MONTREAL — Two hours before game time, Michael Andlauer welcomed his family inside the luxury suite tucked near the Zamboni entrance at the Bell Centre.  

They have spent countless hours inside this room, which is located just a few steps away from the family’s longtime season tickets along the glass in section 117. 

“Feels weird, right?” Andlauer cracked as his wife, Lucie, and son, Michael Jr., entered the suite.

It was Andlauer’s first time inside their old stomping grounds as owner of the Ottawa Senators. Suddenly the painting on the wall featuring the likes of Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur depicts legends wearing an enemy sweater. 

Andlauer invited The Athletic to sit with him for an extended conversation as he prepared for the game. He revealed that as part of the agreement he made when selling off his minority share of the Montreal Canadiens, he asked Geoff Molson for one small favour.  

When the Senators made their first visit to Montreal in January, Andlauer wanted a chance to sit in his old season tickets one last time. 

“This is the last time I sit in those seats,” Andlauer said. “So there are some emotions.”

Andlauer held those three seats along the glass for more than a dozen years, faithfully attending as many games as he could when he was in the…

OTTAWA — Minutes after her team lost a 3-2 overtime decision in their home opener, Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod took her spot at the postgame press conference podium.

Instead of wallowing in the aftermath of a heartbreaking loss as most coaches would, MacLeod looked out to the assembled media with a gleam of excitement in her eyes.

“I don’t know what to say. This is incredible,” MacLeod said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

MacLeod was awestruck by the crowd of reporters who packed the tiny room adjacent to her team’s locker room at The Arena at TD Place. MacLeod is accustomed to only seeing a small handful of reporters covering the teams she’s played for or coached. But on Tuesday, she was speaking in front of seven television microphones and roughly two dozen reporters on hand to document a piece of hockey history.

An announced crowd of 8,318 attended Tuesday’s Ottawa-Montreal PWHL game, marking the largest crowd ever to watch a professional women’s hockey game. It surpassed the previous mark of 7,765 people on hand to watch a professional women’s game in Sweden in 2021-22.

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So with a historic evening serving as the backdrop, MacLeod wasn’t interested…

In his opening statement as the new owner of the Ottawa Senators, Michael Andlauer admitted the same feelings from his wedding day 27 years ago came rushing back to him.

“I’m mixed with so many emotions, it reminds me of my wedding day,” Andlauer said. “Excited. Overwhelmed a little bit. Nervous. But I’m happy.”

The first couple minutes of Andlauer’s speech on Friday were infused with a touch of nervous energy that came across as genuine. When speaking about the arduous Senators sale process that took nearly a calendar year to complete, Andlauer visibly exhaled a sigh of relief.

“It’s been a long road, but I must tell you it’s been worth the journey. I can really say, I’m finally home,” Andlauer said. “It’s emotional.”

Those raw opening words soon gave way to some colour and humour, as Andlauer seemed to get more comfortable with the spotlight and the barrage of questions that followed.

When asked what it was like to stop cheering for the Montreal Canadiens — his favourite childhood team and the club of which he was a minority owner with until yesterday — Andlauer mentioned that his wife, Lucie, has made the transition very simple.

“She got to go into my closet and clean out all of the Habs gear,” Andlauer said, a comment that received a…