later, it is as though the Cinderella run never happened. Compared to the 30 other hopeful NHL franchises (hello, Vegas), you can’t find the Senators on a radar screen.
Most hockey experts have the Senators trending downward after their three-round playoff. The Hockey News had Ottawa among the “three playoff teams that could miss” this season. Boston and San Jose were the others.
On Sept. 11, Bodog, a betting line that puts its money where its mouth is, listed Ottawa at 40-1 to win the Cup, down from 33-1 earlier in the summer. Just two teams went further than the Senators last spring, yet 19 have better Cup odds this fall. Bodog has Ottawa’s over-under point total at 91.5 and the win total a modest 41.
Clearly, the consensus is that the Senators’ spectacular run was a one-off. Not repeatable.
Superstar defenceman Erik Karlsson is recovering after ankle tendon surgery (though he did skate Saturday), while his defence partner, Marc Methot, was lost in the Vegas expansion draft (and then traded to Dallas) . . . and Clarke MacArthur, after several concussions, couldn’t pass his physical . . . and forward Derick Brassard might not be ready for the Oct. 5 opener . . . and promising rookie Colin White had surgery Tuesday for a broken wrist . . . (FORWARD HELP WANTED). All this has only emboldened experts who doubt Ottawa.
We’ll see. They’ve shown a remarkable tendency to punch above their weight, this team that will literally punch less minus Chris Neil.
Preseason predictions are supposed to be fun and provocative. The Senators certainly don’t have a roster to compare with the NHL elite, but the lack of respect, or even outside interest, in Ottawa’s hockey team is a recurring theme, one that predates their very existence. (Hamilton was going to win the expansion bid in 1990, remember? Everyone knew that!)
Last season, the Senators were expected to miss the postseason, but new head coach Guy Boucher found the inner defensive soul of every player to stake out second place in the Atlantic Division with 98 points. The Senators made a habit of winning one-goal games, another reason experts doubt they can pull it off again.
Boucher, incidentally, is thrilled that his team is expected to fail. The last thing he wants is a room of swelled heads.
“You’ve done nothing this year, zero,” Boucher says of his team, citing the “guilty and hungry” rivals who didn’t reach the top eight of each conference last spring and want in.
Veteran forward Zack Smith says the players know they have more to do to win people over.
“That’s fine, it worked for us last year,” Smith says of their flight beneath the radar. “No one is disappointed or pissed off about it in here, you’ve got to earn respect.
“We had one good year. It’s how you follow it up.”
The pundits love the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have exciting young talents such as Mitch Marner, left, and Austin Matthews in their lineup.
Judging by the mania over the young and improving Toronto Maple Leafs, one would think they were the ones coming off a long playoff run, rather than a first-round loss to the Washington Capitals.
Even the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau is gaga over the Leafs logo. The museum recently acquired a massive collection of Leafs memorabilia for display. It takes a historian, or an aging fan, to remember when the Leafs were last glorious, 50 years ago. Yet, there is a rush to be among those who proclaim this Leafs group is made of championship stuff — bound to ripen — one of these years.
On the national front, the western Canadian franchises create more of a buzz than Ottawa. ‘Twas ever thus, even when the Senators were truly elite, between 2003 and 2007.
At least then the march to the Stanley Cup final in 2007 created a similar march to the ticket office. In the summer of 2007, season-ticket sales reached an all-time high of 13,500. That would be a bad year in Toronto, but combined with the game-to-game walk-up it resulted in an average attendance of 19,821 per game in 2007-08.
Today, the stirring run to the Eastern Conference final is met with such indifference that the most conspicuous ticket move of September was the black draping placed over 1,500 seats in the upper bowl. Can’t fill the rink? Then shrink the rink. Capacity is now around 17,000.
Season-ticket sales bottomed out last season at 7,500 (8,500 including suites). New president Tom Anselmi has said the goal is to increase the base by 1,000, a modest improvement that may or may not be met.
Last season’s average gate dropped to 16,744, and while there was lots of anecdotal explaining about a budget team and boring defensive play, it shouldn’t be forgotten that some 80,000 civil servants have had their pay disrupted by the Phoenix pay system snafu in the past couple of years.
Economic issues were a factor.
A lot of Senators fans cheered from afar and went to games when they could.
At least they cared. Outside this region, the Senators can’t stir a pulse. They are unloved, as usual, and don’t seem to mind.
wscanlan@postmedia.com
twitter.com/@hockeyscanner
查看原文...
