Most people in Southern Ontario will tell you that Toronto is the hockey capital of the world. South of the border, Detroit gets the moniker of Hockeytown U.S.A.
That leaves Ottawa hockey fans wondering where our city fits into the equation. The hockey landscape is a little confusing in the nation’s capital right now. The Ottawa Junior 67s, a long-time staple of the local sports scene, are experiencing lower average attendance figures than usual.
The Ottawa Senators, meanwhile, will likely test the patience of fans this year, in a season that marks the early stages in plans for a long-term rebuild. Not to mention the team’s inconvenient Kanata location.
But one hockey avenue remains unexplored by most fans: men’s university hockey. The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and the Carleton University Ravens play at the highest level of non-professional hockey in the world, yet they struggle to generate interest compared to schools in Western Canada and even Quebec.
Less is expected from schools in Southern Ontario, where only the Toronto Maple Leafs can feed the appetite of fans in that region and even major junior teams struggle to put fans in the seats. But this city is better than that. Hockey fans in Ottawa know good hockey when they see it. That’s why the Ottawa Junior 67s still rank among the top Canadian Hockey League teams in attendance figures year after year.
It’s time for the Gee-Gees and the Ravens to finally become relevant in the nation’s capital.
The Ravens, returning the majority of their players from last year, are ready to emerge as a serious contender for a national championship this season. The Gee-Gees, meanwhile, led by dynamic players like Kyle Ireland and Luc Olivier Blain, are also primed to show they’re serious about making a run.
With these expectations, combined with what could stand to be a long season for Senators fans, there may never be a better time for Ottawa hockey fans to embrace their university hockey teams, and to show Canada just what it means to be a hockey town.
After celebrating 120 seasons in the CIS in 2009, the Gee-Gees bounced back from a last place finish to earn a playoff spot in 2010. Carleton, on the other hand, enters its fifth season back in CIS action after a 33-year hiatus.
The Ravens spent a good part of last season ranked as a top-10 team in the country, finishing with a record of 18-8-2 under rookie head coach Marty Johnston.
The high point of Carleton’s season came last February when the Ravens shut-out previously-undefeated and top-seeded McGill University in back to back games at the Carleton University Ice House. Before then McGill hadn’t been shut-out in consecutive games in more than 100 years.
That’s a milestone for this young, emerging program that most hockey fans in Ottawa should have been excited about.
Unfortunately, university hockey remains vastly underrated as the Ravens and Gee-Gees struggle to attract fans, although attendance numbers are hardly indicative of the quality of hockey that’s played.
Because most CIS rosters are draped with major junior hockey veterans, the quality of play is higher in the CIS than it is in major junior leagues.
The NHL has plucked its fair share of players from the CIS. Steve Rucchin, Jody Shelley, Mathieu Darche, Cory Cross, and Joel Ward are among well-known NHLers who spent time in varsity hockey.
So if the quality of CIS hockey is so high, why can’t it catch on with the rest of hockey fans in Canada, particularly in Ottawa?
First let’s ignore the fact that some of the top colleges for hockey in the United States average as high as 15,000 fans in attendance per game. It’s apples to oranges – the CIS is not the NCAA and never will be.
Lakehead University is the gold standard for CIS teams, drawing more than 3,000 fans on an average night. Nipissing University is a close second, averaging 2,500. That’s understandable, given that Thunder Bay and Nipissing are out of the range of any professional or major junior teams.
But even the three Quebec-based teams in the CIS out-do the Gee-Gees and Ravens by a fair margin in attendance figures. The 2011 season offers a chance for local hockey fans to change that.