The Battle of Ontario — as told by the Maple Leafs and Senators who’ve lived it

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Steven Lorentz is itching to be part of history.

The Maple Leafs forward grew up a Leafs fan and the Battle of Ontario playoff matchups were pivotal moments in his fandom: Four physical and thrilling series in five seasons between the Leafs and their provincial rivals, the Ottawa Senators.

“I was there in my Leafs pyjamas,” Lorentz said with a grin. “I remember going nuts in my house.”

And now, with the postseason edition of the Battle of Ontario back for the first time since 2004, Lorentz hopes to write his own chapter in the rivalry.

“Bring it on,” he said. “There’s a lot of passion in both organizations. I grew up watching this series, and to be part of it, it’s super special.”

What made those four playoff series between 1999 and 2004 so special? And why are they being used as fuel for many fans heading into the 2025 playoffs?

In 2020, The Athletic compiled an oral history of the Battle of Ontario. Ahead of the first-round series between the Maple Leafs and the Senators, which begins Sunday, we’ve updated the story with fresh insight on some of the most memorable moments from those four series.

1999-2000: Leafs in 6

The Leafs finished the 1999-2000 regular season as Northeast Division champions. Despite the Senators winning the regular season series, the Leafs were favourites in the first playoff meeting between the two teams in the modern NHL.

Jonas Hoglund, Maple Leafs forward, 1999-2003: We had a team dinner on King Street before the first round, and (then-Leafs forward Steve Thomas) stood up in front of the whole team and said, ‘We have a chance to do something great here. If we win the Stanley Cup here in Toronto, we will be Gods forever. We will never be forgotten.’

In Game 2, Thomas scored twice at home in a Leafs win to give the Leafs a 2-0 series lead. When the series shifted back to Toronto for Game 5, Thomas scored both Leafs goals in a 2-1 overtime win.

Alyn McCauley, Leafs forward, 1997-2003: (Thomas) had a shoulder injury and he would have (his shoulder) injected before every game. He could barely lift his arm and then he’d get this cortisone shot, or whatever it was, and then you’d see him run into guys. You view it as a young player that like, ‘I’m gonna get to the finals. I’m going to have a couple of kicks at the Stanley Cup.’ And in reality, that’s far from the truth.

Darcy Tucker, Leafs forward, 2000-2008: Stumpy (Thomas) wanted to win a Stanley Cup more than any guy I’d ever played with.

Thomas would add his sixth goal of the series in Game 6 as the Leafs beat the Senators 4-2 to close out the series. The Leafs proved to have a gritty difference-maker that the Senators did not.

Cory Cross, Leafs defenceman, 1999-2002: We all knew how to play in the playoffs. And Ottawa didn’t. We just knew we could wear them down with our physicality.

Todd White, Senators centre, 2000-2004: The game was different then in terms of how it was played, how it was called. There were big changes that happened when the lockout happened. Brendan Shanahan had a role in terms of the new NHL with more speed and skill and kind of less hooking and holding.

Patrick Lalime, Senators goalie, 1999-2004, telling Chris Johnston: (The Leafs) were built for that a little more than we were.

2000-01: Leafs in 4

The 2000-01 regular season was a different story for both Toronto and Ottawa. The Senators were the third-highest scoring regular season team and won the Northeast Division title and the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed. The Leafs, despite having added Shayne Corson and Gary Roberts, only sneaked into the playoffs at the end of the season. The Leafs also lost all five regular season games against the Senators. They were legitimate underdogs.

Bryan McCabe, Leafs defenceman, 2000-08: I had 17 cups of coffee (before his first playoff game, Game 1). I was so jacked up and excited and nervous. I had butterflies in my stomach.

Wade Redden, Senators defenceman, 1996-2008: We used to stay at the Westin (in Toronto). I remember there was an alarm that went off at like two in the morning before one of the games. I’m guessing that was a Leafs fan probably pulling on that and disrupting our sleep. A lot of attention, a lot of excitement around (the series). There was always a lot of Toronto fans in Ottawa, so that was always a thorn in our side.

Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph would make 36 saves to steal Game 1 in Ottawa, 1-0 in OT. That was the start of one of the most dominant single series performances by a Leafs goaltender in franchise history. He would shut out the Senators again in Game 2, this time making 37 saves in a 3-0 win.

