After winning the first series, the Senators are ready for more | TheAHL.com

Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer

The Belleville Senators continue to check off items on their to-do list.

Last Wednesday brought the team’s first Calder Cup Playoff victory, a 3-1 victory over Toronto in Game 1 of the first round of the North Division.

Now after a nail-biting Sunday afternoon at CAA Arena, the B-Sens won the series opener, a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 3 that made it a game against Cleveland.

Belleville hosts the Monsters in Game 1 of the best-of-five North Division Semifinals on Wednesday night.

It’s been a long road since the Senators arrived in Belleville in 2017. They missed the playoffs their first two seasons. For the third year they looked like a Calder Cup contender led by Josh Norris and Drake Batherson, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season in March. They made the postseason for the first time in 2022, but were swept in two games by Rochester in the first round.

This seventh season is already different.

“It feels really good,” the head coach David Bell he told the media after Sunday’s win. “I am very happy with the boys.

“That’s grinding. That has been our MO all year… We never stop and nothing comes easy. It’s never been easy for our team.”

Knowing the value of veteran leadership, the Ottawa Senators are bringing it forward Garrett Pilon in free agency last July, signing him just 10 days after he hoisted the Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears. The sixth-year champion led Belleville with 47 points in 62 games during the regular season, then scored twice in Game 2 in Toronto to force overtime before scoring the series-clincher at 2:17 of OT in the Game 3.

A parent group management team is trying to build something, in Ottawa and in Belleville. Michael Andlauerwho once owned the Hamilton Bulldogs AHL franchise, bought the Senators last September and incorporated them Steve Staios as his general manager and president of hockey operations. Dave Poulin came aboard as Ottawa’s senior vice president of hockey. And signs of progress are starting to show: 13 players have signed on for playing time in Ottawa and Belleville this season, joining an Ottawa roster already filled with Belleville grads such as Norris, Batherson, Thomas Chabot, Ridley Greig, Erik Brannstrom, Mark Kastelic again Jacob Bernard-Docker.

In Belleville, the AHL Sens performed well on the floor, and an 8-1-0-0 finish secured the team’s Calder Cup Playoff berth. For a group of players learning how to navigate playoff hockey and win, Sunday marked an important step. When the Marlies tied the game at 3-3 with 6:41 to go in regulation, the B-Sens had to contain any further damage, regroup at halftime, and quickly end overtime.

“It’s huge,” said Pilon, who also hit the OT winner in a pivotal Game 5 in last year’s Calder Cup Finals. “I think there are guys who talked (during the break) to make sure we get back to playing the way we were. If you get a lead like that, and it’s 10 minutes to go anyway, you’re probably still waiting, and I think that’s kind of what we’re back to. It’s a good lesson for us to keep playing, to move forward.”

Eliminating Couples provided a certain level of experience. Facing Cleveland will bring another level of pressure. And if Belleville develops, that pressure and those demands will increase.

“We’re looking as an organization to evaluate these guys as quickly as possible because there’s nothing bigger than the NHL playoffs,” said Bell, “and that’s where we want these guys to get so they can contribute to the Ottawa Senators.” Now we can send guys up with playoff experience. We couldn’t do that in the past.”

As the AHL’s version of the Battle of Ontario has been done all year, the Senators prepare to face a Cleveland team they haven’t seen since Dec. 15. There have been a lot of changes, a lot of expansion since then.

“We’ve grown a lot as a team,” said Pilon, “I think that’s a big thing.” But we’ll look at the tape and see how we should play with them and then we’ll go out swinging.”

TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams has covered the American Hockey League for nearly two decades at outlets including NHL.com, Sportsnet, TSN, Hockey News, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio and SLAM ! Sports, and most recently was the host of The Hockey News On The ‘A’ podcast. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.