Senators, Canadiens to mark NHL centennial with outdoor game in December

Instead, an outdoor rink will be frozen onto the football field just three weeks after the CFL’s Grey Cup is played at TD Place, which will be expanded to 34,000 seats. The extra stands will be left up so that the Senators and Habs can use the venue.

The game will take place almost 100 years after Ottawa and Montreal met on the NHL’s opening night of Dec. 19, 1917.

It will also be the final event to celebrate the modern-day Senators’ 25th anniversary in the league, as well as Canada’s 150th birthday.

The fact the outdoor clash was announced Friday will only heat up the rivalry between the two teams as they prepare to go head to head in coming days, said Melnyk.

“This coming weekend you’ll see it,” he said. “I think it’s a very healthy rivalry.”

The Senators and Habs will meet this weekend starting Saturday night at the Canadian Tire Centre and Sunday at the Bell Centre, with the Senators heading back to Montreal next Saturday night to end the series.

The December game will mark the fourth time the Canadiens have played on an outdoor surface, all of them away games.

But it’s only the second for the Senators since the inaugural Heritage Classic was hosted by Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium in 2003, and team captain Erik Karlsson couldn’t contain his excitement.

“We’re a smaller community, but we have a lot of passion,” Karlsson said.

“I think it’s going to be a great hockey game … we’re extremely excited as a team.”

In their first game in 1917, Montreal defeated the original Ottawa Senators 7-4.

Terry Pedwell, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Senators, Canadiens to mark NHL centennial with outdoor game in December

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