OTTAWA - The Ottawa Senators often feel unwelcome in their own building, so they decided to take matters into their own hands.
Hockey fans from the Ottawa region will be given priority to buy tickets when Senators host the rival Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
The goal is to ensure the Canadian Tire Centre is packed with Senators fans, which is often not the case when the Canadiens or the Toronto Maple Leafs are in town.
"To better serve local Ottawa Senators fans, priority for Round 1 home playoff tickets will be given to residents within the National Capital Region, Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec," ticket agency CapitalTickets.ca announced Monday. "Residency will be based on credit card billing address. The Ottawa Senators reserve the right, upon notice, to cancel and refund orders from residents outside the designated area."
Ottawa players were supportive of the initiative when told of the ticket strategy.
"It would be awesome to have all our fans in here," said Senators winger Mark Stone. "We love our fans and they've been great for us over the last season. They stuck behind us. They had a couple of tough stretches this year and they really supported us and obviously we want them to be the ones sitting in the building."
