While Drake Batherson and Thomas Chabot didn’t have a straight draft to stock their rosters for the annual Sens Skills competition presented by CAA North & East Ontario, Batherson still wanted to make sure that he had the benefit of Tyler Kleven’s rocket for the hardest shot competition.
Batherson, the defending champion of the event with a 104.4 mile per hour blast last year, and Kleven, the runner-up with a 101.4 mile per hour slap shot, will compete alongside Dylan Cozens and Kurtis MacDermid. Chabot, meanwhile, will be joined by Claude Giroux, Nick Jensen, and Artem Zub in the event.
“Yeah, I was trying to get that one locked up with ‘Klevvy’, obviously he’s got the hardest one in the league this year, he’ll probably break that tomorrow, I think,” said Batherson. “He’ll probably be up around 105, at least, so I’m excited, and we’ll have a little [internal] competition between me and him up against ‘Chabby’ on the other side.”
Chabot and Batherson, the two longest-tenured Senators, selected their teams at the beginning of February by shooting dodgeballs into garbage bins labelled with the faces of their teammates. “There’s a few guys, I hope I don’t get it in their bucket,” joked Batherson at the time.
Rounding out Batherson’s team is Nick Cousins (who will compete in the accuracy and fastest skater competitions), Ridly Greig (fastest skater), and Jordan Spence (fastest skater). MacDermid will also compete in the accuracy competition alongside Cousins and Batherson.
“Yeah, lots of belief, I mean, it wasn’t like a real draft we did, but I’m confident in our group,” said Batherson about his team. “I’ve won a few, and lost a few in my day, so I’ll try to bring some experience in tomorrow and see what happens.”
Chabot was similarly convinced that his team would take home the competition, which also includes a puck control relay, an obstacle course, five-puck one-on-one, and a mini three-on-three scrimmage.
The defenceman’s team is also made up of Shane Pinto (fastest skater), Fabian Zetterlund (fastest skater and accuracy), and Michael Amadio (fastest skater and accuracy). Giroux will also compete in the accuracy competition.
“I have the best team, for sure, by far,” said Chabot, though he did concede that the hardest shot event might be a tough one for his team. Does the longest tenured Sen believe that he could help lead his team to an upset in the event?
“No, no, but it’s the easiest thing to do, so I do it every year,” he joked, saying that they were strong enough in the other disciplines to make up for it.
Doors to Canadian Tire Centre for the event open at 12 p.m. and parking will be available free of charge. Tickets start at $12.50 and do not exceed $20.
Before the skills competition, Bert’s Bar on the concourse of Canadian Tire Centre is hosting a watch party for the gold medal game of the Olympics featuring Jake Sanderson and Brady Tkachuk’s Team USA playing Team Canada. Doors will open on the free event at 7:30 a.m. for an 8:10 a.m. start, with a breakfast buffet available to purchase.
