2005–06 Ottawa Senators season

NHLTeamSeason
Season=2005–06
Team=Ottawa Senators
Conference=Eastern
ConferenceRank=1st
Division=Northeast
DivisionRank=1st
Record=52–21–9
HomeRecord=29–9–3
RoadRecord=23–12–6
GoalsFor=312
GoalsAgainst=205
GeneralManager=John Muckler
Coach=Bryan Murray
Captain=Daniel Alfredsson
AltCaptain=Zdeno Chara
Wade Redden
Arena=Corel Centre (renamed to Scotiabank Place during season)
Attendance=19,474
GoalsLeader=Dany Heatley (50)
AssistsLeader=Jason Spezza (71)
PointsLeader=Dany Heatley (103)
PlusMinusLeader=Wade Redden (+35)
PIMLeader=Chris Neil (204)
WinsLeader=Dominik Hasek (28)
GAALeader=Dominik Hasek (2.09)
DivisionWin=Yes

2005–06 Ottawa Senators season was the 13th season of the Ottawa Senators. After one of their franchise-best regular seasons, finishing with 113 points, the Senators made it to the Eastern Conference Semifinal, in which the Buffalo Sabres eliminated Ottawa in five games.

Changes occurred to the Senators roster before the season. First, Ottawa acquired the playoff-experienced goaltender Dominik Hasek for his Stanley Cup experience. Second, a "blockbuster trade" involved Marian Hossa and Greg DeVries being sent to the Atlanta Thrashers for Dany Heatley. The trade occurred on the day that Hossa had signed a new contract. The value of Hossa's contract was beyond what GM Muckler felt that Hossa was worth and so he was dealt away. Marian had lead the Sens in scoring.

Heatley, together with Alfredsson and Spezza, formed one of the league's top offensive lines, [ cite journal | last=Garrioch |first=Bruce |journal=The Hockey News |date=October 30, 2007|title=Team Reports] dubbed the "CASH line" by fans in a contest held by the Ottawa Citizen. The name is made from the initials of Captain Alfredsson, Spezza, and Heatley. [Citation|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen |date=November 17, 2005 |title=The Cash Line easily wins the vote|last=Citizen staff|pages=pg. C1] Cash Line won out over finalists 'Dash Line' and 'Dazzle Line,' which Spezza reputedly despised and wanted to veto. [cite web |url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Ottawa/2005/11/13/1305281–sun.html |title=Saturday night's all right |last=Brennan |first=Don | publisher=Ottawa Sun/Slam Sports |date=November 13, 2005 | accessdate=2007–11–29] Another nickname the line has picked up is the 'Pizza Line', and is the nickname used by the Citizen's rival paper, the "Ottawa Sun". [citation|newspaper=Ottawa Sun|date=October 2, 2007|last=Garrioch|first=Bruce|title=Pizza Line Ordered Up] [The name refers to a promotion instituted by a pizza company chain to provide a free slice of pizza to all attending when the Senators scored 5 goals. The line increased the number of times the Senators scored 5 per game and the pizza company had to change its promotion to 6 goals.] However, during the press conference to introduce the teams for the 2007 Stanley Cup Final, Dany Heatley went on record to say he likes the 'Cash line' name. [Citation|newspaper=Calgary Herald |last=Panzeri |first=Allen |title=Sens carry a nation's hopes; Ducks hope playing with less pressure is to their advantage |date=May 28, 2007 |pages=pg. D1]

The Senators team sent nine players to the 2006 Winter Olympics as part of the NHL's commitment. Daniel Alfredsson, Zdeno Chara, Martin Havlat, Dany Heatley, Andrej Meszaros, Wade Redden, Christoph Schubert and Anton Volchenkov all played for their country's national teams, while Jason Spezza was a substitute for Canada. The experience was not good for the Senators: Dominik Hasek was having a good season but the team lost him to a hamstring injury he suffered while playing for the Czech national ice hockey team. He would not play again for the Senators.

Ray Emery took over the starting goaltender duties; he became the first rookie netminder since Philadelphia's Brian Boucher in 2000 to win a playoff series when the Senators defeated Tampa Bay in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, four games to one. The Senators were then defeated by the Buffalo Sabres in the second round, four games to one.

After that playoff failure, Eugene Melnyk (the team's owner) comforted fans in an open letter, by saying that their team would not only win the Stanley Cup in the future, but, once they had it, they would, he boasted, "hoard" it year after year.Cite web|url=http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=166445&|title=Melnyk confident Sens will be a dynasty|accessdate=2007–08–13|publisher=TSN.ca|year=2006|author=TSN.ca Staff with CP, Ottawa Senators' files]

Regular season

Highlights

The 'CASH' line made a dramatic and historic debut, playing in the first game of the 2005–06 season on October 5, 2005, against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto. In the pre-season, right winger Brandon Bochenski had been playing on the line as he had played with Spezza in the AHL during the lock-out. But with five minutes to go, with the Senators trailing, then Senators' coach Bryan Murray replaced Bochenski with Alfredsson and Alfredsson scored a game-tying goal with 62 seconds left. Heatley and Alfredsson would then go on to score the first shootout goals in NHL history to win the game that night. [cite web |url=http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=138864&hubname=nhl |title=Sens Edge Leafs in First Shootout | author=Canadian Press |publisher=TSN.ca |date=October 6, 2005 |accessdate=2007-12-01]

Heatley became the first Ottawa Senator in franchise history to reach 100 points on April 13, 2006, recording two assists during a 5–4 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers and five days later became the first to reach the 50–goal mark. Meanwhile, defenceman Wade Redden became the first Senator to win the NHL Plus/Minus Award, tied with New York Ranger Michal Rozsival, with a +35.

=Season standingsCite web|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/standings?season=2006&group=conference&order=false&seasontype=2&standType=standings|title=NHL Standings - 2005–06|accessdate=2007-08-13|publisher=ESPN.com] =

December

March

Eastern Conference Semifinals: vs. (4) Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo wins series 4–1

Transactions

Trades

External links

* [http://www.ottawasenators.com Official website of the Ottawa Senators]

ee also

*2005–06 NHL Season

References