This was the first Senators’ game I have attended in a long time. The last one was when Montréal was in town a few years back, and the atmosphere was electric.

I often knock the Senators and their fans for having a rink in the middle of nowhere, yet still manage to have traffic and 10-15 walks from the car to the rink. It is absurd that it takes almost an hour to get from downtown to my seat. But I digress.

Yesterday’s crowd was simply awful. The announced attendance was something like 17 000, but there couldn’t be more than 15 000 people in the arena. Half the upper-deck was empty. (Most notably in the corners).

The night started off with much promise. It was Canadian Armed Forces day at the game, and thousands of Canadian soldiers were at hand, in uniform. There was more patriotism than usual, and probably more than I would care have associated to hockey, but at least the fans were standing up and cheering.

Then, the game started. It was complete silence. We could hear the players talking to each other on the ice. “Vinnie, Vinnie!” or “Heads up!”. Faint chants of “Go Sens Go” could be heard, only to die from their own irrelevance seconds later. The music playing in the arena was straight out of a Dance Mix 1987 Cassette. Hits from the 70s and 80s was the only thing playing, including such classics as “We Will Rock You” and a little something from the 90s with “Cotton Eye Joe.” After big moments in the game, when the Senators had a powerplay and were pressing, we were treated to some U2 “In the Name of Love”. The awkwardness can not even be put into words.

What is there to say about the “Noise-O-Meter”? The loudest I heard the crowd was when they put this stupid meter up on the jumbotron. People started cheering as loud as they could to make the meter go louder and louder. But even that was not enough. After a few seconds, most fans went back to just being silent and talking between themselves. Yet the fan-o-meter kept going louder and louder, presumably because it assumed fans would be able to carry a cheer for more than 8 seconds.

Speaking of jumbotron, the replays were non-existent. After goals, cancelled goals, big hits, penalties, whatever, fans would be shown some ridiculous videos about “Treats from October”, where videos of the greatest moments of October were shown or a segments plugging Sens “Army” wear. When they would eventually show a reply (minutes after the fact, when no one cared anymore), the video would be grainy and the replay was too fast to see anything notable.

The game was scrappy, granted. But it had everything a fan could want. Quick goals being exchanged, plenty of power-plays, production from big players (including Stamkos, Spezza, Alfie!), and it was wide open. We had hits, we had controversy, we had players show their frustration (Kovalev), and more.

I tried starting a “Go Sens Go” or a “Pretire #11” chant, only to be shushed by some 63 year old lady sitting right in front of me. She even started blocking her ears during goals, as presumably, the siren was too loud for her. When Leclaire would make a great save, fans would sit silently. I hate the wave more than anyone, but even attemps to start a wave were stopped short.

But all of this could have been forgiven. Had it not been for hundreds of fans leaving the game, with minutes to go in the third period, with the Senators tied with Tampa Bay 2-2. Something that completely baffled me, until I saw even more fans leaving after the third period. THE GAME WAS STILL TIED. AND GOING TO OVERTIME.

When they announced the scores of the other games, and the announcer said “Montreal won over Boston 2-1.” the crowd should have started boohing. Instead, we could actually hear the Montreal fans in the arena cheer.

When I called in to the Team 1200 phone-in, the screened took down my name and phone number, he asked me what I wanted to talk about. I said it was a terrific game and I couldn’t believe how quiet the arena was. He said “Thanks buddy. Maybe next time.” and hung up.

Ottawa Senators fans need to do something. How can we tolerate having such garbage “fans”?

Look, anything is better than what we have now.

LOVE the title.

i too find the games too quiet, and the stupid video skits on the jumbotron annoying. and its strange when you get looked like a leper for being loud and heckling the other team at a hockey game. noise meter is also terrible. so is that gladiator.