Ottawa Senators

The Canadian Tire Centre (as it’s now known) was built in 1996 during the 90s building boom of the NHL. It was also built far from the centre of Ottawa. While the outskirts of Kanata is officially within Ottawa city limits these days, the Senators find themselves with the furthest rink from their own city centre in the NHL. When originally built, the CTC was set to be the centrepiece of a new suburban hub which never fully materialized. While near 30 years of urban sprawl has caught up to the area, the rink still feels like its off on its own in a field somewhere. It’s a rather large building with pinkish siding mostly oval in shape. It is surrounded by parking lots, yet the parking situation in Ottawa is among the worst I’ve ever seen. Getting out after a Sens game can easily take up to an hour.

Once inside the CTC feels a tad cavernous. While it doesn’t feel quite as large as Buffalo or Pittsburgh, it still just feels very spacious. It’s a fairly no frills building by today’s NHL standards, and with constant talk of a new building being built closer to downtown there probably isn’t a huge need to keep updating it. I felt the rink didn’t do anything poorly, but nothing stood out too much either compared to my other NHL experiences.

Over the years the Ottawa 67’s would play occasional one off games here, mostly during the first round of the playoffs when the Civic Centre downtown would be booked for home shows. However, the then-named Scotiabank Place become a temporary fulltime home for the 67’s for two full seasons from 2012-2014 while the football stadium (which the Civic Centre sits under) and the surrounding area underwent massive renovations which blocked off the 67’s from using their actual home. A 67’s game here even with over 5,000 people made the place even more spartan and cavernous.

Plans are finally in place to build the Senators a new proper downtown arena in Lebreton Flats, so the CTC’s days are numbered. However it is still a very slow-moving process, so if you would like to get to a game here you still have plenty of time.