Ottawa (28-34-4) is 14 points out of the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, and likely to miss the postseason for the seventh consecutive season. But Dr. Bob will be back for a third tour, albeit on a reduced schedule to focus more on serving his community before retiring fully. He spoke with NHL.com about life on the road, his love of hockey and the Senators, and Hockey Fights Cancer.
How long were you planning this excursion?
"I was looking at it for a couple of years. I researched what living in a car would be like and picked the RAV4 and it's worked out really well for me. Some people when they retire, they decide to climb Mount Everest. I can't climb Mount Everest, but I can sit in a car and drive for 1,100 kilometers (683.5 miles) in a day cheering my Sens on."
How did your three children and five grandchildren feel about you being away from home for long stretches during a time when one normally steps back and takes it easy?
"Guys, when they're retiring, they go traveling, right? They've been very supportive. I've taken each of my kids to games along with me, and whenever I visit Ottawa, where my family of origin is, I take nephews, brothers, sisters out to the games and spend time with them for the weekend."
How did you pull off going to Stockholm and the Global Series?
"That was a tour that the Sens got an agency to organize. It was great. There were about 60 fanatical Ottawa Senators fans and other fans who went over on their own."
What's the plan for next season?
"I'm loving it so much. The song goes on forever, hopefully. I think, frankly, next year I'm going to bring it down to 20 because of the needs in the community. I didn't see it being quite as difficult for them to find a doctor to take over for me at [Seacliff Manor]. When I retired from anesthesia back in 2015, I was asked if I can take over being the doctor for the residents, which is about 100 people, and I said yes, so I'll probably keep going maybe another year if they don't find anybody else. And then I'll also be back home, meaning Leamington, and help with my grandson and my daughter. I'm looking at 20 games and who knows after that?"
What's been the most memorable part of this experience?
"The Sens vs. the Rangers [on Dec. 2, 2022] was lots of fun, as they won [3-2 in overtime]. The Montreal Forum as I know it, but it's called the Bell Centre now. It's an incredible arena. Traveling to Arizona, it's such a nice small little rink and you can get so close to everything. A lot of the fun apart from the hockey is I've enjoyed the driving, the roads, the mountains and scenery. Highway 87 as you come out of Tempe is quite something. And I've visited some cousins in Vancouver and Calgary as well."
Was there something said or a certain moment in time that touched you the most?
"We're getting ready to be at a warmup now and [the players are] careful to make sure they don't actually give you direct eye contact. And for the kids, they'll throw real pucks to them and everything, and that's fantastic. One of the things that I found interesting in Stockholm: Part of the tour was that we were able to go to an open practice and each one of the people who were there were able to meet some of the players. I met Brady Tkachuk, and I went up to him and I said, 'Hi, I'm Bob,' and he said, 'Dr. Bob,' so that was a thrill."
Between Hockey Fights Cancer Night in Ottawa on Nov. 27, when the Senators honored 8-year-old fan Parker McDonald for completing his cancer treatment this spring, former vice president of marketing Jeff Kyle sharing the story of his battle with glioblastoma and his commitment to "Get busy living!" and the 25th anniversary of the Hockey Fights Cancer initiative, what does it tell you about how HFC is going strong while uplifting so many?
"It's very good. The year previous, they mentioned and had me on the Jumbotron on that night and then the drive I had for the Canadian Cancer Society. We can defeat cancer, hopefully."
It’s been a tumultuous season for the Senators, and they'll likely miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the seventh straight season. Their core group of players -- Tkachuk, forwards Tim Stützle and Drake Batherson, and defensemen Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson -- are signed through at least 2026-27. A lot was expected, so what went wrong and how do they finally turn the corner?
"I think we need to work on our defense. We've invested too much on a left [defenseman] position and we need to get a couple of good right Ds, maybe even trade Chabot or [Jakob] Chychrun, but I think it could still work if we get Chabot, Chychrun and Sanderson as our three left Ds and have very strong right Ds."
What do you remember about the inaugural season of 1992-93, when the Senators were 10-70 with four ties?
"I was there the very first game. It was an absolute thrill. We beat Montreal that night [5-3 at Civic Centre Arena on Oct. 8, 1992] and that's the year that Montreal went on to win the Stanley Cup, so we felt phenomenal. But yeah, it was a tough year and we had to grow the team through the [NHL Draft] because the way the expansion draft was, it didn't get very much to either Tampa Bay or Ottawa. I followed it as regularly as I could because I was a very busy physician at that time doing anesthesia and family practice, and often I'd have to 60- to 80-hour weeks. But we'd come back to visit our family in Ottawa, bring the kids and go to a Thursday game and a Saturday game quite often."
And the long climb to the 2007 Stanley Cup Final despite a five-game loss to the Anaheim Ducks?
"Anaheim had a much stronger team than anybody expected. Their third- and fourth-line players were [Ryan] Getzlaf and [Corey] Perry and they were just young kids. One of the things that I was upset about as a Senators fan was the Sens [eliminated the Buffalo Sabres in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final] on a Saturday and Anaheim was playing Detroit. Being in Leamington, I hoped that Detroit beat Anaheim, then I could go to all the [Stanley Cup Final] games, but I couldn't because it was Anaheim. But Anaheim and Detroit went to six games in their series, and they ended on a Tuesday after the Saturday that Ottawa had finished, so they didn't start until the following Monday instead of starting on the Saturday, so Ottawa was without hockey for about nine days. I think it hurts the team drive and continuity. They didn't play as well as they did against Buffalo."
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