Tickets already going fast for Sunday’s game — but keep them away from those Habs fans
Just days ago in what seemed like a fatal skid, the Bandwagon is now regaining speed. Some side-glance observations as we head into Sunday’s game:
GOOD SEATS, AVAILABLE FOR ALL
Canadiens fans were in full, noisy supply at the first two Sens home games, despite the decision by the Ottawa club to limit ticket sales to buyers with postal codes within the National Capital Region .
How many of those in Habs sweaters were local supporters — the Original 6 team retains a deep following in Ottawa and Gatineau — and how many had made the journey from Montreal is impossible to know. Still, some Ottawa fans took to Twitter to castigate Senators season-ticket holders, who had first crack at playoff seats, for reselling their tickets to those who live for Les Glorieux.
Like a defenceman’s slash, however, it can cut both ways. On a club-sanctioned site where Canadiens season-ticket holders can unload tickets to games they don’t wish to attend, numerous seats were available Friday afternoon for as little as $75, “convenience fees included.” Good seats near the front of the third bowl were just $100, while five “platinum” first-row seats at ice level were available for $461 to $611.
We also checked the StubHub resale site and found 180 tickets on offer for Friday’s game, ranging from $95 in the Future Shop Family Zone (presumably still in business, even if its sponsor is not) to a dream-on $2,108 US in Row H behind the visitor’s bench.
In Ottawa, meantime, the faithful (and/or speculative) were already buying tickets for a Game 6 that remained theoretical, pending the results of Friday night’s match. Capital Tickets, the Senators’ seat vendor, was showing several sections of the Canadian Tire Centre as sold out late Friday afternoon, with “low” availability in most of the rest of the building.
No doubt, “low” availability now will soon be “no” availability.
THE HOCKEY SONG, ANYONE?
Musically gifted Senators fans can tickle the ivories of the Ottawa city hall piano, which has sheet music posted on a large board nearby to encourage some hockey-related piano playing.
The piece of music will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s ever been to a live sporting event in the last 50 years.
The shiny black baby grand was donated to the city in December. It sits in the atrium at city hall and is available to residents and visitors to play.
When not twinkling with Senators cheer, Beethoven’s Für Elise, Hoagy Carmichael’s Heart and Soul and the song Demons by Imagine Dragons are the three most commonly played songs on the piano, according to an unscientific poll conducted by members
of the city hall media corps.
SPECIAL MOMENT FOR PLAYERS
The Senators’ run has already provided any number of moments for fans to remember, from Andrew Hammond’s shutouts in California (so often a place of frustration for the Ottawa club), to the first hamburger to be tossed on the Canadian Tire Centre ice in honour of the “Hamburglar” goalie, to the multiple comeback victories against teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.
For players, however, the standout memory could be returning from their last regularseason game in Philadelphia and finding fans waiting at the Ottawa airport to congratulate them.
“The guys were stunned that they’d do that — that they’d go out there and meet them and know where they’d come in at the executive airport part of it,” says Karen Sylvester-Ceci, mother of Ottawa-born Senators defenceman Cody Ceci.
Such support buoys the young team through the wins and losses, she adds.
“I don’t know if the fans realize how much it actually means to them. They really, really appreciate the stuff the fans do for them.”
That feeling, of course, is mutual.