According to Ottawa Senators founder Bruce Firestone, a simple wasp sting almost ended Ottawa's NHL dream before it started.
The Ottawa Senators have had to negotiate a number of challenges in their history. Nothing major, just little things like actually paying for the franchise, jumping through a million hoops to get their arena built, and filing for bankruptcy protection.
Today, despite the playoff slump, the team is in a good place – maybe as healthy as it's ever been. It has stable ownership (financially and behaviourally) and a fine management team, all trying to run the team the right way and being given the resources they require. So, the future looks bright in the capital.
The Senators have given Ottawa hockey fans over 30 years of highs and lows, and it would be hard to picture this city without them.
But a simple wasp sting almost ended Ottawa's NHL dream before it started.
Team founder Bruce Firestone, the club's original owner, told an incredible story on his YouTube channel while speaking about the life of Jeff Kyle, the Senators' beloved former vice president of marketing, who passed away last month after a lengthy battle with cancer.
"Before we applied to acquire a National Hockey League expansion franchise, Jeff and I would do lots of work together in real estate," Firestone said. "One beautiful summer day, we were looking at this property of potential acquisition. We went into the woods to see the full property, and I got stung by a yellow jacket.
"I didn't know that I was allergic to yellow jackets. And we walked on another 20 paces or so, and I felt paralysis coming up my legs and up my body, and I said, 'Jeff, I think something's going wrong,' and then I fell over."
At this point, Firestone was immediately appreciative that Kyle had been a football star at Queen's University, helping them win three Dunsmore Cups as OQIFC Champions.
"Jeff hoisted me up on his shoulders and ran me out of the woods to his car, drove me to the Queensway-Carleton Hospital, where they poked me full of adrenaline," Firestone said. "They said, 'Mr. Firestone, you're allergic to yellow jackets. You need an EpiPen,' which I carry with me at all times now.
"That was the kind of person Jeff was. I mean, he saved my life. We wouldn't have a hockey team today if not for Jeff. Not just because of that, but many other aspects of his workload were absolutely crucial.
"And certainly, I would have died that day."
After that near tragedy, Firestone and Terrace Investments, against all odds, eventually swung for the fences and won an NHL franchise.
Could someone else have come along to pursue an NHL team for Ottawa? It's possible but highly doubtful. The franchise was won during the final days of John Ziegler's NHL presidency. Gary Bettman took over in 1993, and it's hard to imagine that Bettman's strategic vision of NHL expansion would have included Ottawa, then or now.
Without Firestone and his team – and the late Jeff Kyle not skipping leg day at the gym – there would be no Ottawa Senators.