Ottawa Jr. Senators

The Ottawa Senators joined the Central Canada Hockey League in 1979, and in 1982-83, the first-place Senators won their first of five championships. In 1992, the team added “Junior” to become the Junior Senators to prevent confusion with the Ottawa Senators, an expansion team in the National Hockey League. One of their most successful seasons came in 2001-02, when the 41-8-8 Junior Senators defeated the Cornwall Colts in five games in the league’s final and went on to appear in the Royal Bank Cup in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Junior Senators were able to capture their third championship in 2001-02 before struggling for a good number of years.

After appearing in the championship final for two consecutive years, but falling to the Carleton Place Canadians, the 2017-18 Junior Senators were finally able to conquer their arch-nemesis who were once again favored to win it all. Ottawa surprised the hockey observers by knocking out Carleton Place in five games. They then followed the act by claiming their first-ever Fred Page Cup which earned them a trip to the Royal Bank Cup in Chilliwack, British Columbia where they lost in the semi-finals to the host Chiefs.

The following year, Ottawa faced Carleton Place in the finals for the fourth consecutive season. The Junior Senators took it to the favoured Canadians and claim the championship series in five games. They once again claim the Fred Page Cup before flying to Brooks, Alberta for the National Junior A Championships where they lost to the host Brooks Bandits 4-3 in the semi-finals.

The Junior Senators have gone on to develop several collegiate players throughout the years, many of whom have gone on to accept NCAA scholarships and several more who have chosen to continue their hockey careers with Major Junior and USports teams.

Recently graduated players include: Braeden Bowman (Guelph OHL), Chandler Romeo (Hamilton OHL), Zakary Lavoie (Mississauga OHL), Ian Tookenay (Norwich NCAA), Ethan Mulhearn (Hobart NCAA), Owen Cole (U-Mass Lowell NCAA), Ranvir Gill-Shane (Ottawa OHL), Zachary Gravel (Victoriaville QMJHL), Brendan Bays (Québec QMJHL), Maxime Blanchard (Sherbrooke QMJHL), David Toppa (Royal Military College CIS), David Bérubé (Saint Mary’s University CIS), Christophe Côté (Brock CIS), Tucker McIntosh (St. Lawrence NCAA), Conor Smart (Oswego State NCAA), Bailey Brant (Lake Forest NCAA), Faisal Alsaif (Williams College NCAA), Taylor Egan (Lakehead CIS), Geoff Dempster (Lakehead CIS), Adrien Bisson (Maine NCAA), Darcy Walsh (Robert Morris NCAA), Kyle Jackson (North Bay OHL), Ethan Manderville (Colgate NCAA), Noah Rowe (Royal Military College CIS), Alec Belanger (Ottawa OHL), Francis Boisvert (St. Lawrence NCAA), Zach Salloum (RIT NCAA), Owen Guy (Lake Superior NCAA), Nick Lalonde (Robert Morris NCAA), Geoff Lawson (Robert Morris NCAA), Finn Evans (Princeton NCAA), Devon Daniels (Mercyhurst NCAA), Cameron White (St. Lawrence NCAA), Michael Thomas (Colby NCAA), Pierre-Luc Veillette (Lake Superior State NCAA), Jaren Burke (Queens CIS), Donovan Sebrango (Kitchener OHL), Dylan Peterson (Boston U NCAA), Kyle McDonald (Windsor OHL), Sean McGurn (London OHL), Greg Meireles (Charlotte AHL), Ian Andriano (RIT NCAA), Merrick Rippon (Ottawa OHL), Thomas Stevenson (Queens CIS), Sean Rappleyea (Alabama-Huntsville NCAA), Will Bitten (Iowa AHL), Robert Michel (Reading ECHL), Johnathan Kovacevic (Manitoba AHL), Brandon Watt (Robert Morris NCAA), Ryan Collins (U-Mass Lowell NCAA), and Joseph Shecter (Army NCAA).