Jr. Senators honoured by Ottawa Sports Awards for 2019 accomplishments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ottawa, ON – The Ottawa Sports Awards held their 67th annual gala at Algonquin College on Wednesday, and the Jr. Senators took home some big hardware at the event, capping off a spectacular 2019 in the year of sports for the city of Ottawa.

The Jr. Senators were given the honour of Male Team of the Year, while Head Coach Martin Dagenais took home Male Coach of the Year.

With a roster laden with local talent, the Ottawa Junior Senators won the CCHL championship for the second straight season after finishing second in the regular-season standings. The team then ran the gauntlet of a long league playoff schedule, emerging as Bogart Cup Champions over long time rival, the Carleton Place Canadians. Traveling to Amherst, N.S., as the league champions Ottawa successfully defended their claim to the Fred Page Cup as champions of Eastern Canada. The title-winning game was a 9-2 victory over the favoured Princeville Titan, in which eight different players scored, and the team had to play an extra game as they did not go in with a bye. At nationals, the team made it to the semifinals before bowing out to the host Brooks Bandits, who would eventually become the national champions. The Carleton Ravens Men’s Basketball Team holds the record for 12 Male Team of the Year nominations.

Dagenais is the first Hockey Coach to win the award, dating back to 2003. Former Carleton Ravens Men’s Basketball Coach Dave Smart, holds the record with six Male Coach of the Year honours. Under Dagenais’ leadership, the Ottawa Junior Senators have reached heights unseen in their history. In 2019 the team successfully defended its title as CCHL champions. From there, the team won its second straight Fred Page Cup as Eastern Canadian Champions. The Jr. Sens then moved on to the Canadian National Junior A Championships where they reached the semi-finals for a second consecutive season. Hockey Canada named him Head Coach of Team Canada East for the 2019 World Junior A Challenge tournament and with Dagenais at the helm, Team Canada East upset the heavily favoured Team USA in the semi-finals before falling in double overtime 2-1 to Team Russia in the gold medal game. The silver medal was only the second time in eight years that Team Canada East has medalled at the tournament. To cap off a tremendous year, Dagenais was named an assistant coach of the QuĂ©bec Major Junior Hockey League’s (QMJHL) Gatineau Olympiques, as he will split duties with Ottawa and Gatineau going forward.

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