What a difference a year can make: at this time last year Ottawa Senators fans were hurling hamburgers onto the ice at the Canadian Tire Centre in honour of their newest hero, goaltender Andrew Hammond — better known as the Hamburglar.
This year’s Sens will need another hamburger miracle to avoid the heaping pile of mediocre Canadian hockey teams missing the playoffs.
As time dwindles away on the 2015-16 season, hope itself is drying up faster than beer sales on Sens Mile during a non-playoff year. The Sens would need a near identical run to last year’s to have any chance at the playoffs.
Last spring fans came out in droves, packing destinations along Sens Mile to support their then-dominant team.
In the final two months of the season the Sens recorded a 16-3-3 record, earning a playoff berth as seventh placed team in the Eastern Conference. Despite the eventual loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, Sens fans remember the season fondly for the remarkable run the team made on the back of its rookie goaltender.
The problem with that moment of nostalgia is that it’s just that: an idea that seems both sensational and untouchable to this year’s team. Gone are the days when Hammond won 20 of his 24 games and in is the more realistic role for him as the backup goaltender to Craig Anderson who, while above average, likely won’t be enough to carry the team to a playoff berth.
This year’s Senators have laboured to a 28-26-6 record. With only 22 games remaining, the Sens sit six points out of the final playoff spot with only an eight per cent chance at making the postseason, according to Hockey Reference the website. While the Sens pulled off the improbable last season, the likelihood of repeating would be described as minimal at best.
Despite the Senators’ struggles throughout this season, it’s not as if their Canadian counterparts are doing any better. Of Canada’s seven NHL hockey teams, not a single one is currently in playoff contention.
The Montreal Canadiens have suffered immeasurably with Carey Price on the injured reserve, the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames are doing soul searching of their own outside of a playoff spot and the only thing that the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs are in contention for is the first overall pick in this year’s draft.
This element of Canadian mediocrity is all too familiar for hockey fans. Only four Canadian teams in the past decade have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals and not one has brought the cup North of the border since the 1993 Canadiens.
There’s a better chance than not that no Canadian team will make the playoffs this season, a failure that hasn’t occurred since 1970.
The situation for Canada’s NHL teams is undeniably dire. Sure, the Senators still have a chance at making the playoffs, owning one of the world’s best defenceman in Erik Karlsson, but certainly it’s certainly a long shot. All the Dion Phaneufs in the world won’t be able to drag this team out of mediocrity and into the spotlight.
Instead, it’s time to reminisce: remember how crazy it was when hamburgers were thrown on the ice before it all came crashing down to earth?
Fans had fun. With time and a lot of luck, maybe they could again too.