Hockey: Senators Puck Drop

by Amy My kid likes hockey.

She’s not even two but she’s been well exposed. We’ve taken her to two Sens games so far, we watched the Olympics with her, I’ve taken her to the rink to watch her Daddy coach. She owns three jerseys (Sens, Team Canada and the Jets, if you’re wondering).

We were in Canadian Tire not that long ago and she pointed to a picture of a kid in goalie equipment and said ‘hockey!’ We were listening the Sens Hockeyville game on the car radio on the way home and she pointed and said ‘hockey.’ Any time she sees a Senators logo, she points and says ‘hockey.’

Her Daddy taught her to say Alfie – It was one of her first words.

So when we heard about the Senators Puck Drop, a season kick-off that included an open practice and the unveiling of their new heritage jersey, we decided it was a nice way to spend a Saturday morning.

When we drove into the parking lot and Maggie started yelling ‘Hockey! Hockey!’ and then ran through the parking lot yelling ‘Hockey! Hockey!’ we thought just maybe it was a good decision.

Outside Scotiabank Place, there was a tent set up with used equipment for sale. Inside, Sensations was open so people could look at the new jerseys. Upstairs on the second concourse there were activities for kids: accuracy shooting; face painting; an inflatable slide shaped like Spartacat and even a man making balloon animals.

There was no charge to get in, but the team was collecting donations for the Food Bank.

We went straight out to the first concourse and found some seats right behind the net and waited for the jersey unveiling and the open practice. There were quite a few people in attendance and Maggie had a good time just looking around at all the activity before the team came out on the ice. She did start getting a little impatient, we had to wait about half an hour from the time we arrived, but once the players came out and started skating around she was drawn right in.

The Senators don’t hold a lot of open practices, so it’s not something I’ve ever gotten to see either and I had a good time too, watching the drills and seeing the new players and my old favourites.

Before we left we stopped in the front entrance where they had camera and bright green cloth set up, so you could get a picture of your kids ‘in action.’ We got a pretty great one.

For future Ottawa Senators events, check their web site events listings here. I highley recommend the Sens Skills which will take place in mid to late February. Tickets are inexpensive, the players have a lot of fun with it and the ticket money goes to charity. It's a great time to get out and see the team in person if you can't afford tickets to a game.

Amy is mom to 20 month old Maggie and a 5 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind. She also shares a blog with her husband at boughner.ca where they talk together about parenting a daughter.