2021-2022 memorable moments
Well, I told myself that I would try and get a blog post out before the beginning of the 2022-23 season but that went tits up for me so here I am coming to you in time for the 2022-23 home opener!
A lot happened last season and also during the offseason, and
it would be remiss of me to not discuss this before getting to my preview/hopes
for this season. However, when starting to write this I realised that there was no way I would fit a recap of the weird shit last year and a formal discussion of team performance last year/a preview of this year into one post. So here comes part 2, where I’m going to attempt to wrap up some key memorable moments
of the 2021-2022 season, and the 2022 off-season.
DISCLAIMER: Please be aware that some dates and times may not be accurate due to me being in a different time zone. I’ve probably fucked up somewhere. But I don’t care.
The first half of the season
Following the absolute absurdity of the 2020-2021 all-Canada
season, despite a poor performance, we were at least riding the high of managing
to go our entire regular season without being shut out. Rookie players such as Tim Stützle
were starting to come into their own, and we got to watch the Leafs lose once
again in the first round in a game 7. And I don’t know about you guys, but I think
most of all, I was mostly looking forward to the 2021-22 season because it
meant we wouldn’t have to play the Habs 9 fucking times. With the new season
and fresh start, the Sens Sickos were ready for another year of weird, and true
to Sens’ form, things did indeed get weirder.
The chaos began as early as September 2021's preseason. Season ticket holders had been asked to choose one of several slogans to be a tagline for the year ahead. They were naturally, all horrible, but one of them in particular struck a chord for at least being entertaining.
Despite not ever being officially chosen (in fact, I don’t actually think any of them were?) “Sens in session” was born as a glorious meme that even the club’s social media team joined in with. There was something so charming about how stupid it was that stuck I guess.
This then, at some point, although I can’t pinpoint exactly when, presumably spawned the phrase “[to get] Sens’d”. Whenever the Sens’ did something surprising, such as winning a game against a better team, coming back from behind, or making a good trade/signing (I could go on) the phrase completely dominated my Twitter feed. As it should have.
[Side note: if you know who started Get Sens’d, please let
me know so I can edit this and credit them]
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The preseason also birthed probably one of my favourite memes in recent memory. TSN1200 had decided to tweet out selected quotes from player interviews. In this particular instance, Josh Norris had been praising fellow player Nick Paul. For reasons still mostly unknown to myself, Nick Paul was one of my favourite Sens. I figure it’s because his numbers were 13 and 21, two of my favourites, and because his presence on the ice always appeared so stable. He wasn’t super flashy, but he was consistent. We could always rely on him. But anyway, I digress. Back to the point. The TSN1200 twitter account inadvertently created this glorious gem:
I don’t even really have the words to describe how much joy “Soft hands and big” gave me over the course of the season. The poor grammar makes it what it is, but it’s also the fact I can still imagine Josh actually saying this anyway. Truly impeccable stuff.
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Up until this point, we had not seen Josh Norris' best friend, the one and only Brady Tkachuk. Fans had been anxiously waiting for a contract update for our favourite pest. I hadn't seen that much anxiety on Twitter since before the Karlsson trade. Thankfully, we finally got the good news on October 14th that he had signed with the Sens to a 7-year deal. Given the previous issues Sens had been having with signing players long term, it was a welcome relief. He was welcomed back to the team and to fans with open arms and it was only after his return that I felt the season had really begun.
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Another highlight of the 2021 portion of the season was the Josh Norris pumpkin incident. During an October breakaway video, both him and Tim Stützle were videoed carving pumpkins. Both chose to carve their numbers, and both made the mistake of forgetting that trying to cut out the holes in their numbers would not be an easy task. While Timmy’s at least looked bearable, Josh’s unfortunately did not have the same fate.
The video seemed to solidify in my mind that sometimes Josh is just a no thoughts head empty kind of guy, and I’m completely okay with that. Also featured in this incredible content, is Josh thinking that pumpkin goes into pumpkin spice lattes, and a surprise appearance from Timmy’s puppy Mochi.
