20 MILLION SEATS FILLED
Yashin to Karlsson: 20 years at the CTC
Twenty years later, former Ottawa Senators captain Randy Cunneyworth laughs when talking about the backdrop for the opening of what is now the Canadian Tire Centre.
“Well, there was so much going on at that time,” understates Cunneyworth. “It was exciting to be part of it, but there were some growing pains we had to go through to get there.”
Indeed. The 1995-96 Senators season qualifies as one of the most tumultuous in the history of professional sports. The year included (take a deep breath here) three coaches, two general managers, 59 losses, first overall draft pick Bryan Berard going AWOL in training camp, star centre Alexei Yashin going AWOL for half the season while refusing to honour his contract, along with a fragile financial picture that threatened the franchise.
Accordingly, moving to a place with that new arena smell after 3½ dismal seasons at the Civic Centre was a much needed tonic. The Palladium, as it was originally known, has also held the corporate handles of Corel Centre and Scotiabank Place.
“The arena felt like it should,” says Cunneyworth, now head coach of the Rochester Amerks of the American Hockey League. “As cosy as the Civic Centre was, it wasn’t an NHL rink. Getting into the arena and seeing the dressing room set up, it was really big league. It was really modern. It had the beautiful décor. It was one of the nicest looking buildings in the league. It was state of the art.”
The arena had – and a generation later, still has – location issues which could ultimately be resolved if the organization wins its bid to build a new arena on National Capital Commission land at Lebreton Flats. Kanata and Stittsville have since grown up around the place, but it’s still a 30-minute drive from downtown and the initial traffic chaos and parking lot problems haven’t been completely resolved.
Just the same, more than 20 million seats have been sold to hockey fans, music lovers and assorted family shows during the past 20 years.
Bryan Adams officially opened the building on Jan. 15, 1996. Other big names include U2, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, AC/DC, Shania Twain and Katy Perry. After Eugene Melnyk took control in 2003, he celebrated with an Eagles concert. The Junos were here in 2003 and 2012 and will return again in 2017..
The Senators, meanwhile, gradually found their legs. After a slow start – they lost their first four, including 3-0 to the Montreal Canadiens in their arena debut on Jan. 17, 1996 — the Senators’ on-ice struggles melted away.
Six days later, Berard’s rights were traded away in a package which returned the Senators Wade Redden and Damian Rhodes. The following day, new general manager Pierre Gauthier replaced short-lived coach Dave Allison with Jacques Martin. The Senators first win came on Jan. 29, a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues.
The Senators finally earned a measure of respect in their first full season in the building in 199697. When Steve Duchesne scored to give the Senators a 1-0 victory over Buffalo in the final regular season game of the season, it sent the Senators to the playoffs for the first time. Sabres enforcer Rob Ray said the ensuing noise was the loudest he had ever heard in the NHL.
From there, the Senators developed into one of the NHL’s best teams for the next decade, a stretch of playoff appearances which lasted until 2008.
The Senators have had a bittersweet post-season experience though, wrapping up four playoff series on home ice and posting a playoff record of 31-32. Yet given that the Senators have yet to win a Stanley Cup, the playoff highlights all come with a bitter ending. The Toronto Maple Leafs delivered crushing blows in 2000 and 2002. The New Jersey Devils finished off the Senators in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals in 2003. The Senators could only win one of two home games against the Anaheim Ducks in the 2007 Stanley Cup finals.
It only seems logical that former Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, the signature figure in team history so far, was in his rookie season when the club moved into the arena.
“At the time, I just thought it was cool to go to a new arena that was way bigger,” says Alfredsson, who served as captain for 13 years and is now the club’s senior adviser of hockey operations. “I know I didn’t do too well in the old arena, I didn’t score too many in there. It was awesome for us to come into new arena. And we started playing better as a team when Jacques (Martin) came in and structured it up. After we missed the playoffs that first year, we got on a pretty good roll.”
On an international stage, the stadium was backdrop for a shining moment for Canada’s world junior team. The place erupted for world junior star Jordan Eberle and his dramatic touches in Canada’s gold medal triumph at the 2009 world junior tournament. Fittingly, that tournament also served as a coming out party for Erik Karlsson, whose Swedes lost to Canada in the championship game.
It’s Karlsson’s building now, but it has been home to several hundred faces over the years. Along the way, there have been major and minor facelifts, in an attempt to keep pace with modern arena design. Despite countless paint jobs, cracks are emerging in around the 20-year-old building.
Where it goes from here largely rests in the hands of the NCC. Whatever happens in the future, the Canadian Tire Centre has provided its fair share of fond memories, according to Alfredsson.
“The building,” he says, “has been really good to us.” FOR A LOOK BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE CTC, PLEASE FIND THIS STORY AT OTTAWACITIZEN.COM