OTTAWA (AP) -Some would say it has taken Ottawa 15 years to reach the Stanley Cup finals, while others will argue it’s really been an 80-year wait.
However you slice it, the NHL’s ultimate playoff series is returning to the Canadian capital for the first time since 1927, and the league’s second edition of the Senators are in position to claim their first championship.
Ottawa advanced to the Stanley Cup finals Saturday with a 3-2 overtime victory against the Sabres in Buffalo, N.Y. The Senators won the Eastern Conference final series in five games and will meet either Detroit or Anaheim in the next round. The Western matchup is tied 2-2 with Game 5 on Sunday.
There are 11 Stanley Cup banners hanging from Scotiabank Place’s rafters, including seven that date to championships won before the league’s formation in December 1917.
None of those banners belong to the expansion franchise that in 1992-93 returned NHL hockey to Ottawa for the first time since 1934.
The original Senators franchise – which moved 73 years ago to become the St. Louis Eagles before folding after the 1934-35 season – was the most successful of the league’s four founding teams.
Ottawa, which had won Stanley Cup challenges in 1903, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’09 and ’11, added four more Cup titles in the newly formed league’s first 10 years.
In 1927, the Senators faced Boston in the first showdown for hockey’s ultimate trophy contested solely between NHL teams.
As was the case in 1920, ’21, and ’23, Ottawa again claimed the Cup, this time with a 3-1 win over the Bruins on April 13.
Add A Comment