Ottawa Senators unite behind coach after family tragedy
The Ottawa Senators won't arrive until moments before game time when they go up against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh on Wednesday 17 November, as the team has opted to remain as long as possible
in Ottawa in solidarity for their assistant coach Luke Richardson, whose daughter Daron committed suicide over the weekend.
The Senators have chosen to attend the funeral service on Wednesday morning and will head out to Carolina for the game in the afternoon.
"This is something we want to do and should do," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson told reporters following a team practice at the Bell Sensplex on Tuesday. "We'll deal with the service and go through
that. Once we get on the plane and go down to Carolina, you just try to prepare and get ready. I'm sure we'll take a lot of pride in that game tomorrow from this whole situation and our effort probably won't be an issue at all."
Just about every player on the Senators team has gone to the trouble of belittling the problems which come from traveling on the same day as a game suggesting that it pales in comparison to what Richardson
and his family are going through.
"You look at their situation and how hard is travelling on a game day? What does all that mean?" defenceman Chris Phillips said "It's so immaterial, it's not even on our minds. It's about being here for
the Richardsons and the hockey stuff will take care of itself."
Head coach Cory Clouston also admitted that remaining in Ottawa for the service was a top priority and suggested that each player will deal with the difficult situation in their own way.
"Each individual will deal with that differently," he said. "It's not going to be easy, but this is what we have to do. We have to be here (for the funheral) and then we have to go and try to play our
best game in Carolina. It's not the best-case scenario. You don't like travelling on the day of a game and it definitely breaks up your routine, but we need to be here."
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