Take a look back at the video here: https://twitter.com/Senators/status/1453078475997286407
The Sens’ breakaway videos were on point in the 2021-22 season. While it has been hard to pinpoint when exactly the Sens’ tradition I’m just about to talk about started, it appeared to first come to light following a breakaway video posted on the 1st November. The Sens began to dish out their very own hardest worker/player of the game award to a player in the locker room. The award? A combination of a bike helmet, and bright yellow framed sunglasses that look like they came straight out of a gas station near the 417 Queensway. The helmet/glasses were featured in team videos for the entire rest of the season, bringing joy to fans who couldn’t wait to see who received it each time.
Check out the first full video here: https://youtu.be/fdYiAW7BTUg
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Next up in memorable moments was a key moment not just in
the season but also in the Sens’ history. On November 5th, Brady Tkachuk
was made captain of the Ottawa Senators, becoming the 10th captain
in team history. Fans were delighted. I remember when he was drafted, I was in
the Senate Tavern in Byward Market (with several other notable Sens Twitter
friends). While many of us were originally not keen on the pick, Brady has spent
the last few years making his way into our hearts and becoming the absolute
shithead we know and love today. I for one, have never been happier to have
been proved completely wrong.
Unfortunately, it was also November when we saw the Sens
begin to suffer as a result of the Covid-19 protocol. While we were unsure of
which players actually had Covid and which were taken out as a precaution, members
of the team were dropping like flies, and it appeared for a long time the
league weren’t going to do anything about it. The lack of players and depth really
reared its ugly head on the 11th November, where we finally saw the
sad end to the Sens’ regular season no shutout streak. The Sens had gone months
and months without being shut out in a regular season (we’re going to ignore
the preseason game against the Leafs) and then they went and got shut out by
the bloody KINGS in a game that, in my opinion, should never have gone ahead in
the first place. After this, after having the 10th player for the Sens
placed in Covid-19 protocol, some of our games were *finally* postponed to
allow the team to recover and more players to return to the squad. This was too
late for our glorious streak, but still a welcome decision, despite the league
taking far too long to get to it.
Speaking of the LA Kings, they were the centre of yet another memorable moment of last season, also in November, on the 27th. During a scuffle in the third period of the game, Brendan Lemieux apparently realised he’d burnt off all the calories he’d had at dinner and that he was hungry again, because he decided to take a fucking bite out of Brady Tkachuk’s hand. TWICE. TWICE. HOW DO YOU DECIDE TO BITE SOMEONE TWICE. AND THINK NOBODY WILL NOTICE???
On camera you can see Brady holding up his hand and repeatedly shouting “He fucking bit me”. Even in their respective penalty boxes, the two screamed at each other afterwards. The incident sent shockwaves through the hockey community. Fans are used to seeing players getting the seven bells of shit knocked out of them, teeth flying, concussions, people practically trying to end each other’s careers, but biting? That’s a pretty rare occurrence.
The incident itself is well covered here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YNaQlGV9lI&ab_channel=JomboyMedia
Following this, Brady Tkachuk spoke to TSN1200 and was seething recalling the incident, calling Lemieux a brickhead, gutless, and most scathingly, a bad guy. Because that’s the highest level of insults nowadays. You can hear the interview and get a recap here: https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/brady-tkachuk-calls-lemieux-gutless-and-a-brick-head-after-biting-incident/
The second half of the season
Into the 2022 portion of the season, the news cycle slowed. We
got slaughtered by the Leafs on New Year’s Day, Brady Tkachuk went to the
all-star game in place of Drake Batherson who was injured shortly beforehand,
and the Sens had another bout of Covid-19 cases/Covid-19 protocol placements.
Perhaps the biggest and most important news story of the
entire of last season occurred on the 28th March. Unfortunately it
was announced that Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk had sadly passed away after
an illness. His untimely and unexpected passing shocked fans, the club, the
town of Ottawa, and the NHL. While a controversial and polarising figure, fans
still credit Melnyk for rescuing the team from bankruptcy and for being a passionate
owner that cared not just about the club but the local community. He had also
done a good deal of charity work. Currently as I write, his daughters are now at
the helm of the Ottawa Senators, with the question of future ownership still
looming.
