Duchene enjoys his Haliburton welcome
Dinner jacket sign gets good reaction from newest Senator, who’s proud of hometown
The most creative placard at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night may not have had the desired effect, but it certainly made Matt Duchene feel right at home.
“It was unbelievable,” said the newest Senator, who could have scored a “Haliburton Dinner Jacket” for a young boy apparently promised one by his father had Duchene picked up a goal in his Ottawa debut. “My phone was blowing up about that last night. All my buddies loved it.
“That was the best sign I’ve ever seen, for sure.”
Duchene grew up in the village of Haliburton, which is located in central Ontario. Around 15,000 people live in Haliburton County, where there’s “about the same number of lakes,” Duchene says. The dinner jacket reference is sort of a running cultural gag.
What’s also funny is Duchene wasn’t even aware there’s a “Haliburton Dinner Jacket Fundraiser” held annually in Toronto.
“It’s a plaid, button up ... your nice flannel-type thing,” said Duchene, explaining the look. “You get your very locals who might wear that out to dinner at McKecks (Tap & Grill, in Haliburton) sometimes, but it’s kind of a joke.
“There’s definitely some good old type of redneck up there and I embrace that culture big time. I’ve got a couple (of HDJs) myself. I don’t really wear them to dinner, but I wear them fishing on a cold morning.
“Darcy Tucker used to joke about it with me,” he added. “I had one shirt my rookie year, it was a button up, pretty much like a dinner jacket. It was a little nicer than a cheesy plaid, but he’d say it was a Haliburton Dinner Jacket.
“I’ve got to send him a picture of that sign. He’s going to love it.”
It was almost two years ago that a kid at Canadian Tire Centre held up a sign stating his father would buy him a puppy if Bobby Ryan scored in that particular game against the Rangers and, sure enough, Ryan came through — just as he did the next game, when a local pizza place offered to feed the family for a year if he scored again.
Duchene provided no such storyline in the Senators’ 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it was not for lack of trying. Centring a newly created line with Ryan and Ryan Dzingel, he fired five pucks on goal in the opening 20 minutes, giving him a total of 13 shots over a four-period span.
Alas, Duchene would not test Penguins goalie Matt Murray in Periods 2 or 3 and, three games into his Senators career, he remains without a point.
“I don’t think the kid really, really wanted the dinner jacket,” the affable 26-year-old said. “I’m sure he wanted to just see me have a good start.
“You take those 13 shots and when you’re hot, four of them go in. That’s the way it goes. It’s peaks and valleys all season. You keep reproducing that and it’s eventually going to go in. It’s about coming to work and doing the same thing.”
Duchene insists he’s not over anxious about scoring his first as a Senator, at least not to the point it’s working against him.
“It’s going to be the hardest one to get, I think, all year,” he said. “It’s like the first goal of the season always seems to be the hardest. But I feel confident. It’s not like I’m gripping my stick or anything. I’m bearing down and trying to score. A lot of my shots in Sweden the puck was rolling on me every time so I couldn’t place it exactly where I wanted to, but (Thursday) night Murray made some big saves. That’s the way it is.”
Duchene is getting plenty of support in his home province. In a row behind the Ottawa bench on Thursday sat four of his dad’s friends, each wearing a white shirt and a letter spelling SE NS.
For Saturday afternoon’s game, he has a suite that will be occupied by a bunch of his buddies from Haliburton along with a number of family members.
Meanwhile, we’re fully expecting to see the Senators come out with yet another new jersey in their souvenir shops, for people who don’t already having something similar to it hanging in their closet.
Yes, watch for the Haliburton Dinner Jacket to become a popular look at Canadian Tire Centre, as a legion of Duchene fans is born.
He’s going to be an easy player to like.
On second thought: Longtime Toronto reporter Howard Berger wrote on his Thursday blog that the Maple Leafs would actively look to trade Auston Matthews if they stretched their winning streak to four games without their injured young star. Now this wasn’t coming from one of those bloggers who lives in his mommy’s basement and tries to pass himself off as an authoritative voice (and you’re only offended by that if you are one). The well-connected Berger has been in the business for more than 30 years and he was quoting an “unimpeachable executive source talking on behalf of general manager Lou Lamoriello” who he had saying management was in full agreement with the plan to move Matthews because of upcoming cap concerns, and to do it now rather than later, when there was always the risk of him suffering a career-threatening injury. In his Friday blog, the morning after the Leafs won their fourth in a row, Berger admitted he generated the “fake news” to see what kind of a firestorm would be started by “Leafs Nation,” including the aforementioned mommy’s boys. He got the expected reaction and then some. All of which is enough to convince you that in Toronto, they are already bored with winning ... Yet to be confirmed is the rumour Eugene Melnyk was spotted making the sign in the Canadian Tire Centre press box limiting folks to one hotdog (like who would take two?) the same way former GM Pierre Gauthier invoked a cookie restriction at the media meal so many years ago ... When Henry Burris frowns on Diontae Spencer’s decision to tweet out his touchdown celebration right after the Redblacks season ended, you know it was the wrong thing to do. Hank rarely frowns.