With the Ottawa Senators making the NHL playoffs for the first time since 2017, the “Sens Mile” on Elgin Street is up and running and expecting big crowds in bars, restaurants and other businesses from Gladstone to Laurier avenues.
But where else do local hockey fans like to congregate to cheer on their team? OBJ reached out to Ottawans on social media to find out where they go to support not only the city’s hockey club, but also some of their local businesses.
Ottawa-based social writer Jessica Traina says the Glebe Central Pub at 779 Bank St. is her pick for “the unofficial Sens spot” in the city, adding the pub is “loaded with Sens fans” on game days.
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Blair Brassard, co-owner of the pub, said he expects a full house for the upcoming playoff games. “We expect to be at maximum capacity. We have special days, like a trivia day on Tuesdays, and we’ll have to either cancel or move them because we’re going to have too many people wanting to watch the game,” Brassard told OBJ.
Once the pub reaches its 120-person capacity, those wanting to watch the game will have to spill out onto the patio, he added.
But when it comes to supporting the Sens, Brassard said the pub isn’t just “jumping on the bandwagon” this year. “We’ve been quite active in having NHL Centre Ice and we’re subscribed for the (Amazon) Prime games. We’ll be running shuttles, like we usually do, to (and from) the games,” Brassard said.
The Senate Tavern was another favourite among Ottawans who reached out online, perhaps due to its three locations near the downtown core and its apt name.
The location on Wellington Street West also plans to run shuttle buses to and from the games. Austin Gough, general manager of the location, said the shuttle is a safe way to enjoy the game.
“(The shuttle) will take you straight from the restaurant to the game and straight back … it’s one of the best ways to get out there and definitely the safest way if you’re going to be drinking as well,” Gough said.
Sports games usually yield good turnouts at the 100-person capacity restaurant throughout the year, Gough added, but Sens playoff games are bound to bring more people out.
“This year has been really good for us. We’ve had good turnouts for everything … Now that the Sens are back and doing well, compared to the last few years, we’ve pretty much filled every single Sens game,” Gough said.
The first Sens playoff game will take place this Sunday night in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. Gough said the match-up will bring a particularly interesting atmosphere.
“I imagine it’ll be pretty crazy, in layman’s terms, especially that it’s Leafs versus Senators. There’s often a – I wouldn’t quite say 50-50 – but something close to it at the restaurant so it makes for a fun night. It will be buzzing all night,” he said.
About a 25-minute drive east of downtown, residents of Orléans say they flock to Jonny Canuck’s Bar and Grill on Watters Road. The sports bar has been in the neighbourhood since 2006, opening a second location in Findlay Creek in 2012.
Owner Jonathan Reynaert said he’s anticipating a similar buzz to when the Sens made the playoffs in the mid-2000s, when the restaurant was in its first years.
“It’ll be like the heyday of the Sens. We opened in 2006, when the Sens were at their peak with (Daniel) Alfredsson and (Jason) Spezza. It was a zoo, just everybody coming in and you had to be here an hour and a half before games with standing-room only. It was a really raucous and energetic, electric crowd all the way through to the end,” Reynaert said.
Reynaert said he’s expecting a good mix of Leafs and Sens fans for the first game.
“There’s always a good-hearted rivalry going on between fans in the restaurant. There’ll be lots of cheers for when the Leafs score, but there’ll be bigger cheers and the place will erupt when the Sens score and when they win,” he said.
The Sens’ playoff run is creating a buzz in the city, Reynaert added, one he said he hasn’t felt since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re just so excited. Customers are excited. There’s a buzz in the city. I think everybody is just waiting for this to start and it’s just going to be good. It seems like Ottawa has been in a rut since COVID and just hasn’t really come out. I think this is where we’re finally starting to see people and the community starting to take ownership of it and getting into it. It feels like we’re alive again,” he said.
