Overview:
A fan weighs the pros and cons as the Charge prepare for puck-drop at their new venue: The Canadian Tire Centre
When the puck drops at the Ottawa Charge home opener on Sunday, Dec. 6, the team will welcome fans to their new home barn: The Canadian Tire Centre.
For Charge fans like Kelly Carruthers, the move is a step in the right direction. Carruthers told the Ice Garden, “I love this change for the players.”
The change comes after negotiations with their original downtown venue, TD Place, fell apart last year.
Carruthers was a season ticket holder last year, so she knows the pros and cons of the arena at Lansdowne Park well.
“It was fine at the old venue,” said Carruthers. “You could definitely see from the beginning of the year to the end, just a huge progression of attendance. Games in the later half of the season were regularly sold out … so when they started talking about Lansdowne 2.0, I think everyone saw the writing on the wall, like there was no way they could have stayed here.”
Lansdowne 2.0 is a plan that will see the arena at TD Place lose over 30 percent of its current seating.
After the breakdown between Lansdowne and the PWHL, the Charge played all of their playoff games at the CTC. One of those games broke the PWHL playoff attendance record, with nearly 17,000 fans in the crowd.
Carruthers was at that game.
“During the playoffs, when everyone had their lights on the phones going off, it was amazing. I think every game, even though it was the same thing, it gave me chills,” she said.
In the press scrum afterwards, head coach Carla MacLeod described the atmosphere from her experience on the bench. “There’s an energy that’s created when you’re at home, and we’re really fortunate to have that many voices behind us,” said MacLeod, “everyone here at CTC — the (Ottawa) Senators — everyone’s been so good to us, and it’s certainly started to feel like home.”
A couple of months later, the team announced their plans to move to the arena full-time for the 2026/2027 season. Charge GM Mike Hirshfeld said the new partnership would include “a lounge for players” as well as “medical space for our players, equipment space for our equipment people, coaches’ offices.” He described the news as “a big step forward,” and said, “I think we’ll have probably the top facilities in the PWHL.”
Carruthers said this announcement was “huge” for the team. She expressed her excitement that the players will have their own training facilities and dedicated space.
“It is really nice to see that for them. They definitely deserve it,” Carruthers said. “And at this point, I think we probably have the second best scenario for our players. I think Vancouver’s the only [team] that has their own barn and they’re the primary tenant.”
The CTC, located in Ottawa’s west end, often receives criticism for its location. Traffic on game days can be difficult to navigate from downtown, and residents complain that OC Transpo service is unreliable.
Carruthers decided to renew her season tickets for this season. Since she already drives in from out of town, the travel difference is minimal. She doesn’t worry about the new location affecting attendance, either.
“I think for every person who had an issue and can’t renew their tickets for one reason or another, you’re going to have someone else in Stittsville or Carleton Place or something who [says], ‘oh, it’s closer — I’m going to start going to games,’” Carruthers said.
In the end, the highlight of the CTC for Carruthers is, “seeing how much the Sens and their management have embraced the Charge.”