Rob Zamuner, Senators forward, 1999-2001: Our goalie coach held a half-hour pre-scout meeting on Joseph. He was showing all these saves, and he’s like, ‘Well, you can’t beat him here. You can’t beat them here. You can’t beat them here.’ I remember distinctly after that meeting a bunch of us being like, kind of half sarcastically, ‘Well, are we gonna score?’ It was like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Jason York, Senators defenceman, 1996-2001: I think (Joseph) might have gotten in our heads. Dominik Hasek was kind of like that. As a shooter, you think you have to be perfect.

The Leafs would win Game 3 in overtime. Defenceman Cory Cross played the hero with his first-ever playoff goal.

Cross: The next day I was walking down Avenue Road by my house and some guy is hanging out his car, yelling my name. It was cool to be the King of Toronto for a day I guess, eh?

The Leafs silenced Senators star centre Alexei Yashin by having Corson shadow him. After scoring 40 goals during the regular season, Yashin logged just one assist through the first three games of the series.

Shayne Corson, Leafs forward, 2000-2003: I took it as a compliment and as a challenge. I was near the end of my career. Any time your coach comes to you and asks you to play a different role, you have to buy in to that role.

York: You could tell (Yashin) was frustrated. It was pretty tough to win when your best players aren’t your best players.

Perry Pearn, Senators assistant coach 1996-2004: A buy-in to changing on the fly and trying to get away from Corson wasn’t something, I don’t think, was in (Yashin’s) DNA at that time.

Corson: That’s one thing about that (Leafs) team: everyone was willing to do whatever they were asked to do to win.

The Leafs would complete the sweep. Joseph finished the series with a .975 save percentage.

Zamuner: I think we were more talented than (Toronto). But they had experience and grit and they knew how to win. They just played us better in the trenches.

McCauley: I would go outside after games and see people in a traffic jam, but nobody cared. They’re all honking their horns and high-fiving each other. There’s this chaos on the streets.

2001-02: Leafs in 7

For the third year in a row, the Leafs and Senators met in the Stanley Cup playoffs: in Round 2 in 2002. The teams appeared evenly matched. But questions remained about how the offensively potent Senators could handle a gritty Leafs team.

Pearn: As a coaching staff you can’t help but think ‘OK, some of our players have heard this.’ How much they believe it, that’s another question, but we’re not getting away from it.

Shane Hnidy, Senators defenceman, 2000-2004: I wanted to be in those games, just because the amount of dislike — you can call it hate if you’d like — for the Maple Leafs.

Many Leafs were injured for the start of the series, including Mats Sundin, who fractured his wrist during a nasty series against the New York Islanders. The Senators finally looked ready to match the Leafs’ grit.

Tucker: In that series, the Battle of Ontario really became a battle for the first time.

Chris Neil, Senators forward, 2001-2017: That’s the intensity and the passion and hatred we had for each other.

Triple overtime was needed to settle Game 2. Gary Roberts pounced on Senators goalie Patrick Lalime and certified his status as a hero in Toronto with this goal.

Tucker: If Roberts doesn’t score that goal in triple OT, I don’t believe we win the series.

Valk: Ottawa never had a Gary Roberts. He didn’t even know who he was playing with from shift-to-shift. It didn’t matter.

Hoglund: Especially when the playoffs started we really got on the Gary Roberts train with the nutrition and cool-down after practices and working out before the practices. He came in with shakes in the morning. He stood by the blender and handed out shakes to everybody that wanted one.

McCabe: Previous to getting traded there, I thought I was working hard and doing the right things off the ice, but I wasn’t even close.

Cross: When Gary got ahold of (McCabe), he wasn’t in the gym too much. But it was so easy to see the transformation that Bryan made and what a long career he had because of how he just followed what (Roberts) was doing.

McCauley: I played in Ottawa for four years in junior and my hometown is Gananoque, which is now one hour and 15 minutes from (Canadian Tire Centre). There were a number of family friends that were in the arena. The local area code in Gananoque was 382. A busload of locals came up from Gananoque and two guys spray-painted “Fear 382,” implying that they should fear me on the ice, even though that wasn’t my game.

