Eganville has had at least two of its native sons,
Shawn Heins and Dale McTavish, play in the National Hockey League.
If folks in
the Valley town are paying attention to their television sets any time the
Ottawa Senators are playing at home, they will see a third hometown lad on the
screen from time to time.
He’s usually seen opening the door or sitting next to
Senators players in the penalty box.
Len Lenser has been a mainstay at Senators games at Scotiabank Place
for well over a decade. He is among the minor officials.
While the players get the headlines and referees often
get more attention than they would ever desire, it is the minor officials who
make the game tick.
They are the guys running the clock and the penalty
box, or keeping all the statistics from high above the ice surface that
coaches, reporters and broadcasters alike check on immediately following a
period or game.
“I started out with the (Ottawa) 67’s and Senators at the same time
back in 1996 or 97,” Lenser recalls of his work as a minor official. “I started
as the official scorer with the 67’s, which I still do. I’ve also been a goal
judge, have done the statistics, and the main clock also. The last time I did
the main clock was the women’s game (Canada
versus the United States
Jan. 1).”
One of the toughest and more tedious assignments is
time on ice (TOI), Lenser points out. “You don’t see much of the game, you are
so busy making sure you have every player’s ice time right as they go on the
ice and come off on the line changes.”
Any coach who changes line combinations at the drop of
a hat doesn’t make it any easier, he adds.
Lenser has had a few laughs in the penalty box.
“Matt Carkner got into his second fight of the game,
with (Shawn) Thornton, when the Senators were
playing Boston.
Carkner said, ‘Since Neiler got all his money, I got to protect his hands,’”
Lenser said with a grin. Chris Neil signed a new contract with the Senators
last summer.
Another time, Jarkko Ruutu questioned a charging
penalty. When Lenser explained that he left his feet to hit the other player,
Ruutu calmly replied, “It was a good call then.”
Lenser enjoys the conversations that strike up in the
penalty box. “Being from the Valley, I like to talk to everybody. You get to
know who you can talk to, when to talk, and when to let them cool off.”
“The year the Senators had their long playoff run
going into June was really tough on the guys,” Lenser said of the off-ice crew.
“Not physically, but mentally. It was very interesting, but also very tiring.”
Lenser isn’t the only member of the family who is a
regular at Scotiabank Place.
Wife Denise (Godin), born and raised in Renfrew, is an
usher at Senators games, directing people to their seats in sections 208, 209
and 210 for the past 10-plus years.
Contrary to what some people might believe, minor
officials don’t work for the home team.
“We work for the National Hockey League,” Lenser
notes.
Len Lenser doesn’t intend to leave the game he loves
anytime soon. But when he does step aside, he will have enjoyed the ride.
“I can say I was in the NHL, not
as a player, but I was there. It’s priceless.”