Sens Mile officially opened Friday afternoon, as the City of Ottawa celebrates the Senators’ return to the NHL playoffs.
“It’s a place where fans can go and be together. It can be fun to watch the game at home, but there’s nothing like being around other people when your team is in the playoffs,” said Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe after the first signs were installed at Lisgar and Elgin streets Friday afternoon.
“Let’s make this a big party in downtown Ottawa to celebrate the success of our team.”
The signs will go up along Elgin Street, between Gladstone Avenue and Laurier Avenue, to mark Sens Mile.
Elgin Street has been known as the Sens Mile since the Senators’ run to the Stanley Cup finals in 2007, and Council passed a motion in 2010 to dedicate Elgin Street as Sens Mile during playoff games. Elgin Street is a popular spot for Senators fans to gather and watch games.
At the Lieutenant’s Pump, owner John Couse knows playoff hockey means a big boost in business.
“We’ll have a full house. We put in extra chairs and we pack them in as much as we can, and it’ll be a big boost for business for sure,” he tells CTV News Ottawa.
“The most exciting thing is that anything can happen in the playoffs, right? I mean, we’re hoping that we meet Toronto because I think if we meet Toronto in the first round, we have a good chance of going to the second round.”
The team is hoping to stretch Sens Mile as far as it can go as well, as the team look to solidify their first-round matchup, taking on the playoff-chasing Montreal Canadiens Friday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.
“There was a lot of build up, and you know, the mile kind of grows after each game and the importance of each game gets a little a little busier, a little bigger, a little more activity down there,” says team President and CEO Cyril Leeder.
“I encourage folks right now to obviously get to a game if they can for the playoffs. If not, get to your local restaurant, your bar and support the team.”
The Senators clinched their first playoff spot in eight years on Tuesday night. The Senators still have four regular season games left before opening the playoffs, with the first round of the playoffs expected to begin the weekend of April 19-20.
The Senators say single-game playoff tickets should be on sale between April 15 and 18.
