Greetings from frigid Winnipeg, where the temperature dipped to minus-26 at one point on Sunday.
We spent most of the day avoiding the bitter cold, traversing Winnipeg’s indoor walkway to get from place to place. And it got me thinking: Calgary has the Skywalk, Toronto has the PATH system and Montreal has a pretty good pedestrian setup with the Underground city, so why don’t we have any sort of heated walkway system to avoid the cold in downtown Ottawa?
And I’m sure many of you have dreamed about a heated walkway or tunnel system to take you from Canadian Tire Centre out to your spot in the parking lot on a frigid December night.
We can fantasize about that type of setup to avoid the blistering wind and cold in Ottawa, but I do want to focus your attention this week on your warm memories from Canadian Tire Centre.
Why?
Because we’re on the precipice of celebrating the 30th anniversary of the arena on the weekend of January 16-18.
And my colleague Sylvain St. Laurent and myself want to do a countdown of the 30 most memorable moments from inside Canadian Tire Centre in the 30 days leading up to that weekend.
Each day on our website, you’ll have a chance to re-live something fun, memorable or special that has taken place inside Canadian Tire Centre.
But here is where we need your help: Should we count down the best memories for Sens fans or the most memorable moments from inside the arena? It’s a subtle, but very distinct difference.
If we focus on the best memories for Sens fans, it’s all positive and upbeat.
But are we really telling the story of the first 30 years of this building if we avoid some of the painful moments?
Part of me thinks we should count down the most memorable moments – warts and all – if we truly want to capture the spirit of the building. That would force us to bring up names like Jeff Friesen and Ricard Persson, but to me, they helped create indelible moments that will live forever in Sens history.
Do we just pretend like they never happened? Are we properly telling the story of this arena if we cut them out?
I am leaning towards including those moments – albeit sprinkled in loosely – but I’m wide open to debate before we drop our first entry later this week.
So please reach out to us via email at [email protected] and let us know how you think we should proceed.
Trivia time:
The Canucks and Wild pulled off a blockbuster trade involving Quinn Hughes a couple of days ago. December is certainly not a normal time for significant trades to go down and it made me wonder the following question: When was the last time the Senators made an NHL trade of their own in December?
Answer at the bottom of this column.
Next Absolute Non Sens podcast guest: Dylan Cozens
As I complain about the cold here in Winnipeg, I know of one member of our travelling party who probably doesn’t think this is a big deal.
Dylan Cozens grew up in Whitehorse and routinely dealt with temperatures that plunged into the minus-45 range.
So how did he handle that bitter cold when he was growing up?
We asked him that as part of the upcoming episode of the Absolute Non Sens podcast, which is set to drop on Wednesday. (And yes, Dylan says they had to go outside for recess in minus-45 degree weather in Whitehorse).
In addition to asking Dylan about dealing with frigid temperatures at recess time, we chatted about the following topics:
- How an adult man broke Dylan’s leg during a game of rec hockey when he was 12 years old. (And the man somehow didn’t apologize)
- His obsession with Star Wars LEGO.
- What it’s like to grow up with a father who is a judge and a mom who is a Crown prosecutor.
- Dylan’s unique family connection to Jamaica.
- And what he knows about the other Dylan Cozens – who made it to MLB with the Philadelphia Phillies.
It’s a fun episode and it comes at a time when Dylan is playing some of his best hockey with the Sens, picking up seven points in his last three games.
As always, if you have any feedback or comments about our podcast, please send us an email to [email protected].
Media roundup: Looking back at some interesting and fun Senators stories you might have missed over the past seven days.
Linus Ullmark unveiled a new mask design last week. Check out this conversation Ullmark had with a certain co-host from the Absolute Non-Sens podcast. But if you’re sick of seeing Jackson Starr, you can also opt to simply read this recap from our team writer Andrew Wilimek.
Jake Sanderson is likely headed to the Olympics in February. Is it time for him to start getting some Norris Trophy love? The Athletic’s Julian McKenzie tackles that question.
Sportsnet.ca columnist Alex Adams had a chance to pick Travis Green’s brain recently about the team’s special teams. Some insightful stuff here from the head coach.
We had our annual visit to CHEO last week, bringing smiles to the faces of so many kids. The holiday tradition of Sens players singing a Christmas carol in the cafeteria was brought back – and CTV’s Dylan Dyson captured some of that to open his story. (I have to say, I think Ridly Greig is guilty of lip synching when analyzing this video).
Coming in Hot managed to snag Michael Andlauer for a little holiday special this weekend. It’s a wide-ranging conversation and as always, Michael is very honest and candid on a myriad of topics.
Random thoughts:
If you’re looking for a fun holiday activity with the family, I strongly recommend trying a holiday skate at Canadian Tire Centre. We’ve got a couple of Sundays reserved for public skates on December 21 and December 28. I suspect the tickets for this will be scooped up quickly – but you can book them here while availability lasts.
Speaking of activities inside the Canadian Tire Centre, I floated this idea to the Locked On Sens guys here in Winnipeg: I would love to turn our arena into a giant escape room at some point. I wanted to do this during the Olympic break, but it might have to wait for the off-season. Imagine navigating the arena and the only way you can get out is to solve a handful of Sens-related questions and clues. I think it could be fun and I love the idea of trapping some Ottawa fans inside the rink because they couldn’t add Rob Klinkhammer and Jack Rodewald’s jersey numbers together.
Trivia answer:
You have to go all the way back to December 17, 2011 to find the last time the Senators made a trade in the month of December. That day, Ottawa acquired Kyle Turris from the Coyotes in exchange for David Runblad and a second-round pick.
(Technically, the Senators and Penguins pulled off a trade on December 5, 2018 – but that was a four-player AHL deal that saw current Sens assistant coach Ben Sexton moved to the Pittsburgh organization).
