The shooting at Parliament Hill last week had a profound impact on the City of Ottawa and all of Canada. On Saturday, the nation comforted itself with its national game and one of its great sporting traditions: Hockey Night in Canada.
The Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens were all on home ice with simultaneous start times. The three teams banded together for what was called an unprecedented show of unity.
On the ice in Ottawa were members of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo’s unit, as well as other Canadian military and police personnel. Cirillo was the Canadian serviceman killed in front of the War Memorial on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Wednesday.
Ottawa’s own brilliant anthem singer Lyndon Slewidge sang the anthem for all three games, with video from Ottawa being shown in Toronto and Montreal. Slewidge had the crowd take over, as he often does, and the Canadian faithful in three buildings contributed to a boisterous and stirring rendition of O Canada.
As another show of unity, the Senators and New Jersey Devils players did not stand on opposite blue lines as is the tradition for the pregame anthems. Instead, the two teams stood shoulder-to-shoulder, interspersed among each other. The visual was as powerful as the patriotic audio.
After the game, NHL legend and Devils forward Jaromir Jagr put it very well.
Jagr on pre-game ceremony: "It was good for Canada and maybe the whole world just to show we stick together no matter what happens."
— Tom Gulitti (@TGfireandice) October 26, 2014
Hockey Night in Canada’s broadcast also opened with an emotional video montage with some beautiful words written by Sportsnet reporter Chris Johnston, narrated by HNIC host George Stromboulopoulos and produced by the incomparable Tim Thompson.
Though Canada remains in mourning, one of its cultural institutions hit all of the right notes to help bring the country together.
