Even if the Senators break through next season, they'll still be ten years removed from winning their last playoff series. So it can be easy for Sens fans to feel like they cheer for a hard-luck franchise.
But it hasn’t always been that way.
In 2002-03, the Senators finished with a 52-21-9 record and 113 points, capturing the NHL's Presidents' Trophy as the league's top regular-season team. Led by head coach Jacques Martin, Ottawa finally avoided another playoff collision with Toronto when the Philadelphia Flyers eliminated the Leafs in the first round.
The Senators would go on to defeat both the Islanders and Flyers, reaching the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in franchise history. Looking back now, it was the high-water mark of an era that featured stars such as Daniel Alfredsson, Marian Hossa, Zdeno Chara and Patrick Lalime.
One of the team's greatest strengths was on the right side, where Alfredsson, Hossa and Martin Havlat gave opponents matchup nightmares.
“Our right side was awfully scary,” winger Shaun Van Allen said. “We had basically three number one right-wingers right there. On one team. So it didn’t matter who you tried to cover. Someone’s getting a very good matchup.
“We were deep. We weren’t really missing a whole lot. Maybe just a bit of experience, but talent was definitely not a problem. And you don’t win the league without being really consistent and really good.”
Despite their dominant regular season, there were still nerves heading into the playoffs. Ottawa opened with a 3-0 loss to the Islanders before winning four straight. Centre Todd White said their expectations were huge.
“I think every year you always think that you have the team to get it done," White recalled. "Because 16 teams make it, and usually all 16 teams are capable. I know LA won it from the 8th seed. St. Louis won it after being dead last in December.
“I remember Game 1 against the Islanders. It was kind of a stinker (a 3-0 loss). I think Garth Snow was the goaltender for the Islanders and they shut us out in our rink. And, it was kind of like, ‘Uh-oh, is this gonna happen again?’ We were fortunate we were able to end up winning the next four games and get through them. But it was definitely a little bit of nerves in that first game.”
One of White's favourite memories remains his double-overtime winner in Game 3 on Long Island.
“That was my most exciting individual moment ever,” White said. “We go back to New York, the series is tied, and being able to get the overtime winner, I don’t think I ever had a feeling like that on the ice.”
After dispatching Philadelphia in six games, Ottawa finally broke through to the conference final.
“The second round had been kind of a roadblock for us,” White said. “I think once we got through there, we were pretty excited, in terms of seeing what we’d be able to do. And that was a big moment for the fans as well to get to the conference finals and playing further than the team has ever gone. So it was pretty exciting.”
The city embraced the team like never before.
“Everywhere you went in the city, it was all about the Sens,” Van Allen said. “It gives you an extra jolt. Like, there’s nothing better. Before the game starts and you step on the ice and the flags are going, the people are going crazy. The whole city was involved. It was a community affair and you didn’t want to let them down because they were so supportive of us.”
Ottawa opened the Eastern Conference Final against New Jersey with an overtime victory, thanks to Van Allen.
“That’s the backyard rink or street hockey dream,” Van Allen said. “To score an overtime goal in the playoffs. It was a D to D pass, then up to Peter Schaefer, over to me, I passed it back to Marty Havlat, and then just went to the net. And Marty put it right on my tape like he does all the time. And then it’s just a tap in.”
But the Devils responded by winning the next three games.
“I think we were pretty disappointed,” White said. “It wasn’t like we’d played terribly in the next three games, but the Devils had a way of finding ways to win. And it’s not necessarily the best team that always wins games, but they would find a way to make the right play at the right moment.
“And I remember Game 4, we were tied going into the third period and we ended up losing that game. So it was a real disappointing time, knowing how close we were to every player’s ultimate dream and it was kind of slipping away. I remember we obviously still had belief but, at the same time, it seemed like it was such a huge mountain to climb.”
“We missed the boat on Games 2, 3 and 4,” Van Allen said. “We won the first one. I think we just played okay in that game. We needed to raise our game just a little bit more, which is a lot easier said than done. And we tried to do that, but it’s tough to beat experience and New Jersey definitely had that.”
“I think that we gave away two games too easily to the Devils in that series,” Sens winger Magnus Arvedsson said. “I still think about what a great chance we had created for ourselves. I think about the atmosphere, the fans, and the hype in the city around the club. That was something really special.”
The Senators refused to quit. Jason Spezza helped spark a Game 5 win before Chris Phillips delivered one of the most iconic goals in franchise history, scoring in overtime of Game 6 to force a deciding Game 7.
Fans still remember Gord Wilson's famous radio call:
"I don't know where he knifed in from, but he knifed in!"
Back in Ottawa for Game 7, the Sens got off to a perfect start when Arvedsson scored just three minutes in.
“At that point, I was like, ‘Oh boy,’” Van Allen remembers. “Usually, when we get that lead and momentum like that. Like, it’s coming. Two, three goals… we’re gonna blow these guys out.”
Arvedsson still thinks about another chance he had later in the game.
“Later on, I passed up on a great chance to score,” Arvedsson said. “I decided to pass the puck instead, and that would maybe have put us up 2-0 in that game.”
The Devils rallied to take a 2-1 lead, leaving Ottawa with one final period to save its season.
“We were down 2-1 going into the third,” Van Allen said. “I remember us saying in the dressing room, we’d just played about 100 games to get here. And to get back here, we’re going to have to play another 100. So we gotta pour everything we can into this last 20 minutes. But New Jersey was as tough a defensive team as you’re probably gonna play and it’s not easy to score. And that’s why everything has to fall right when you’re playing those teams.”
Radek Bonk tied the game early in the third, and it was bedlam in the Ottawa rink.
But with just over two minutes remaining, Sens fans had their hearts ripped out when Jeff Friesen scored the goal that ended Ottawa's season.
White says he later learned the setup of the winning goal was partly accidental.
“Two years later, we were at a charity event down in the Utica area,” White recalled. “Grant Marshall was there, and he was telling us he was actually trying to shoot the puck there, and his stick actually broke. So when his stick broke, instead of it being a shot at the net, the puck slid through Wade's feet and ended up being a perfect pass to the guy streaking to the net. And I’m guessing that Patty (Lalime) probably thought it was a shot as well.
“Obviously, it’s sports and anything can happen. But there’s luck involved as well, because who knew that a broken stick shot attempt would end up being the perfect pass to a guy for a mini-breakaway? And he was able to put it in.”
More than 20 years later, the players still remember both the excitement and the disappointment.
“I hate to say it, it’s kind of what might have been,” Van Allen said. “What would the city be like? We would be remembered a lot differently in the city other than just being a good team. We would be recognized as a great team if we went on to win the Stanley Cup.”
“For me, it’s the disappointment of being so close,” White said. “I think it’s so easy to think about what might have been. I think back on whether there was something you could have done a little bit differently to change the outcome. From the time I started to play hockey, it was my dream to be able to win a Stanley Cup and to be that close is pretty difficult.”
Despite the heartbreak, the spring of 2003 remains one of the most memorable, exciting seasons in Ottawa Senators history, and it all might have ended quite differently if not for a single broken hockey stick.
*Portions of this flashback article originally appeared in Faces Magazine.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
