Thursday, March 26, 2009

Hurricanes blow Sens off course




They probably are putting away the abacus, shutting down the super computers and throwing away the slide rules, all helpful this past month in predicting the path of the Ottawa Senators to a playoff spot, but now seemingly not required.

The team that needs to win all of their remaining games for a shot at the last playoff spot, lost a costly one on Wednesday night as the Carolina Hurricanes blew by them to take a 2-1 victory in Raleigh, perhaps bringing an end to the Senators hopeful playoff bound rally.

With the loss, the Senators cannot lose another game and then must cross their fingers, seek out augers and maybe click their heels a few times all in the hope that Montreal might fall completely out of the playoff race.

It’s a tall order for the Sens, who brought their push for the playoffs just a little too late it seems.

In fact, despite the chatter around Ottawa of the last few weeks of a possible grasp of the final playoff spot, the Sens ownership seems to be hedging their bets on the future and making plans for some kind of hockey at Scotiabank Place this spring.

The Ottawa Citizen is reporting that the Sens are contemplating hosting some of the farm clubs playoff games in Ottawa this spring, not by choice but by necessity.

It seems that life in the minor league arenas is on a first come first served basis and with any number of franchise cities finding their rinks booked, the hockey teams are seeking out creative ways to get in some post season shinny.

The Citizen outlined some of the obstacles to hockey in the minors this coming month including, three days of the monster trucks, a business show and rock concert in Binghamton. Over in Bridgeport there's Sesame Street live and a couple of rock shows, while Hershey has cash in the bank thanks to Disney on Ice.

All of which leaves the Baby Sens looking for a place to call home, perhaps up in the big rink, where the cry of Go Sens Go will once again be revived, though not quite the way that folks in Ottawa might have hoped back in September.

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