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By hook or by crook I always try to make it out to at least one Ottawa Senators game per season. I think it’s a privilege to have a professional sports team right here at home and it’s good to support such things. We might not have the most exciting crowd in the league and the venue is a pain in the butt to get to, but it’s generally a fun, worthwhile excursion.
Plus, it’s hockey, which is obviously the greatest sport on the planet. Like, with hockey already invented why do people even play soccer? And the NHL boasts the greatest players in the world so, yeah, I get out to games when I can.
Especially when they’re free! My friend buys season tickets to use as promo for his business and when they aren’t being used up one of us gets the call. October 24th, 2009 was my turn and I undoubtedly drove the two of us out to whatever they were calling The Palladium at the time (this is one of my friends I refuse to passenge with, so terrifying is his Steve McQueen-with-his-eyes-closed style of driving).
My buddy also gets a parking pass every season which is a remarkable improvement over the usual parking situation out there in Kanata. It’s like the lot access plans were designed by a toddler drawing on a soiled napkin with a half-eaton crayon. With my friend’s pass we parked right next to the building itself, in some magical parking lot I had never even noticed before. Or since.
Inside, the Sens were hosting the Bruins and it pained me every time I saw Chara hit the ice. Why would any team trade away an actual giant? We were sitting in the 200 level which is really the best place to watch a game from, except maybe standing-room up along the rim of the arena (it’s just so roomy up there). I bought us beers and we settled in for a good game that ended in a shootout, and say what you want about introducing shootouts in the NHL: when you’re actually at the game they are a cool little bonus. It’s like having a mini skills competition at the end of an already-extended, exciting game.
But boo for the home team: the Sens lost in said shootout. I tell you, they never should have traded Chara.
Idiots.
Todd Man Out 