DOOR’S WIDE OPEN FOR ALFIE
Daniel Alfredsson received the key to the city from Deputy Mayor Bob Monette Thursday evening at Ottawa City Hall, where he was greeted by an honour guard — and lots of fans, of course.
The ceremony was intended to honour Daniel Alfredsson — and so it did — but in typically classy style, the former Ottawa Senator paid his respects to the city where he spent so many years as a Senator all-star.
Ottawa has had “a huge impact on who I am today,” he said during a media scrum Thursday prior to being awarded the Key to the City, the national capital’s highest civic honour. “I met a lot of great people (who) taught me a great deal ... about how you have to give back to the community. It is extremely rewarding when you see how you can make a difference in other people’s lives, outside of hockey.”
Alfredsson — in case you’ve come from another planet — hung up his skates in late last year after 18 years in the National Hockey League, 17 of them with the Ottawa Senators. (His final season was with the Detroit Red Wings.)
He was a larger-than-life figure to many Ottawans.
When he returned to the city in December to sign a one-day contract that allowed him to retire as a Senator, fans filled the Canadian Tire Centre with thunderous chants of “Alfie, Alfie.’”
Thursday’s ceremony was more subdued. He was greeted at city hall with an honour guard from the Cameron Highlanders, police and firefighters in dress uniforms, and, of course, children in hockey jerseys.
Deputy Mayor Bob Monette, filling in for Mayor Jim Watson, who was injured in snowmobile accident last weekend, reflected the crowds’ sentiments. “Welcome back to Ottawa,” he said, referring to Alfredsson as a “great leader in our community, on and off the ice. His contributions to Ottawa charities were remarkable.”
Indeed, during his years in Ottawa, Alfredsson often worked on behalf of the Ottawa Senators Foundation. He was regular visitor at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and steadfastly supported the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa. As well, he lent his
It is extremely rewarding when you see how you can make a difference in other people’s lives, outside of hockey.
name and face to the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health in its campaign to eliminate the stigma of mental illness.
That character was on display at Thursday’s events.
“Words cannot adequately express how I feel,” he said. “This city and the people of Ottawa have made our family feel so welcome during our life here. I am truly humbled to be receiving this special honour.”
So will he move back to Ottawa? Is he interested in a front office job with the Senators?
Alfredsson gracefully equivocated. “The wife will have a big part in the decision,” he said. “I can’t say (there is) anything we don’t like about Ottawa, but there’s no rush to make a decision.”