Canadian NHL team reportedly shuts down Habs "viewing party" in neighboring city

When the Ottawa Senators changed ownership from the Melnyk family to David Andlauer, there was a belief that the team's past ways of cheapness and pettiness were history. Unfortunately though, that may not be the case.

A french-language report from CBC today seems to indicate that the Senators have shut down a Montreal Canadiens viewing party originally scheduled for an arena in Gatineau, Quebec this evening.

From CBC:

Montreal Canadiens fans in the Outaouais region will not be able to attend Saturday's game at the Slush Puppie Centre in Gatineau. The event was cancelled at the last minute. According to our sources, a dispute over exclusive territorial rights held by the Ottawa Senators prevented the event from taking place.

The organizers had, however, obtained broadcasting authorization from TVA Sports, the exclusive French-language broadcaster of the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs. Tickets had even gone on sale this week.

The dramatic turn of events came via a press release on Thursday morning. Additional validations carried out by the broadcasting rights managers led to a change of position regarding the event , the organizers wrote, without providing further details.

For those who don't know, Ottawa is a provincial border town and is split from Gatineau only by the Ottawa River. For all intents and purposes Ottawa, ON and Gatineau, QC are sister cities despite being in different provinces.

It's important to note that event organizers did not seek permission from the Senators and, therefore, were not denied permission from the team since they never reached out in the first place.

Again from CBC:

Ottawa team should have given its approval, which it did not. According to our information, the Senators did not veto the move, but they also did not accept it.

The NHL regulations stipulate (new window)that each member has exclusive territorial rights in the city where it is located and within a radius of 50 miles [80 kilometers] of the limits of that city .

CBC reports that entire proceeds from each $13 ticket sold were to go entirely to local charities.