Part of the rationale for launching this column at the start of the season was to deliver some behind-the-scenes anecdotes and stories from the world around the Senators.
And after our win last week in Winnipeg, I experienced something that has to be shared to a wider audience.
If you’ve watched any of our interviews with players or head coach Travis Green following a game on the road, you’ll notice they’re always standing in front of a black backdrop that features the logos of the Senators and Bell. It’s part of a standard sponsorship agreement that says every interview we do with players or staff outside of the locker room must be conducted in front of that backdrop.
Every game it’s the responsibility of the travelling PR staffer to set up and tear down our backdrop. And without getting into the granular details, it’s a job that requires two people because things can get a bit awkward and clunky if you try and execute it as a solo mission.
Usually, I enlist the help of my podcast pal Jackson Starr or our social media manager Dan Chisholm, but neither of them was around in the moments after the Winnipeg game. I started to try and tear down the backdrop on my own, but was having a very difficult time.
Just as things were reaching their peak awkwardness, a voice called out to me, “Do you need a hand with that?”
It belonged to none other than our owner Michael Andlauer.
And so in the chaotic hallway of Canada Life Arena – while equipment staff was carrying out loads of bags and television crews were tearing down their cabling and lights – Michael took the time to assist me with taking down our media backdrop.
He was fascinated to learn how this all worked and even carried the poles that help support the backdrop to the travelling case where I pack them for the plane ride.
As I walked to the bus, I was struck by the fact that there can’t be too many owners in professional sports who would come down to this level and help disassemble a backdrop because they saw one of their employees struggling.
When I was a reporter covering the sale process of the team for The Athletic a couple of years ago, one of the constant themes that came back to me was that Michael was the most down-to-earth, relatable owner and boss. I recall a conversation with one of his employees at his transportation company who told me Michael would routinely show up with Tim Horton’s coffees and donuts and hang out in the loading dock because he was interested in knowing how things were going on the ground level.
The same holds true for his ownership with the Senators.
And now that we’ve determined Michael can replace Jackson as an assistant with the backdrop, I’m wondering if we should consider swapping them on the podcast too.
Trivia time:
We have games against the Sabres (December 23) and Maple Leafs (December 27) to bookend our Christmas holiday break. With that in mind, can you name the only five players who played for all three teams – Ottawa, Buffalo and Toronto? (Hint: One of them is a goalie).
Answer at the bottom of this column.
Would you like to see the return of individual goal songs for players at Canadian Tire Centre?
As we close out the year, you’ve probably been inundated with people’s Spotify Wrapped posts for 2025.
(For those wondering, The Cranberries were my most played artist of 2025, but in the spirit of full transparency, I must admit that I’m an Apple Music guy).
Along those lines, the gang at The Athletic figured it was the perfect time to rank each team’s goal song in the NHL.
Julian McKenzie was in charge of assessing Ottawa’s usage of ‘Song 2’ by Blur and he was fairly positive, giving it a 7/10 rating.
He called it “one of my favorites in the league” and added, “I personally love this song. It’s short, punchy, yet iconic.”
The article made me wonder: Do you wish we went back to individual goal songs for players at Canadian Tire Centre?
If you’re a Sens fan who is old enough to remember the early 2000s, it was a time filled with iPod Shuffles and personalized goal songs for the players.
‘Beautiful Day’ by U2 would blare each time Daniel Alfredsson scored a goal on home ice.
Dany Heatley goals would be celebrated with Glenn Frey’s ‘The Heat is On’.
And sometimes songs would be personalized just for Ottawa players.
The lyrics to Duck Sauce’s ‘Barbara Streisand’ were altered to say ‘Jason Spezza’. Mike Fisher even had his buddy Trevor McNevan – lead singer of Thousand Foot Krutch – write a personalized goal song to be played when he scored at home.
If memory serves me, one of the lyrics was “Mike Fisher. He’s gonna get you!”
Call it ‘new-stalgia’ or whatever you want, but I wonder if it would be fun to run this back.
It would be kind of cool if we rolled out ‘Enter Sandman’ after every Jake Sanderson goal. Maybe a little ‘7’ from Prince or ’18 and Life’ when we get goals from Brady Tkachuk or Tim Stützle.
Or let the players pick their own personal goal songs. The Winnipeg Jets and Buffalo Sabres have done this in recent years and I think it landed fairly well with the fans when they went down that road.
Letting the players pick their own song might be a fun way to show off some of their personalities, because if you let people like me make decisions, you know I’m going to push for Madonna’s ‘Holiday’ for any Stephen Halliday goals.
But we would love to get your input on this topic.
Keep ‘Song 2’ as the goal song – or move towards individual goals for players?
Hit me up via email: [email protected]
Media roundup: Looking back at some interesting and fun Senators stories you might have missed over the past seven days.
The 20th annual Melnyk Family Skate was held at Canadian Tire Centre last week. And to mark the occasion, Anna and Olivia Melnyk granted their first extensive interview with an outside media outlet to Claire Hanna from TSN. You can watch the full version of the interview here, but one thing I hope you take away from this conversation: Anna and Olivia are two of the most progressive and forward-thinking voices in hockey.
Anna and Olivia also had a chance for an on-ice conversation with Jackson following the Melnyk Family Skate.
Jake Sanderson’s ridiculous outlet pass using the wrong-handed stick went viral last week, even leaving a Hall of Fame defenceman in awe. Our staff writer Andrew Willimek did an excellent job recapping the details behind Sanderson’s unbelievable pass that had the entire hockey world buzzing.
Andrew did another unique piece last week, as he captured the details around Brady Tkachuk being the first person on record to take a high stick to the face in five straight games. Ouch.
Drake Batherson is looking confident and enjoying the best start to any season of his NHL career. Should he be on the radar for Team Canada at the Olympics in Italy? Alex Adams tackles that question.
As I mentioned in last week’s column, we’ve launched a blog to countdown the 30 most memorable moments at Canadian Tire Centre leading into our 30th anniversary weekend in January. Check back here on a daily basis and we’ll add a new memory each day leading into our January 17 game against Montreal.
Random thoughts:
We’ve got some fun holiday content in the queue for you this week. Without giving it away, I’ll just say we’ve got some very wholesome content involving our two goalies and something with Artem Zub that we’re convinced will break Sens Twitter.
I had a chance to catch up with Jason Spezza when the Penguins were in town last week. And I shared with him the details from this Julio Hashem tweet that pointed out that the last four captains from the Senators – Tkachuk, Erik Karlsson, Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson – were in the building at the same time. We both thought that was really cool, so thanks for pointing that out Julio. It was also great seeing Paul MacLean in the building for TSN and getting a chance for him to reconnect with Spezza and Karlsson. Those Pesky Sens days were some of the most fun around here.
If you missed the video of Daniel Alfredsson informing Jacques Martin that he’ll be inducted into the Sens Ring of Honour you can watch it below.
