OTTAWA \u2014 A sea of fans in red jerseys stood up and decided it was time to do the wave.<\/p>\n
It was partway through the third period of a close Wednesday night game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. Fans typically do this when their team is winning. Except none of those fans, who dominated the building, wore the Senators\u2019 black and red. They were in bleu-blanc-rouge.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for Sens fans, this is what life at home is like when rival teams such as the Canadiens come to play. This season, especially, has been noticeable with pro-Canadiens crowds in the Senators\u2019 last two home games against Montreal. Senators team president Cyril Leeder walked around the arena\u2019s concourse among fans last week when the Canadiens were in town. A pair of Sens fans stopped Leeder and told him there were \u201ctoo many Habs fans here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt drives us all crazy,\u201d Leeder told The Athletic. \u201cWhen the \u2018Go Habs Go\u2019 chant (happened), I made a beeline out of the suite.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senators have taken steps to gradually phase out invaders in favour of their own fans.<\/p>\n
Last month, they notified season ticket holders that they\u2019d offer them additional tickets for a select number of \u201crivalry games\u201d through the remainder of the season, including the March 11 game against the Canadiens. Saturday night\u2019s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs is one of two games available for purchase against their provincial rival, and the Pittsburgh Penguins (on Thursday), purely off the allure of Sidney Crosby and the fans who come to see him and his star teammates, is part of the offer.<\/p>\n
The one catch: Senators fans are not allowed to sell or transfer them to anyone else<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it doesn\u2019t feel like a home game in your own rink, that\u2019s not good,\u201d Senators vice president of marketing Peter Shier said. \u201cAnd we only have 41 of those. You don\u2019t want to give any of them away.\u201d<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time the Senators have tried to keep rival fans out of the Canadian Tire Centre. Last spring, a letter was sent to Senators season ticket holders discouraging them from transferring their tickets to rival fans ahead of their first-round playoff series against the Maple Leafs. The Senators also turned off the ability to transfer those tickets. It led to overwhelmingly<\/a> pro-Sens crowds during the postseason.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a good show of faith by the organization,\u201d Senators season ticket holder Kevin Lee said. \u201cWhen that Montreal game (in January) happened, it was all over social media, probably extended outside of the Ottawa social media sphere. It really put eyes on that. It\u2019s nice to see the (organization) is making a true effort to encourage Sens fans to go to this game and try to bring the tide back the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n