Senators’ Brady Tkachuk a Captain On And Off The Ice

In October 2021, Brady Tkachuk made a seven-year commitment to the Ottawa Senators. Recognizing Tkachuk’s leadership abilities, the club immediately bestowed him with “C.” Only 22 years old at the time, Tkachuk was named the youngest Senators’ captain in franchise history.

Since that time, Senators’ fans have witnessed the growth of the St. Louis, MO resident on and off the ice.

And this week Tkachuk and his fianceé, Emma Farinacci made another long-term commitment. This time to the Ottawa community and its youth.

The pair will lend their time, and energy in addition to philanthropic support to assist in “improving the lives of the close to 4,500 local youth who are BGC members in Ottawa,” per a team media release Wednesday.

“Since we’ve come to Ottawa, the city has fully embraced us and we believe it is important to give back and actively be part of the Ottawa community,” said Tkachuk in the release.

BGC Ottawa formerly known as the Ottawa Boys & Girls Club in concert with Brady and Emma introduced the Tkachuk’s Captains program. The program is designed to award seven members in each of the four Ottawa clubs with a “C” for “their role in day-to-day leadership at the BGC.”

While there have been many instances on the ice of Tkachuk’s leadership, this is the first time albeit at least publicly, he’ll be featured prominently in the forefront away from the confines of the Canadian Tire Centre.

On the ice, the Senators 2018 fourth overall Entry Draft selection once again displayed his leadership in his team’s 5-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche Thursday.

Tkachuk recorded one goal and one assist to set a career-high in points with 69, (28 goals, 41 assists).

After trailing 5-2 at the end of the second period, Tkachuk brought his team to within one late in the game.

The Avalanche fifth marker is one that had everyone talking. And if you’re on social media, they still are.

Colorado appeared to ice the puck, but linesman Mark Shewchyk deemed Senators defenseman Artem Zub went for the hit on Avs forward Andrew Cogliano rather than making a play for the puck inside the offensive zone.

The clear hit the end boards in the Senators’ zone only to bounce back to the right side of the crease, where goaltender Mads Sogaard appeared to smother the puck with his glove.

However, referee Frederic Lecuyer failed to blow the play dead, though Sogaard had cupped the puck for a couple of seconds.

Sogaard seemingly thinking there was a whistle for icing or a stoppage released the puck. Upon witnessing this, Avalanche forward Lars Eller took a whack at the puck, knocking it over the line for a goal.

Tkachuk among others on the ice and the coaching staff were incensed the whistle wasn’t blown.

But in the grand scheme, if hindsight was 20-20, it would’ve served Sogaard to keep the puck frozen until the play was stopped.

But as much as the Senators’ captain was incensed on the ice at the time, Tkachuk once again displayed his leadership during his postgame interview in not only heaping praise towards his goalie, he took the time to acknowledge it isn’t easy to officiate an NHL game.

“He (Lecuyer) didn’t see him cover it. He’s on the other side of the net. That I can’t argue with. They’ve got a tough job too, and no one is supporting them out there. There’s a reason we went to video. You have to trust their own judgment. And yes, it was weird and wacky, he didn’t see it. They’re going to tell you what you see. They’re not going to lie to you,” explained Tkachuk.

For the 22-year-old Sogaard, it’s been a trying time. Recalled from the Senators’ American League affiliate in Belleville, Sogaard has been thrown into the line of fire with his team’s season on the line due to injuries to netminders Anton Forsberg and Cam Talbot.

Being the captain that he is Tkachuk not only lent his utmost support for Sogaard, but he also went the extra mile stating the native of Denmark is goalie of the future for the club.

“I think it’s one of the weirdest goals you’ll see this year. And we all believe it’s absolutely not “Sogie’s” fault. I feel terrible for him. He’s been so key and just put into a shitty situation with both goalies going down. He’s just a young goalie, but he’s our goalie of the future and he’s going to take us to the Stanley Cup. He’s going to take us to that. We want to get to it. It’s just a shitty situation that he’s in right now, with the pressure of being such a young goalie – but we have all the belief now, all the faith. It’s unbelievable how good of a player he is already. And he’s already stepping in and kind of just given us a chance to win now and for the future. Just the kind of person that he is, one of the nicest, genuine great guys, so I feel terrible for him. But I don’t think he did anything wrong. He expected a whistle. It’s unfortunate that it happened.”

At the age of 23, Brady Tkachuk is mature beyond his years and is quickly becoming one of the most respected captains in the game.