In Game 4 McCauley, who had zero points in 15 playoff games prior to 2002, played the hero. He scored both goals in a 2-1 win.

McCauley:  I was like, ‘You know what? I’ve seen all these teams where guys step up, they score goals and they contribute even just a few points here and there.’ So I just tried to be ready.

Game 5 featured the most notorious play in the Battle of Ontario. Tied 2-2 in the third period, Darcy Tucker chased a loose puck into the boards. His back was turned, but Senators centre Daniel Alfredsson still levelled Tucker into the boards with a questionable hit.

No penalty was called and Alfredsson scored the game-winner seconds later. 

Daniel Alfredsson, Senators forward, 1995-2013, to The Athletic in 2022: It’s hockey. I wasn’t going in trying to hurt (Tucker). And I’m not trying to get our team in trouble by going down a man. Things happen so fast and you never want to see anybody go down injured.

Valk: Good on Alfredsson, because it was the first time they showed some pushback. And Tucker is the type of guy who would do that for us.

Tucker: The goal hurt more than my shoulder.

Redden: (Tucker) is trying to sell the fact … I don’t know. I mean, he’s a showman. I’m sure he did get hurt a bit. I think he ended up playing the next couple of games, too. It was a great play on our part. I’ll say that.

Valk: But once again, we’re not going to retaliate. We’re better than them. It’s the Ottawa Senators. We kind of looked down on them. We were the Toronto Maple Leafs. We don’t lose to those guys.

Corson: That’s something as a team we talked about before that series started: We wanted to take a deep run and try to win a Stanley Cup and to do that, you had to sacrifice your body. And everybody was willing to do that.

Tucker: Pat (Quinn) came in before his press conference to check and see if I was OK. I was about to go to the hospital. Pat, besides Thomas, was the guy who I wished could win a Stanley Cup. I felt just as sick for him as I did for anyone else. Once he found out the news that I probably wouldn’t be able to come back for the rest of the playoffs, he could see the disappointment in my face. I could feel the disappointment in his voice.

Hnidy: In ’02, we had them …

In Ottawa for Game 6 and facing elimination, the Leafs were on the ropes. The Senators jumped to a two-goal lead. The Leafs battled back to tie the game before Alex Mogilny scored in the third period. A beaten-down Leafs team hung on for the win. In the Leafs dressing room, Tucker listened to radio broadcaster Joe Bowen’s now iconic call. 

Tucker: Ottawa was putting everything they had at us. When (Bowen) yelled out ‘Bless you boys,’ that will always stick in my mind. I was in the locker room and jumping up and down with Mats. We were in awe of the performance as a group.

Joe Bowen, Leafs radio broadcaster: I have no idea why I said it. I don’t write things down to rehearse to say, ‘Oh, I hope I can work this in somewhere.’ But it was like the last stand. It was a team that was beaten up, bruised, outgunned, outmanned, and yet here they were hanging on by their thumbs, doing everything that they could to preserve a one-goal lead. It was heroic.

Hnidy: Fans would chase you around. You’d walk to and from the arena back then. We didn’t have security just like they have now. You’d get people that’d chirp you whether it was win or a loss. The whole city, everything stopped for those games, both in Ottawa and in Toronto. I just remember how dialled in you are as a player. You didn’t need any extra Red Bull or whatever to get up to those games. The built-in adrenaline was incredible.

The Leafs used their momentum to roll by the Senators in Game 7.

Hnidy: After the losses, both in ’01 and ’02, you did not want to show your face.

Valk: We just had a strut. We weren’t going to be denied. It didn’t matter what the score in the game was, or in the series. We didn’t fear Ottawa and they probably had a better team than us on paper. We just weren’t intimidated by them. The strut came from Pat Quinn and his experience.

Corson: I feel, to this day, that if we didn’t run into injuries, we would’ve had a good chance of winning it all.

2003-04: Leafs in 7

Two years later, in the first round of the playoffs, the two teams met for the fourth time. The Leafs had Battle of Ontario debutants including Joe Nieuwendyk and Ed Belfour. 

