MONTREAL (Oct. 27) -- As a person born, raised and living in Toronto, I guarantee there is nothing unique about the bold-faced abhorrence other Canadians have for my city. It is the result of a small-town inferiority complex that is puzzling to me, but one I shrug off and accept, as a New Yorker does in the United States. Canada, however, is probably the only country on earth where citizens of its capital suffer from this ailment. All you have to do is pick up one of the two local newspapers in Ottawa and you'll notice -- on most days -- a bevy of articles that rant hysterically about the big, bad neighbour to the west. Thumb through a newspaper in Toronto, conversely, and the only evidence of anything Ottawa will be the story datelines of political columnists who cover Parliament Hill.
This obsession crosses into hockey quite easily. It encompasses the fans and media that follow the Ottawa Senators, and it even reaches to the hockey club's hierarchy. As a result, there is nothing quite as universally satisfying in Ottawa as a Senators' victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, regardless of the level of opposition provided by the villains in blue and white. That level has been thoroughly abysmal in the past calendar year, and the Senators -- a wonderful and talented club with a puzzling aversion to the playoffs -- have repeatedly whalloped the Leafs. The latest results bear this out: 6-2 and 7-2 drubbings earlier in the week, first at Toronto, then Ottawa. The latter game saw the Senators triumph in controlling the dastardly Darcy Tucker, all 5-feet-7 inches and 155 pounds of him (the Leafs' media guide lists him bigger to avoid embarrassing the Castor, Alta. native). Tucker became the latest in a long line of Toronto scoundrels when he pummeled poor Patrick Eaves at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday night. The fact Eaves is at least four inches taller, and probably 20 pounds heavier than Tucker didn't enter the equation; all that mattered in the Ottawa hysteria was that poor Patrick is a lover, not a fighter. That made Tucker the most hated Toronto visitor since Harry Neale and his broadcasting bias on Hockey Night In Canada several years ago, when the local whine in Ottawa became so loud, Harry invited citizens of the capital region to smooch his posterior. And don't even mention the name Tie Domi. The Albanian Assassin ran roughshod over the cowering Senators for so many years, it's a felony in Ottawa to acknowledge his existence.
All of this makes me wonder what might have been if the Senators had actually triumphed in one of the four playoff meetings with Toronto that began in the spring of 2000. The fact the Leafs -- an inferior squad on paper in every series -- swept the four match-ups has driven Ottawa hockey fans to the edge of insanity. The 2002 playoff was particularly galling, as the Sens took a 3-2 series lead back home; roared out to a 2-0 lead in the opening minutes of an elimination game, then withered away without a peep. Toronto came back to win the match, and waltzed to victory on home-ice in Game 7. The one year that Ottawa almost fulfilled its potential was in 2003, when the Senators came within minutes of reaching the Stanley Cup final, only to drop a one-goal decision at home to New Jersey. It is against civic policy to mention that '03 was the one year in five that the Senators avoided the Leafs in the playoffs. So, we won't say it. Nor will we dwell on the fact the Senators -- last season -- after compiling their best-ever record, wimped out again in the second round of the post-season. After all, why add to the hysteria.
I wish I could tell Senators' faithful about the zingers that Toronto fans fire their way on local radio in my city. Trouble is, I don't remember the last time the word Ottawa was mentioned. The so-called Battle of Ontario is greeted with a collective yawn in Toronto... no differently now, than when the Leafs were routinely ending the Senators' season every year. Fans of the Maple Leafs find it far easier to loathe the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers -- teams the Leafs have played, and lost to, long before Ottawa came into the NHL fold. Clearly, for this "rivalry" to become two-sided, the Senators will have to knock off the Leafs when it matters... at least once. That might get hockey folks in my town interested.
Strangely, hockey fans in Toronto and Ottawa do share a common bond: both are satisfied with small triumphs. As mentioned, nothing turns on folks in Ottawa more than a late-October drubbing of the Leafs. In Toronto, they close Yonge Street after single-game victories in the first round of the post-season. The reasons are simple. Ottawa fans know the Senators cannot beat the Leafs when it counts, and Toronto fans know that, in most years, they won't be cheering for victories in the second, third or fourth rounds of the Stanley Cup tournament. It's really kind of pathetic, when you think about it. But, hockey is so all-encompassing in both cities that common standards of achievement simply don't matter.
Anyway, it's all in good fun. Isn't it?
E-mail
[email protected] 
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»