The NHL's Battle of Ontario resumes Saturday when Ottawa visits Toronto to play the Leafs. But it’s not the on-ice matchup that’s making headlines. Instead, the rivalry’s heating up in a brouhaha over the Senators’ efforts to keep rowdy Leafs fans out of their arena in the nation's capital.
While Ottawa fans are expected to crowd into Toronto’s Air Canada Centre to cheer on their team this weekend, it turns out Leafs Nation is being warned it's not welcome to wave the blue and white flag at Scotiabank Place when the rivals face off again in Ottawa a week later.
The Senators have sent an email to season ticket holders, telling them not to resell their seats to fans of rival teams -- meaning, it seems, the Leafs.
In its "Take Back the Bank" promotion, the Senators are offering season ticket holders a chance to buy extra tickets to home games against the Leafs at a 20 per cent discount -- provided the seats are filled by Senators fans only.
Senators' season ticket holder Louis Fefebvre approves. He stays away from games when the Leafs play in Ottawa, he said.
"The worst part is the fans… the fans are horrible. They're obnoxious, they're ignorant," said Fefebvre of Toronto fans.
"With the way they conduct themselves, it makes it so unpleasant to go to Scotiabank place and to watch your Sens play a game, 'cause with them you can't watch a Sens game, impossible," said Lefebvre.
In Toronto, Leafs fans seemed amused by it all.
"That's just dumb," said one man. "It sounds ridiculous, pretty much, sounds ridiculous," said another man.
"They should have no say on who the tickets are going to. People are wanting to purchase a ticket they should purchase a ticket," said another man.
Any of the promotional seats to Sens games that are re-sold to the public could be cancelled and ticket holders could be barred from future ticket pre-sales, the email said.
"That's crazy because you'd have to track all the way to the seat number and play back the game to see who they were cheering for," said one woman, shaking her head.
Another proposes Leafs fans put Sens fans in the penalty box for revenge.
"That sounds pretty weird, so next time the Senators come down here we won't sell any tickets to them either," a fan told CTV News.
But another thinks he has a better idea to defeat the Senators' scheme to shut out Leafs fans from Scotiabank Place.
"Well then we should pack as many Leaf fans as we can in there," he said, smiling.
