from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,
Like everybody else across the National Hockey League, Eugene Melnyk is mystified.
The Ottawa Senators are only two wins away from a trip to the Stanley Cup final but, as they prepare for Tuesday's Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the club’s owner is surprised the Canadian Tire Centre isn’t completely sold out.
As the hours ticked towards the 8 p.m. faceoff between the Senators and Penguins, with Pittsburgh leading the series 3-2, the club was still trying to move a large inventory of seats. A check of the seat map in the building indicated there were a lot of the lower-priced seats in the upper decks still available.
Melnyk is choosing his words carefully because attendance has been an issue all season but he is taken aback by the fact there is no guarantee the building — which has a capacity of 18,572 — will be full Tuesday night.
Nobody is certain how many seats are left for the game but it’s fair to the game wasn’t close to a sellout Monday night.
“It’s very disturbing, however, knowing the players and coaches they will be trying their hardest for Ottawa,” Melnyk told Postmedia.
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