It’s May 12, 2002.
The nation’s capital.
The Corel Centre, an arena situated in a field outside suburban Kanata, is rocking for the start of game six in the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals between the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Staked to a 3-2 series lead in this Battle of Ontario series, the Senators held the hammer. Having lost to the Maple Leafs in consecutive postseasons (2000, 2001), the Senators could turn the tide and finally return the favour.
In the first five games, the Senators had vastly outplayed a Leafs team that was without six of its regulars and through the first twelve minutes of game six, it was more of the same. Goals by Marian Hossa and Daniel Alfredsson had given the Senators a 2-0 lead. Not only were they dominating the scoreboard, they were dominating the possession game. The shots were 8-1 in favour of the Senators when Ricard Persson infamously checked Tie Domi from behind with approximately seven and a half minutes to go in the first and sent him crashing face-first into the boards.
Persson was given a 5-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct and predictably, his penalty was the catalyst that cued the Maple Leafs’ comeback. During the 5-minute man advantage, Bryan McCabe and Gary Roberts scored to even the score and steal all of the momentum. With Zdeno Chara already sidelined because of a knee injury, Persson’s ejection put an already taxed blueline down to five men. Toronto inevitably would go on to win the game 4-3 and would carry that momentum back home where they clinched the series in game seven.
Persson’s hit can easily be characterized one of the worst moments in franchise history, so why bring it up and relive bad memories?
Well, in a self-serving interview with Metro News to help sell his memoir ‘Shift Work’, Domi acknowledged that he saw the hit coming and, employing his veteran wiles, positioned himself in such a way as to maximize the damage to his face and all but guarantee that he’d draw the major infraction.
And wait for it…
By his own admission, he cut himself on purpose to get the call.
Without the illegal hit and accompanying major penalty, Ottawa’s momentum probably would have gone uninterrupted. They would have slain the dragon, beat Toronto in an series, put an end to all the insufferable bullshit and ridicule from Leafs supporting colleagues and friends that we’ve had to endure over the years and set the stage for a Senators versus Hurricanes Eastern Conference Final.
Carolina went on to reach the Stanley Cup final that year and all these years later, Senators fans are wondering “What if…?”
Thanks for that, Tie Domi. You bastard.
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