Saturday night was a homecoming for Steve Duchesne.
The former Ottawa Senators alternate captain had many memorable nights on the stage he returned to when he was part of the ceremonial faceoff to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Tire Centre before the club faced the Montreal Canadiens.
Duchesne, 60, was brought back to mark the moment, not only because he scored the first goal for the franchise in the building during a 7-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 19, 1996, but he was a good choice by making an impact in his 140 games with the Senators.
The initial goal by Duchesne was scored at 5:55 of the first period, with Alexei Yashin and Daniel Alfredsson drawing the assists. Duchesne was invited to ring the bell during the 2025 playoff series against Montreal in the spring, but was unable to attend because his mother-in-law was ill.
“I’m really excited. They called me a few weeks before Christmas to do this, and of course I was happy to do this,” Duchesne told Postmedia from his home in Dallas on Friday. “I didn’t even know I scored the first goal. It must have been an unbelievable end-to-end goal.”
Of course, that last comment was tongue-in-cheek because Duchesne has no recollection of that goal.
But he never will forget his goal to break a 0-0 tie with a shot from the point at 15:59 of the third period on April 12, 1997, against the Buffalo Sabres to secure the franchise’s first trip to the post-season.
“I remember it vividly, Yashin making the pass and right away, without even stopping, shooting the puck and scoring against Dominik Hasek,” Duchesne said. “It was funny because I played with Hasek a few years later, when we won the Cup together in Detroit (in 2002), and I asked him, ‘Do you remember how bad I beat you?’
“Dom told me he was really pissed off. That was a great goal. I had never won the Cup at that point, and that felt good to help get the team to the playoffs. The year was such a struggle because we were up and down. That’s a fond memory. I remember how happy we were.”
Defenceman Steve Duchesne scores a goal against Buffalo Sabres netminder Dominik Hasek in the third period of a game on April 12, 1997, to put the Ottawa Senators in the NHL playoffs for the first time.
That wouldn’t have been possible if Wade Redden hadn’t scored the winner the night before in Detroit to keep the Senators’ playoff hopes alive. It was coach Jacques Martin’s first full season behind the bench after he took over on Jan. 24, 1996, only a week after The Palladium, as it was known then, opened.
The roster included captain Randy Cunneyworth, along with Radek Bonk, Alexandre Daigle, Shawn McEachern, Lance Pitlick, Jason York and goaltender Ron Tugnutt.
Acquiring Duchesne before the start of the 1995-96 campaign for a second-round selection from the St. Louis Blues was the best trade former president and general manager Randy Sexton made in his tenure in the dual role in the front office.
“That was a different time for me because I was one of the older players on the team and I was expected to be a leader,” Duchesne said. “It changed my perspective, having an ‘A’ on the chest. I was glad to help that way.”
Duchesne, who scored 227 goals and added 525 assists for 752 points in a National Hockey League career that spanned 16 years, was the first marquee offensive blueliner the Senators had.
The Senators started Duchesne’s first season at the Civic Centre with Rick Bowness and assistant Alain Vigneault behind the bench. They were fired in November, and then Dave Allison had a brief tenure before newly-appointed general manager Pierre Gauthier brought in Martin.
“I remember playing in the small arena, and you didn’t even feel like you were in the NHL. It was hard,” Duchesne said. “Coming from St. Louis, where we had such a good team, it was a hard blow. But I really enjoyed it, especially the boys on the team, and Bones and Alain.
“Bones and Alain told me that I could be a leader there because it changed my perspective as a player. It was all about me and all about the points of being someone who had to play well for my teammates. I remember making a bad pass to Alfie in Montreal, and he got nailed by (Marc) Bureau. Here I am dropping the gloves to fight Bureau, and that’s something I hadn’t done in my career.”
Duchesne was dealt back to St. Louis by the Senators at the end of the 1996-97 campaign. Martin tried to entice him to come back in 2000, but he signed with the Red Wings and won the Stanley Cup in 2002 before retiring.
Duchesne is now living near Dallas. He is a founding partner of BiomassCarbon, ULC and has been its president since May 2015. Biomass is a private renewable energy company that manufactures energy pellets.
It has been a long road to make the company successful, but it’s close to completing agreements in New Brunswick and Ontario.
The trip to Ottawa served as a reminder to Duchesne of how much he missed the old days.
“I miss the camaraderie of being with teams and the boys,” Duchesne said. “I’ve replaced that with good business partners.”
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