I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m originally from Canada, and part of my DNA is that I’m a pretty big hockey fan. When I was much younger, my dad and I were a part of some local hockey history when our city got a brand new expansion NHL hockey team. However, an interesting tidbit is not only did we get a new hockey team, but we got to celebrate 11 Stanley Cup wins by hanging banners in our arena. How is this possible and what does it have to do with coin collecting? Well let me explain.

Flashback, the year was 1989. I was growing up in Ottawa Canada and to keep the stereotype alive, being Canadian I was a diehard hockey fan. Unfortunately Ottawa, which little known fact here in the USA, is actually the Capital of Canada didn’t have a professional hockey team.

Ottawa had been home to the original Senators team, a founding NHL franchise and 11-time Stanley Cup champion. They played in the NHA that eventually became the NHL from 1883 to 1934 when due to financial struggles were moved to St. Louis as the Eagles but folded shortly after with all players being transferred to other teams.

Sure we had a fairly well known and popular minor league team, but when it came to the NHL many of us locals were stuck rooting for the next closest teams either the Montreal Canadiens or the Toronto Maple Leafs. Thankfully that would eventually change.

The NHL dad recently announced plans to expand the league. Real estate developer Bruce Firestone and some financial partners put in a bid to “Bring Back the Senators”. Ads were placed in local newspapers to try and persuade the public to help support the proposed team. For a measly $25 per seat pledge people could secure an opportunity to be among the first fans offered season tickets if the new team was granted.

I remember my dad brining this exact article home and showing it to me during our dinner, and together we filled it out and mailed it off the next day. It was very exciting news, but at this point it was kind of like a kickstarter, we still didn’t know for sure if it would happen.

Then on December 12th, 1990 the NHL approved two new franchises, the Tampa Bay Lighting and the Ottawa Senators to start pay in the 1992-93 season. There was no time to waste for the new team. A coach and staff was needed, then an expansion draft to start putting together the team were only a few things on the ever growing to do list before they could hit the ice. During this time my father confirmed our interest in season tickets and we eventually picked a day to go in an select our seat locations. Because we were so early in submitting that initial pledge we were able to get seats just two rows back from the ice near the Home team bench along the blue line. These were near perfect seats in our minds.

The new state of the art arena (for that time period) wouldn’t be ready until early 1996, so in the meantime their first home arena was the Ottawa civic Center currently home to the minor league team I mentioned earlier the Ottawa 67’s. This smaller arena was retrofitted with more seating, executive suites, and larger press boxes to try and prepare for the larger professional games.

On October 8th, 1992 the Senators finally jumped on the ice for an incredible first home game against NHL dynasty the Montreal Canadiens and now geographic rival. The deal I had with my parents for weeknight games was that my homework always had to be done before my dad got home from work. On opening night my homework was long completed as nothing was going to make me miss this first official game. Traffic was backed up, parking was crazy, and trying to get inside the arena required quite a bit of patience but we were ready. As they ripped out tickets allowing us inside the building we were then gifted a special opening night program and another gift that we will look at shortly.

The energy inside that building was incredible. Prior to the first puck drop, they held a special ceremony hanging 11 Stanley Cup winning banners from the arenas rafters to commemorate the achievements of the orignal Ottawa Hockey Club. These are not officially recognized by the NHL for the current iteration of the team, but that didn’t matter to us hometown fans, we were proud to have this team back representing our incredible city.

Fans were on their feed for almost the entire, and as if by destiny after all the time and effort put into getting this team back. Ottawa was able to win their very first regular season game 5 to 3.

Overall we didn’t have a great initial season, but that’s to be expected with a new team. We continued with our season tickets for the next 4 seasons, and even got to enjoy their first full season in the new arena originally called the Palladium and since then was renamed the Canadian Tire Center. Eventually we had to give up our tickets to the Senators because our family was moving down to New Jersey. I’ve seen Ottawa play in person a few times over the years again the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers and more recently down here in Florida again the Tampa Bay Lighting. I’ve gone to playoff games, and international tournaments. I’ve seen Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and so many other Hall of Fame players play in person, but nothing was as exciting as that very first game in Ottawa bak in 1992.

Recently I was in our garage cleaning up some things and came across a large moving box that contained all my Ottawa Senators souvenirs. There were all our ticket stubs, team magazines, newspaper articles and even some pucks that I caught during a few of the games. That’s when I came across that special gift we received on Opening night this limited edition commemorative coin.

I’d forgotten all about this stuff and really enjoyed revisiting this and wanted to share it all with you. Thank you for indulging me with this little trip down memory lane. I’m sure not everyone out there is a hockey fan, and probably more rare would be if you even knew who the Senators were. Thank you for reading about one of my childhood passions and this very special coin in my collection.

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