Greetings from south Florida.
Looking at the weather back home, we’re quite fortunate to have spent the past couple of days soaking in the sunshine and temperatures close to 30 degrees.
But one thing we’ve realized over the past week is that not all Sens fans are dealing with the disappointing and inconsistent weather in Ottawa. We launched our Senators app last Monday, giving us access to a whole new range of data. One of the cool things was seeing our app light up with activity around the globe on game nights. We could see our fans were following along in Japan, Australia, Hawaii and a host of other locales that are significantly warmer than Ottawa this time of year.
The credit for the launch of our app goes exclusively to Matt Perry, who is our director of digital and social media. Matt had the vision of launching this app almost a decade ago, when the Senators were in the midst of their magical run to the Eastern Conference final in 2017. But launching an app is not a simple process – especially when you want to nail the launch and make it as flawless as possible.
The organization prioritized launching the app last summer, so Matt negotiated the terms of a contract with Yinz Cam, a Pittsburgh-based company that handles app duties for a wide range of NHL, NFL, NBA and other pro sports teams.
From there it was months of testing and dry runs, with a huge assist to Anisia Laporte who worked closely alongside Matt to handle the tedious and unglamourous behind-the-scenes minutiae that allowed the app to launch seamlessly last week.
We’ve received great feedback from our fans in the first week of our app, with our Sens Predictor Game being one of the most popular features to start. Fans have to predict the five things prior to each game: The final score, who will score Ottawa’s first goal, how many hits the Senators will have, will Ottawa score a power play goal and how many saves will the Senators goalie make.
You get credited with five points for each correct prediction and then a leaderboard tracks the top performers. (I am currently in 20th place overall, but well behind Zachary who has accumulated 50 points already).
Our goal is to make the app your daily destination to get Senators content. If you’ve downloaded it already – and set up push notifications – you can follow along and watch the live post-game media sessions with our players and Travis Green.
For home game days, you’ll find the Ticketmaster integration has been working smoothly, so you can do a single sign-on and access your Sens tickets through our app. There is an interactive venue map, which can tell you where to find vegetarian, gluten-free and other dietary options.
We’re just scratching the surface and know that we have a lot of room to grow with this platform. We’ve discussed the idea of launching some Senators-related games for the app, which has me very excited to come up with some unique puzzles and trivia for our fans.
If you haven’t downloaded our app, you can do so here.
If you have any ideas or questions about the app – especially if you want to see something integrated soon – please send us an email to [email protected]
Trivia time:
Last week, Jorian Donovan made his NHL debut and in the process became part of the first father-son combination to play with the Senators. His father Shean appeared in 177 games with Ottawa from 2007-2010.
The trivia question this week is also related to family connections to the Senators. Can you name the only set of brothers to play for Ottawa? (Hint: They didn’t play for the Senators at the same time).
Answer at the bottom of this column.
Final podcast episode on the horizon
We are on the verge of recording our final episode in the inaugural season for the Absolute Non Sens podcast.
We’ve released a total of 13 episodes so far this season, pumping them out on a bi-weekly basis. We’ve made the decision to stop recording at the end of the regular season because our podcast tone is light and fluffy with the players. If we make the playoffs (fingers crossed), it’s not the right time to be asking players about their cheat meals or if they take the Terry Fox or Palladium exit when coming to the rink.
We’ve got no firm plans for a summer version of the show, but that’s not to say we’re not open to the idea.
And we do have to figure out a way to give away our table, which has been the centrepiece for our podcast all season. Generously given to us by our friends at Dala Decor, the table has been autographed by every single guest that has dropped by the podcast.
It’s a unique memorabilia item and would be the perfect fit inside the den or living room of a Senators fan. We’ll make sure we blast out the contest details in the weeks ahead, because I’m certain this is going to be an item that a lot of Senators fans want.
If you’ve got an idea for a fun contest that we could run to give away this table, just let us know via email – [email protected]
Media roundup: Looking back at some interesting and fun Senators stories you might have missed over the past seven days.
Carter Yakemchuk jumped in his car Monday night for a 5-hour drive from Belleville to Detroit. The next day, he casually scored a goal and picked up an assist to help power the Senators to a win in his NHL debut. NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika has the behind-the-scenes details of Yak’s memorable night in the Motor City.
Shean Donovan had a chance to join Claire Hanna and Cheryl Pounder for a fun intermission interview about Jorian breaking into the NHL last week. Make sure you stick around until the end for the fun twist involving Jamie McLennan.
The Senators blue line has been ravaged by injuries lately, but Artem Zub has remained a constant and steady presence. Our Andrew Wilimek has the story of Zub’s impactful week – including a fight with Alex DeBrincat.
Sens prospect Hoyt Stanley had a standout season at Cornell. Sylvain St. Laurent caught up with the fourth-round pick from 2023, which includes a fun story about how Hoyt switched from forward to defence at a pretty late stage in his development.
Trivia answer: The Dineens are the only brothers to have both suited up for the Ottawa Senators. Gord was a defenceman with the Senators during the club’s first two seasons in the league, appearing in 109 games in 1992-93 and 1993-94. His brother Kevin then signed as a free agent with Ottawa prior to the 1999-00 season and played 67 games with the Senators that year.
