Battle of Ontario

The Battle of Ontario (French: Bataille de l'Ontario) is a National Hockey League (NHL) rivalry between the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Both teams compete in the Atlantic Division and with current NHL scheduling, they meet three to four times per season. Games between the teams are often televised nationally on Hockey Night in Canada. The rivalry has been described as one of the NHL's top rivalries due to the two teams meeting each other in the postseason throughout the early 2000s.

Games between Toronto and Ottawa ice hockey teams date back before the founding of the NHL. In 1891, the original Senators defeated the Toronto St. George's to win the Ontario ice hockey title. In February 1904, the original Ottawa Senators, aka the 'Silver Seven', defeated the Toronto Marlboros in a Stanley Cup challenge. The Senators were founding members of the National Hockey Association (NHA) in 1910 and Toronto teams joined the NHA two years later. In 1917, the Toronto NHA franchise was turned over to the NHL and joined the Senators as one of the founding teams of the NHL. After the original Ottawa NHL franchise relocated to St. Louis, as the Eagles in 1934, and with the coming of television broadcasting of NHL games in the 1950s, Ottawa-area NHL fans became fans of other NHL teams. A Toronto–Ottawa sports rivalry continued between the Argonauts and the Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

The current Senators entered the NHL in 1992, but the rivalry with the Maple Leafs did not begin to emerge until the late 1990s. From 1992 to 1998, Toronto was in the Western Conference and Ottawa was in the Eastern Conference, which meant that the two teams rarely played each other. However, before the 1998–99 season, the conferences and divisions were re-aligned, and Toronto was moved into the Eastern Conference's Northeast Division with the Senators, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, and Buffalo Sabres.

The Maple Leafs and Senators met for the first time in the playoffs in 2000, with the Maple Leafs dispatching the Senators in six games. Some Maple Leafs fans saw this as revenge, since the Senators' Marian Hossa accidentally clipped the Maple Leafs' Bryan Berard in the eye on March 11, ending the young defenceman's season and almost his career.

The next season, Toronto and Ottawa met again in the first round, as the Senators entered the playoffs ranked second in the conference and the Maple Leafs seventh. While the Senators were expected to defeat the Maple Leafs, especially since they had swept the regular season series against them, the Maple Leafs instead swept the series in a major upset; Ottawa did not score its first goal of the series until 16:51 of the third period in the third game.

In 2001–02, the teams met in the playoffs for the third straight year. The two teams were evenly matched, and the Maple Leafs managed to win the second-round series in the full seven games and advance to the conference finals. One notable incident occurred late in game five, when Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson hit Maple Leafs' forward Darcy Tucker in a questionable hit-from-behind, which did not draw a penalty. Seconds after hitting Tucker, Alfredsson scored the game-winning goal.

In 2002–03, the rivalry hit an all-time high during a regular season game on March 4, when Darcy Tucker attacked the Senators' Chris Neil, who was sitting on the bench. This resulted in numerous players exchanging punches before order was restored. Tucker, Neil, and Ottawa's Shane Hnidy all received fighting majors and game misconducts for the same incident. After the game, Tucker claimed Neil spit on him, an allegation which Neil denied. The NHL board looked into this claim and concluded that Tucker's allegation was false. Tempers remained frayed, especially with 1:23 to play, when Toronto's Tie Domi went after the Senators' Magnus Arvedson, throwing several punches at him. Video evidence showed Arvedson spearing Domi just prior, awaiting the faceoff. Domi received a roughing minor, instigator minor, fighting major, misconduct and game misconduct. Arvedson did not get a penalty on the play. Suspensions were announced a few hours after Tucker and Domi appeared at NHL head offices in Toronto for a hearing. Tucker was suspended for five games, without pay, after it was determined that Neil did not spit at Toronto's bench. Domi was suspended for three games, also without pay. A total of 163 minutes in penalties were called in the game.

On January 6, 2004, during a game against the Nashville Predators, Toronto captain Mats Sundin's stick broke on an attempted shot at the blue line and he threw it away in disgust. Instead of hitting the glass, the stick accidentally went over the boards and into the crowd, and the NHL reacted by giving Sundin a one-game suspension. The game he was suspended for was a game against the Senators in Toronto; during the game, Daniel Alfredsson's stick broke, and he immediately faked a toss of his stick into the stands. This caused an uproar with the Maple Leafs, in part because they also lost the game 7–1. Alfredsson dismissed the Maple Leafs' reaction, calling it an overreaction. This incident added to the rivalry, and Maple Leafs fans booed Alfredsson at every opportunity for the remainder of his career.