Looking back: 92-93 - A Season so Bad A Sens Fan Joined Practice

[shooter11]

Does anyone recall a Sens fan in 92-93 or 93-94 joining the team in practice one day to try and help them win??

The guy couldn't skate at all and was a hazard on the ice. I think he was Asian.

Picture was in the Ottawa Citizen the next day. I can't find any evidence of this online it's a bet with a friend..just looking for some help from anyone.

Thanks

Click to read more...

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

I remember it. He wasn't a fan. He was a guy who was out of work, and spent his money on a full set of gear thinking he could "get a job" as a player on the team.

I believe it was during training camp in the team's first season, iirc.

 

[Back in Black]

Ahhhhhh. Fond memories!

 

[Neil Patrick Harris]

It's mentioned in this article

It got so bad during the season that at one practice, a fan tried to join the Senators and help out.

"Vincent Pun shows up at practice one day with brand new hockey equipment and goes up to Mike Peluso and says, 'I'm here to help,' " said sportswriter Bruce Garrioch, who has covered the Senators throughout their existence. "Peluso says, 'Well get out there and give us a hand.' So he puts on his equipment and jumps on the ice. He can't skate. After five minutes, Peluso skates over to him and tells him to get off the ice or every practice we have from now on will be closed to the public."

 

[Boud]

Lol that's hilarious.

 

[Fandlauer]

God I want those uniforms back. So classy and badass.

 

[shooter11]

Thanks for all the feedback..bet has been won..Vincent Pun is a Sens legend

 

[vdB]

Easy money.

 

[Silvercup Returns]

Oh my God, this is amazing. How do I not remember this? Does anyone have the picture?

 

[shooter11]

some of the citizen article can't find the full article...the practice was jan 4th, 1993 not training camp as mentioned above and Vincent was 23 at the time and I think some sort of mini pro tennis player looking for a winter job...
Citizen

OK, so the Ottawa Senators are 1-for-October, 1-for-November and 1-for-December. But surely things haven't come to this. Ottawan Vincent Pun, 23, arrived at the Kanata Recreation Complex at 7 a.m. Monday, before the doors were open, to try out for the NHL club. He was sporting $1,000 worth of gear he said he bought the previous day, some price tags intact, and provided his own Gatorade.

"I knew he didn't know much about hockey because he was running the bleachers in his skates, said Senators winger Mike Peluso, who motioned Pun onto the ice. "If he's never been on skates before, he's doing pretty well.

"He skates like (defenceman) Brad Marsh, said centre Mark Freer.

"I heard that, countered Marsh.

 

[Here I Pageau Again]

God I want those uniforms back. So classy and badass.

Loved them... bought one when I was 8! I still have it -- even though it's covered in dirt and stuff (I wore it constantly).

 

[alfie follower]

I wasn't in Ottawa in 1993, but OMG this story is hilarious... thx for the laugh OP

 

[tony d]

I vaguely remember this, interesting for sure.

 

[Back in Black]

Good old Civic Centre circa 1992-93, with the SENS & 67’s logo at Centre Ice

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Great picture! I remember seeing a preseason game Montreal-Boston int he Civic Center, the year before the Sens first season. It may not have been an NHL caliber arena, but it's still a great place to watch a game.

 

[Inkling]

That incident is mentioned in Roy McGregor's great book about the first Sens' season, "Road Games". Vincent Pun was an economics student at the U of Ottawa. He bought all the equipment at Canadian Tire except for a sweater which "he expected that the Senators would provide". Supposedly he didn't bother to get his new skates sharpened either, "Pun got up, scraped his new, unsharpened skates across the cement, and fell through the gate onto the ice. Having never played anything but street hockey, he could not skate, but had heard so many news reports about the team needing help that he had somehow become convinced they would teach him if he was willing to learn."

 

[Back in Black]

"Vincent Pun was an economics student at the U of Ottawa."

I guess economics wasn’t his thing!