The Ottawa Junior Senators (French: Sénateurs Juniors d'Ottawa), colloquially known as the Jr. Sens, are a Junior A ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Jr. Senators compete in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) as a member of the East Division and play their home games at the 2,000-seat Peplinski Arena, inside the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre building.
Founded in 1979, the team is the second franchise in the City of Ottawa to use the Senators name, but is not affiliated with the NHL Ottawa Senators.
History
The Senators joined the Central Junior A Hockey League in 1979. In 1992, the Ottawa Senators changed their name to the Ottawa Jr. Senators following the founding of the NHL team of the same name. Ottawa won their first Art Bogart Cup in 1983 over Pembroke. Ten years later, they won their second championship. In 1995, Ottawa came close against the Cornwall Colts for their third championship. The 2000-01 season was memorable for the Ottawa Jr. Senators as they achieved the lowest goals allowed in the league (173) and finished 2nd, despite being 10 points behind the Cornwall Colts, as both teams met in the championship finals. The series went to 7 games, but the Jr. Senators lost in a humiliating 7-0 loss.
The following year, the Jr. Senators were determined to repeat their previous season, and settled for 3rd overall behind Cornwall and Nepean. Ottawa managed to defeat Nepean in 6 games and return to the final. This time, Ottawa won the series in 5 games and qualified for the Fred Page Cup in Truro. The semi-final game against the Valleyfield Braves and Ottawa Jr. Senators meant the winner would go to the Royal Bank Cup in Halifax, as the hosts Halifax Oland Exports already earned a bye to the final. Ottawa punched their ticket to the Royal Bank Cup winning 7-2 over the Braves. Ottawa lost the Fred Page Cup championship game 4-2 to Halifax.
At the Royal Bank Cup, the Jr. Senators ended up finishing 4th with a 1-3 record. Ottawa faced Halifax for the fourth time, and the semi-final was a back and forth scoring game, but Halifax ended up taking the game 9-7 and eventually capturing the Royal Bank Cup.
The championship team was lost in a blockbuster trade with the Gloucester Rangers, who were rebuilding their team and overcoming a dead-last finish in the 2001-02 standings. Despite only carrying three returnees, the Jr. Senators still managed to upset the top 2 teams in the league en route to the Art Bogart Cup against Nepean. Ottawa couldn't handle the Nepean Raiders and lost the series in 5 games.
The Ottawa Jr. Senators wouldn't return to the semi-finals until 2009. Ottawa lost the previous three game 7 semi-final games. The most-heartbreaking loss was in 2015, when the Pembroke Lumber Kings scored the game winner with just under a minute left in the game.
For the 2012-13 season, the Ottawa Jr. Senators changed their colours back to blue, red, and white and returned to their old logo that they last used in 1995.
In fall 2016, the Ottawa Jr. Senators won the right to host the Fred Page Cup in 2018. Ottawa was slated to host the 2003 tournament, but pulled out and hosting duties were awarded to Cornwall.
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.
In the 2018-19 season, 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. Goaltender Francis Boisvert took home the tournaments MVP.
Season-by-season record
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Season
GP
W
L
T
OTL
GF
GA
Points
Finish
Playoffs
1979-80
50
22
21
7
-
270
219
51
4th CJHL
1980-81
50
12
31
7
-
200
260
31
6th CJHL
1981-82
49
33
14
2
-
254
203
68
1st CJHL
1982-83
48
30
11
7
-
263
189
67
1st CJHL
Won League
1983-84
54
26
21
7
-
283
284
59
3rd CJHL
1984-85
54
23
31
0
0
252
292
46
4th CJHL
1985-86
60
27
26
0
7
310
303
61
5th CJHL
1986-87
54
24
21
4
5
215
236
57
4th CJHL
1987-88
56
44
12
0
0
336
195
88
1st CJHL
1988-89
56
33
23
0
0
282
261
66
4th CJHL
1989-90
55
21
29
3
2
245
290
47
6th CJHL
1990-91
54
30
19
1
4
244
224
65
4th CJHL
1991-92
57
48
9
0
0
386
179
96
1st CJHL
1992-93
57
41
8
4
4
433
272
90
1st CJHL
Won League
1993-94
57
31
23
3
1
284
251
66
5th CJHL
1994-95
54
26
21
3
4
260
240
58
6th CJHL
1995-96
54
35
17
2
0
237
228
72
2nd CJHL
1996-97
54
29
18
7
0
156
161
65
3rd CJHL
1997-98
56
15
30
8
3
156
220
41
9th CJHL
1998-99
54
26
26
2
0
209
227
54
7th CJHL
1999-00
56
32
21
3
0
234
202
67
4th CJHL
2000-01
55
37
14
4
0
247
137
78
2nd CJHL
2001-02
55
31
11
10
3
237
169
75
3rd CJHL
Won League
2002-03
55
20
27
6
2
268
308
48
8th CJHL
2003-04
55
14
39
0
2
182
278
30
9th CJHL
2004-05
57
20
25
4
8
166
231
42
9th CJHL
2005–06
57
30
20
4
3
226
203
67
2nd East
Lost quarter-final
2006–07
55
29
20
4
2
181
178
64
1st East
Lost quarter-final
2007–08
60
12
43
2
3
148
298
29
11th CJHL
Did not qualify
2008-09
60
30
23
-
7
194
201
67
6th CJHL
Lost semi-final
2009-10
62
33
24
-
5
216
204
71
5th CJHL
Lost semi-final
2010-11
62
26
29
-
7
207
215
59
9th CCHL
Did not qualify
2011-12
62
33
26
-
3
221
192
69
7th CCHL
Lost quarter-final
2012-13
62
40
16
-
6
220
175
86
1st CCHL
Lost semi-final
2013-14
62
39
20
-
3
259
185
81
1st of 6 East 3rd of 12 CCHL
Won quarterfinals, 4-1 (Colts) Lost semifinals, 3-4 (Bears)