Bowen: (Joseph and Belfour were) totally opposite. Curtis was always outgoing. Eddie arrived with a sour scorn on his mug. You didn’t go near him.

After losing Game 1, Belfour shut out the Senators in Games 2, 3 and 5. The Leafs now had a chance to close out the series in Ottawa in Game 6.

McCabe: Eddie wanted fresh orange juice between every period sitting in his locker. He had a routine and he had to stick to his routine. We’re in Ottawa (for Game 6). (Leafs strength and conditioning coach) Matt Nichol went to Whole Foods during the day to get the orange juice (but) he ran out of (it) because we went to overtime. He didn’t plan for double overtime, so he had to go to the concessions. (He gets) a can of Five Alive and he poured it for Eddie, hoping he wouldn’t notice. Eddie had like one sip of the juice going into the second overtime and threw it on the ground and snapped and was like, ‘What is this crap?’ He was a funny guy, but was so competitive. I don’t think I’ve ever played with a guy that wanted to win more than him.

Still, ahead of Game 7, the Leafs were calm. That started with Quinn.

McCabe: Pat might not have been the best technical coach that ever lived. But he was a great human being. He was a player’s coach and he was a motivator. Some of the speeches he would give before a playoff game, the hairs on the back of your neck would stand up. (Quinn) had a lot of stories that were related to books and wars. He knew when to use it, and his timing and his delivery… and the urgency in his voice and the presence he had, it just really made the group believe in each other.

Valk: (Quinn) wasn’t more about systems. He was more about heart. We don’t win those series without Pat Quinn. We don’t.

York: Pat Quinn was always so good with the media and playing gamesmanship. Our team was quieter and had a “turn the other cheek” mentality. They were more brash. Both teams didn’t like each other, that’s for sure.

Game 7 produced two moments that summed up the rivalry: Nieuwendyk sent two harmless-looking shots, both from near-identical spots on the ice, past Lalime to win the series.

Lalime: It took me I don’t know how many years until I got over the Leafs hate.

McCabe: I can’t say we’re expecting that, to get a gift from God.

Tucker: Joe had a muffin shot with that old, wooden stick. I don’t know how they were going in.

White: (Lalime) had an MCL injury and played through it. That’s the one thing that I remember. Look at his numbers. His numbers are really, really good in playoffs. Obviously everyone points to that last game. It’s one of those things where we didn’t do enough offensively to help as well.

Neil: Everyone talks about Lalime and the two goals in Game 7 (as the difference). But I don’t look at that. It was when Ricard Persson hit Tie Domi from behind and got the five-minute penalty. We were up 2-0 in Game 6. We’re up in the series. That was the game changer, right there. I actually watched it the other day on YouTube. It was a very minimal hit. Tie Domi never bled his whole career but he obviously bled there. He did what Tie had to do.

To this day, Lalime wishes for a different result.

Lalime: It comes with it. You want to live all that. You feel the goosebumps. You’re in the room. You know it’s a big game and everything that comes around it. You just want to live the moment. Those really were the best games of my life.

Pearn: You look back and you think, ‘With really elite goaltending, would we have done a little bit better?’ And that’s just a question. Maybe we wouldn’t have. But you at least ask yourself that question.

The 2004 series cemented that Leafs core as one of the most adored in team history, and cast a shadow over the Senators’ ability to beat the Leafs when it mattered.

Tucker: I came home after a game and there were 10 people waiting on my front lawn chanting, ‘Go Leafs Go.’ It was a crazy time to be a Leaf, but also a fan of the Maple Leafs. I don’t think many people remember those aspects of that time, but we players do, for sure. Playoff time is a different animal.

McCabe: (It was) a group of guys that legitimately cared about one another and had the same goals in mind. Everyone was pulling on the rope the same way. All the egos were left at the door. You don’t have to love everyone in the locker room and be best friends with them. But you have to appreciate and respect what they bring to the table. That’s why we had success.

Hnidy: I don’t know (why the Senators could not beat the Leafs in the playoffs). That’s probably one of the things that still burns. Even this many years later. Why couldn’t we get past them? Maybe this is the year. Maybe this is the year.

(Top photo of Ed Belfour and Patrick Lalime in 2004: Dave Sandford / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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