*
The Sens’ season was coming to an end, but the content still felt like it was just beginning. In a now well-viewed video, Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris (why is it always those two?) were seen in local pub/bar the Heart and Crown after a crap loss to the Leafs on April 16th, performing the one and only Mr Brightside alongside a live band. While knocking down drinks and mingling with locals, it was just great to see them having fun. Hockey is full of players who come across like the most boring, flat, uncharismatic men in the damn world (yes, I’m looking at you mister certain 25-year-old whose house looks like something out of American Psycho). To see young players going out and living their best lives in the community that support them is really heart-warming. It’s also funny as shit.
For the full cut, please see: https://twitter.com/senscentral/status/1515715645786185737?lang=en-GB
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I would be physically unable to hit publish on this post without mentioning April’s Hottest Ottawa Senator poll and results. Following an initial discussion across Sens Twitter re the hotness of Thomas Chabot, prominent Sens Twitter user / Silver Seven Sens writer / Amelnykan Life co-host / friend of this blog Beata took it upon herself to survey people’s opinions of the hottest Ottawa Senator.
The survey and results were both published around the
end of April, which you can find here: https://twitter.com/CBeataE/status/1519449779826270211?s=20&t=dQoYRC6NBKnUSCN7YH6J2A
Shane Pinto was voted overall as the hottest Senator, and also
received the most votes from straight men, straight women and gay men. Mathieu
Joseph was more favoured by lesbians and bisexual/pansexual voters. Most
importantly however, it was determined that Thomas Chabot is indeed hot. He
scored particularly well with bisexuals/pansexuals, starting the #bisexualsforthomaschabot
movement. Big thanks to Beata for putting together this data, a truly iconic
piece of work that our lives have been thoroughly enriched by.
[Side note: my NHL playoff bracket was named Bisexuals for
Thomas Chabot, and I absolutely smashed it in every small league I joined.]
*
May 9th saw the end of a truly important era for
the Sens. It was announced that Pierre McGuire, senior vice president of player
development, had been relieved of his duties. He had been hired in July 2021
and made great waves with the Sens, doing such highly regarded, notable things
as uh… um… well… okay. I admit. I had to look up his job title for this blog
post. I literally had no idea what he did. Did he even do anything with the
Sens? What was the point of hiring him? Did someone pay us to get him off TV
for a bit? Seriously this was the weirdest decision Sens had made in a while (and we sent a third rounder to Vancouver to get Hamonic), and I still don’t understand
it to this day, but I guess I don’t have to anymore.
*
On the 19th May we saw bike helmet of the year
awarded to Anton Forsberg, a truly prestigious award. Forsberg had originally
been claimed off waivers in March 2021 and while the Sens probably intended for
him to be a good backup for Matt Murray, Anton really put the team on his back
in the 2021-22 season and started to become a hit with Sens fans. With new signing Cam Talbot currently injured, the responsibility
once again is falling to Anton for this upcoming season (and as I write, so
far, he has indeed been solid).
Catch the full video here: https://twitter.com/Senators/status/1527069270491865088?s=20&t=KuHwmtoCtqroWQMkatGg6w
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Moving swiftly back across to the incredible content created
by Sens fans, we reach the one, the only, GULK.
In mid June 2022, Sens twitter user Frank Senators, announced that a new player for the Sens had appeared to them in a dream. That player was GULK. GULK wears number 5 for the Sens (sorry Nick Holden), and over the course of the next few days, we learnt more and more about GULK. But perhaps the most astounding part of this story, was the fact that the Senators’ social media team got in on the joke too.
From writing HBD, to including the Gabriel Pizza sponsorship, even down to the AI generated picture, it was
all perfect. It’s dumb silly interactions like this between fans and the social
media team that just make me love being a Sens fan.
