The Senators held a special citizenship ceremony for 74 new Canadians before their game

BarDown Staff

h/t Twitter/Senators

Before taking on the Calgary Flames at home on Saturday night, the Ottawa Senators held a special citizenship ceremony for 20 families from 20 different countries — 74 new Canadians in all.

These new Canadians took to the teams’ benches before the game to complete the last step and sing O Canada, with orchestra brass players performing for the crowd. Then, they got to take in their very first game as Canadian citizens.

Congratulations to today's 74 new Canadians who participated in the pre-game citizenship ceremony at @CdnTireCtr thanks to @cocacola_ca and @Ottawa_Tourism! The final step will be singing the 🇨🇦 national anthem on the ice prior to the start of the game. #MyOttawa pic.twitter.com/Xv6dyYvAPC
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) January 18, 2020

Both teams welcomed 74 new Canadians to their benches for the singing of O Canada, the final step in their Citizenship Ceremony. 🇨🇦

They’re now experiencing their first hockey game as Canadians thanks to @Ottawa_Tourism and @cocacola_ca. #MyOttawa #ImmigrationMatters pic.twitter.com/j6fQREOspG
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) January 18, 2020

This is the team's second annual New Canadians Night, following up on last year’s event that welcomed 186 new Canadians to set a new record for the largest citizenship ceremony in Canadian sports history.

So, that means between the 74 new Canadians and the 40-plus Tkachuk family members in attendance, two groups alone accounted for a good chunk of the stands in this one. Brady potted the first goal of the game against his brother Matthew’s team, and got the last laugh with a 5-2 win over the Flames.