'This guy lied to you, bro!': Ottawa Senators fans fired up at CTC to jeer Brady Tkachuk

The morning of Brady Tkachuk’s return to Ottawa, Sens fan Jamal Choudhry awoke with a plan to get everyone heading into the Canadian Tire Centre revved up to boo the former captain.

He bought an inflatable boxing bag from Sportchek for $40 and found a blue pool noodle. His buddy, originally from Long Island, N.Y., brought him a Temu Matthew Tkachuk Team USA jersey. And on the way to the rink Wednesday afternoon, Choudhry’s girlfriend duct taped over the name bar to write “TRAITOR.”

As his fellow fanatics walked towards Gate 1 two hours before puck drop between the Senators and the Florida Panthers, Choudhry enticed them to take a swing at his makeshift mannequin.

“This guy left you, bro!” Choudhry yelled as one fan wound up. “This guy lied to you, bro!”

A group of three teenagers did a real number on it as Choudhry cheered on. One charged and tackled it. Choudhry got it all on camera for his social media channel, Sens Buzz, where he does man-on-the-street interviews.

“When it came to Brady, like we were promised a dream, and that dream hasn’t been realized, right?” Choudhry told the Ottawa Citizen. “And it’s kind of like, when he got traded, it’s like we we’re restarting.

“Don’t lie to Sens fans. Don’t lie to them.”

Tkachuk’s return will be Lynn McKeown’s only Sens game of the season. He lives in Napanee, over two hours southwest of Ottawa, and has half-season tickets to the Belleville Senators. But duty called.

“He should’ve finished his contract, at least, right?” McKeown said of Tkachuk, who requested a trade last spring with two seasons remaining on his seven-year deal. “But he wanted to play with his brother. That was his goal, I think, all along, to play with his brother.”

McKeown drove up Wednesday afternoon with his adult son, Mike, who has to work at 8 a.m. on Thursday back in the town just west of Kingston.

“We’re both ready to boo, big time,” McKeown said.

Thomas Pace built an easel with his bare hands to hold an AI image of a donkey, named Trady, Tkachuk’s new nickname among online Sens fans. The donkey is pictured wearing a Panthers No. 8 Tkachuk jersey walking to Florida from Ottawa, turning his back on Parliament Hill with a big smile.

Pace, who runs a couple Sens fan accounts on Instagram and Tik Tok, morphed into a carnival barker outside of the CTC, hollering at folks to “step right up and pin the tail on Trady!”

From Quyon, Que., 45 minutes from Kanata, Pace makes it to around 10 games a year, but he had this night circled on his calendar the moment the NHL schedule was released.

“I’m sure he’s a stand-up guy, did a lot for the community,” Pace said of Tkachuk, “but at the end of the day, if you bail on our team, you’re Public Enemy No. 1.

“And he’s going to get that treatment tonight.”