Caleb Nickerson
SHAWVILLE Aug. 23, 2017
On Aug. 23, hockey fans young and old from around the Pontiac converged on the Canadian Tire in Shawville for a chance to meet some of their heroes.
The Ottawa Senators Hometown Tour rolled into town on last Wednesday afternoon, bringing colourful tents, inflatables and prizes.

The main draw for the festivities however, was an autograph signing with Senators’ forwards Alex Burrows and Michael Blunden as well as the franchise’s first captain Laurie Boschman.
Canadian Tire manager Chris Beimers said that eager fans had queued up in front of the store that morning to get their hands on wristbands that would admit them to the autograph signing.
“We had a lineup of about 50 people waiting for wristbands,” he said. “They were all gone before noon hour.”
When the big RV carrying Burrows, Blunden and Boschman, as well as team mascot Spartacat and long-time announcer Gord Wilson arrived on location, the crowd’s excitement was palpable. A cheer went up after every dignitary was announced before they got down to signing autographs with gusto.
Event organizer Scott Lawryk said that events like these help strengthen the team’s bonds with their fans.
“This is our fourth year doing the tour. We’ll go around from town to town, we’ll switch it up every year and go to new locations, new Canadian Tires,” he said. “Shawville was definitely a place we wanted to visit this year. We know what a hockey hotbed it is and obviously with Bryan Murray being from out here. This year we were able to make it happen.”
He gestured to the assortment of activities that the local children were eagerly taking part in.
“We’ve got a hardest shot, target shooting, hockey going on,” he said. “We’ve got an activation where you can act as if you’ve gotten drafted by the Sens, get your picture taken, get your rookie card … It’s a pretty big hit.”