Fuel the Roar: Fans Ignite Ottawa Debut

Friday, November 29 was a night to remember in Ottawa, as the NLL made a triumphant return to Canada’s capital city. The Black Bears won 11-5 over the visiting Toronto Rock in what was the first installment of what will likely be one of the league’s fiercest rivalries.

The Black Bears came out on fire, leading 4-0 at halftime and up 5-0 before the Rock got on the board. They were up by eight after the third quarter and showed poise at every turn. Jacob Dunbar, acquired from San Diego, led the charge with a six-point night (three goals, three assists). He was followed by Connor Kearnan, a resident of nearby Kingston, ON, with three goals and a pair of assists. In goal, Zach Higgins stymied the Rock with every shot.

Superstar Jeff Teat scored a highlight-reel goal in the third quarter while adding four assists.

“Oh so slippery is Jeff Teat” pic.twitter.com/gdJRpcDyT6

— NLL (@NLL) November 30, 2024

In chatting with three of the 7,000 fans who attended the game, the sentiment was overwhelmingly positive, both for the game action itself and also for the whole atmosphere around the arena.

Mark Hendrycks, whose son Tyler plays for the Rock, was in the crowd. As a Rock fan, he was of course disappointed with the outcome of the game, but as a father, he couldn’t have been prouder watching his child realize his dream of playing professional lacrosse, finally, in his hometown.

“It was pretty darn cool,” Hendrycks admitted. “It was nice because I had my parents there who are in their 80s. They were thrilled to watch him. They were waving to him and I was like ‘he’s never gonna see you, he’s just too dialed in.’”

And it wasn’t just Tyler involved in the game – his older son, Jordan, is keeping stats for the Black Bears at floor level, so it was a family affair. Both Tyler and Jordan grew up in the Ottawa minor lacrosse system, and Hendrycks said the city has “been dying for [lacrosse] since the Rebel left.”

Jake Fox, a former NLL player who is now the director of the Ottawa Capitals minor lacrosse program, agreed.

“Ottawa has been begging for high-level lacrosse to come here, whether it be Jr. A or NLL, and we finally got something that, I believe, in the lacrosse world, Ottawa deserves. The growth here has been exponential over the last decade or so. Being able to see all these kids out there enjoying it, and even adults, it was a good variety of both kids and parents. I hope that this success continues. I want to see as many people showing up to games as possible because overall this team can be successful here.”

Fox’s father Jay started the Ottawa Capitals program with Callum Crawford in 2012, and Fox has been running it for the last four years. They have 225 kids registered throughout the region from kindergarten through grade 12.

“Walking through the arena I’m seeing all these kids that I coached that also have people on the floor coach them. It was a cool atmosphere for those guys as well being able to see that.”

There are three Ottawa-are natives on the Black Bears’ roster: Nathan Grenon, from Stittsville (nine minutes away from the rink), and Corson Kealey and Jordan Trottier (signed Tuesday) on the practice roster. Unfortunately, none of them played in the opening game.

“I was bummed they scratched Nathan Grenon,” Hendrycks said. “His parents were sitting above me so I waved at them before I knew. He’s gonna get his chances obviously, but the opening night in Ottawa was pretty big.”

All three of Grenon, Kealey and Trottier have worked with Fox in the Ottawa Capitals program.

Media member Stephen Stamp also took in the game, and from a different angle than the fans – he was five levels up in the press box. It was his first visit to the Canadian Tire Centre.

“It’s quite a place. It’s quite an arena,” he said. “The arena is clean and it doesn’t look dated. The press box is quite high, but big and spacious.”

Canadian Tire Centre is in Kanata, a suburb 20 minutes outside of Ottawa. Though complaints from Ottawa locals about traveling for NHL Senators games are common, Hendrycks said the arena is in a perfect location for lacrosse.

“Most of our box lacrosse around here is Nepean, Stittsville or Gloucester, so it isn’t too bad to get out to CTC,” he remarked, naming other suburbs that surround Ottawa proper. There are plenty of highways that intersect the area, making it easy to get around.”

Stamp walked around the different levels of the arena before the game to get a real feel for the space and marveled at the number of fans who came pouring in through the gates.

“It was cool to see how many people were wearing Black Bears jerseys and hats,” he said. “There were also a lot of people wearing Rock stuff, which wasn’t surprising as their fans travel well. There was a nice crowd. It just kept filling in and filling in, and they were into it! I wondered if the cheering would be even because there were so many Toronto people but it was for sure an Ottawa crowd. They were definitely Black Bears fans.”

All three men were impressed with the level of in-game promotions that resonated with the fans. Hendrycks mentioned a musical chairs style of game during intermission where participants had to pass a lacrosse stick, and the last one holding the stick won a $2,000 prize. Stamp referenced a game called “Cubs Know Best,” a Newlywed Game type of contest that pitted parents against their kids. He also noticed that the mascot, Cubby, an adorable bear with googly eyes, was able to toss t-shirts via a lacrosse stick high into the second level of seating (usually only the first level gets t-shirts simply because it’s difficult to throw them too high!).

“I thought the overall presentation was done very well,” said Fox. “You couldn’t tell it was their first game. It was well run, the fans stayed engaged and they did a good job of keeping everyone up and at ‘em. You don’t see that at a lot of rinks.”

The evening was a complete win for the Black Bears. The turf looked good, the cheerleaders were engaging and the food was tasty. The game itself was the real draw, and the team did not disappoint. Overall, Stamp said that it is exactly like a pro game should be. Hendrycks commented that it was a great night for the city, with a great atmosphere.

And Fox, who has inside knowledge of what it is to be an NLL player and the excitement that is being on that floor while seeing thousands of fans cheering for you, can’t wait for the next game.

“The energy, the excitement, and the amount of people that showed up was impressive,” Fox said. “You add the game and the way that Ottawa won, all the fans went home very happy and very excited to have this team here.”