My favourite Ottawa Senators moment
For the evening of June 2, 2007, thousands of Ottawa Senators fans headed to Scotiabank Place to witness the modern franchise's first Stanley Cup Finals game. The team was down 2-0 to the Anaheim Ducks in the series, but that didn't calm the storm; thousands upon thousands of fans were there early, in the parking lot and the Red Zone, amping up for what was the biggest game in team history.
Things didn't start well for the Sens when Andy McDonald scored just a few minutes into the first giving the Ducks the lead. Ottawa fought back from that deficit as well as a 2-1 score, but found themselves down 3-2 when Ryan Getzlaf restored Anaheim's one-goal lead just before the mid-way point of the second.
I was lucky enough to be at the game, and what happened next still stands out in my mind: Thousands of fans were standing, and seemingly out of nowhere, a chant began. Daniel Alfredsson had stepped onto the ice, and the crowd started up: "AL-FIE! AL-FIE! AL-FIE!" As far as I can recall, that was the first Alfie! chant, and it came at a pretty good time.
And of course, the captain obliged. Shortly after the chants started up, Alfredsson broke into the zone and dropped the puck to Joe Corvo at the point, and worked his way to the front of the net while wearing Getzlaf like an overcoat. Corvo passed the puck over to Wade Redden, who directed it towards the net where--naturally--Daniel Alfredsson directed the puck in, tying the game and setting the stage for the legendary Dean McAmmond to score the winner just over two minutes later.
Was Alfredsson's goal a pretty one? No, it was ugly as they come, and was initially waved off. But that doesn't show up on the scoresheet, and it's mostly a forgotten detail when I think back on that day.
That is my favourite Ottawa Senators moment.