*
Which brings me to my next point. Readers, if you weren’t already
aware, which you bloody should be by now, the Sens Twitter community is a
powerful entity. Most of the time, we are a weird, annoying, pesky beast of a fanbase
that laughs at ourselves even more than we laugh at others. The collective absurdity
we have is unparalleled. However, sometimes, we come together over good, wholesome
things. This story is no exception.
Since 2020, a social media account https://twitter.com/AlfieToTheHall had been created, which was
dedicated to getting former Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson to the Hockey Hall
of Fame. The account owners had already discovered then that there was the
option for public submissions, but it wasn’t until mid-June 2022 that the
campaign took flight. A video shared by them on Twitter with #AlfieToTheHall went viral
and was supported by many notable public figures around the Senators and the
city of Ottawa itself. The campaign continued to be amplified, and on June 27th
it was officially announced that Alfie had been selected as one of this year’s
inductees. It was an incredible moment for Alfie, who deserved it so much, but also an incredible moment for Sens fans. We had had one
of our most famous players chosen to enter the HHOF, but also, it felt like we had been noticed. The Sens are often one of Canada's most overlooked teams (see also Winnipeg), so it felt good for us to get something for once.
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The penultimate item on our list, we now arrive at many people's favourite video of the off-season. You guessed it, the trade call video.
For one of the breakaway videos, GMPD was filmed apparently on a call to Kyle Davidson, Blackhawks
GM, where he confirmed the Alex DeBrincat trade and thus announced him as an Ottawa
Senator. However, the video appears to be a staged re-enactment of the moment
itself. You can see Pierre’s home screen on his phone the entire time, leading
many to wonder if he was really on the phone at all. Not only this, but he
never ended the call. Finally, the likelihood of him being able to get social
media producers to film him making the call/being on the call at the right time
is incredibly slim.
It is possible to try and debunk this video. Pierre may have been in a call but had his home screen open at the same time, so his call could have been active in the top of his screen, which we would have not been able to see. He didn’t need to hang up, because Kyle, at the other end of the phone, either had already hung up, or Pierre presumed he would- total power move if true by the way. The likelihood is though, he was never on the phone.
[Side note: I’d like to think he was, just not to Kyle. It brings me so much joy to imagine PD calling someone being like hey can you do me a favour, pretend to be someone else on the phone to me so I can rehearse announcing a trade to you, yeah yeah, it’s for a video thing we're doing, it's going to be great.]
All signs point to a re-enactment, and does my analytical attempt at debunking it even matter? Of course not. The truth is, it’s just a simply incredible piece of media.
Relive it with me here: https://youtu.be/VBtw-f3ED1M
PD was that bloody excited he got Alex DeBrincat that he got
the social media team to make an entire video about it. It’s one of the most
endearing things he’s ever done. He looks prouder than my cat does when he
makes it on top of the wardrobe. The man is literally beaming. He knows he has
just fleeced the Blackhawks and won over Sens fans immediately. He knew at that
moment, it truly was the summer of Pierre.
*
And finally, the summer of Pierre is what we are ending this piece on.
GMPD was a man on a mission in July. In the space of several days, he got Alex DeBrincat for a 2022 first and second, along with a 2024 third (basically daylight robbery), traded away Matt Murray for future considerations (which as I write is looking like a smart move), swapped Gus the bus (we will miss you) for Cam Talbot, locked up Josh Norris long term, signed Claude Giroux, and traded Connor Brown for a second rounder in 2024.
The man went full whirlwind, drunk on his new found freedom to actually make moves and spend money. For the most part so far, it looks like it's paying off. The Sens have a fresh new look, while also still having our loveable core players. And boy oh boy am I excited to see them on the ice this season.
The wrap up's wrap up
There we have it folks. Memorable moments from the 2021-2022 season.
Honourable mentions go to the TikTok Matthew Tkachuk made about Brady's fashion sense, and the video where Sens prospects were tasked with drawing our logo from memory.
This post would not have been possible without several sources used to jolt my memory about some of the events. Many have been quoted/linked/shown in photos above, but I would like to shout out the below as well.
https://senslore.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page
https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/senators
https://www.silversevensens.com/
Until then, thanks for reading x
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