OTTAWA — The swaggering confidence that fans of the Ottawa Senators displayed Wednesday night is a relatively new phenomenon. Last month, when it looked as if the Senators might defy the odds and make the playoffs, the anxious local conversation was about jinxes, hexes and curses.
When Rick Chiarelli, a member of the city council, introduced a motion to mark the team’s surprising comeback by renaming a downtown strip of bars and restaurants Sens Mile, a step normally taken only when the team actually reaches the playoffs, there was a protracted debate about tempting fate.
The motion passed unanimously, the Senators immediately went on to lose three games and Chiarelli was suddenly the most unpopular politician in the national capital.