HabsCast Hockey Blog

Anyone Up for a Habs-Sens Playoff Series?

Uploaded on April 1, 2007 (flickr.com)
by Sabrina Tang

After an extremely lackluster beginning, the Ottawa Senators seem to have turned this season around with the help of their Captain Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley. They are now breathing down the Habs’ necks, trailing them by one point and sitting impatiently in 5th position in the east. The season series is tied at 2 games apiece and the two clubs will meet four more times this season, two of those meetings being part of a home and home starting in Ottawa on February 8th. As we head into the All- Star break things could change drastically by the end of the year but I have begun to entertain the thought of the Habs and Sens meeting in the first round of the playoffs. Last week a writer for the Montreal Gazette stated that a meeting in the playoffs would be great to heat things up between these two teams and that no one in Montreal hated the Senators. I totally agree that it would be great to see these teams battle in a 7 game series but the second statement was hard for me to believe. I realize that no one in Montreal hates the Senators and it is hard for me, as I live in Ottawa, to imagine that there is not a lot anticipation in Montreal for a Sens-Habs game.

The Canadiens are one of the most popular teams in the league and are always considered premium games that jolt ticket prices upward. Here in Ottawa there is a huge Montreal fan base, which is clear to see every time these two teams face off in the nation’s capital. Thousands of fans file into enemy territory every time the Habs come to face off against the Sens. During the ceremonial face-off of their last encounter all that could be heard was a chant of “SAKU, SAKU, SAKU.” I can just imagine that place being nuts during a playoff game involving these two teams. For Montreal fans here in Ottawa the rivalry is going strong and a playoff series is just what is needed to push it over the edge.

The Habs and the Sens could put on a classic playoff series, just think about it: Huet vs. Emery, two goaltenders playing the best hockey of their lives. Koivu and Alfredsson, two captains, one having a career year and the other starting to get it in gear and demonstrating why he has been considered a premium player in the league. Both teams have a lot of youth in them. Higgins, Latendresse, Komisarek, Johnson, Spezza, Kelly and Vermette just to name a few, would give this series a lot of jump and I’m sure their excitement would rub off on everyone else, making the series that more exciting. Also, if Heatley continues his scoring touch into the playoffs and Kovalev turns it on, since he is supposed to be a playoff guy, I would love to see them go at it and light it up night after night. I’m going to the game on February 8th here in Ottawa with a couple of friends, one being a Habs fanatic and I can’t wait. A Habs-Sens series in Ottawa would generate an atmosphere that would be beyond electric. So hopefully come April, Habs fans here in Ottawa can suit up, head over to Kanata and drown out the “Go Sens Go” chants with our own, like we do every time.

The Canadiens are one of the most popular teams in the league and are always considered premium games that jolt ticket prices upward. Here in Ottawa there is a huge Montreal fan base, which is clear to see every time these two teams face off in the nation’s capital. Thousands of fans file into enemy territory every time the Habs come to face off against the Sens. During the ceremonial face-off of their last encounter all that could be heard was a chant of “SAKU, SAKU, SAKU.” I can just imagine that place being nuts during a playoff game involving these two teams. For Montreal fans here in Ottawa the rivalry is going strong and a playoff series is just what is needed to push it over the edge.

The Habs and the Sens could put on a classic playoff series, just think about it: Huet vs. Emery, two goaltenders playing the best hockey of their lives. Koivu and Alfredsson, two captains, one having a career year and the other starting to get it in gear and demonstrating why he has been considered a premium player in the league. Both teams have a lot of youth in them. Higgins, Latendresse, Komisarek, Johnson, Spezza, Kelly and Vermette just to name a few, would give this series a lot of jump and I’m sure their excitement would rub off on everyone else, making the series that more exciting. Also, if Heatley continues his scoring touch into the playoffs and Kovalev turns it on, since he is supposed to be a playoff guy, I would love to see them go at it and light it up night after night. I’m going to the game on February 8th here in Ottawa with a couple of friends, one being a Habs fanatic and I can’t wait. A Habs-Sens series in Ottawa would generate an atmosphere that would be beyond electric. So hopefully come April, Habs fans here in Ottawa can suit up, head over to Kanata and drown out the “Go Sens Go” chants with our own, like we do every time.

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