An Ottawa Senators fan who went viral for a video hyping the team's playoff run has joked that he got "banished" to Taiwan for cursing the team with his Sens-themed playoff songs.
The team posted a video of Kyle Ivan Thursday in Taipei saying the team wanted him as far away as possible from the Canadian Tire Centre for game three against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Ahead of the playoffs, Ivan posted a video on multiple social media platforms parodying Eminem's Without Me which got hundreds of thousands of views — and a lot of online hate.
Then the Sens lost the first two games and many fans decided that Ivan's song was a jinx.
With that kind of fan reaction circulating online, Ivan said, the team reached out to him about doing a followup video before the series came to Ottawa for games three and four.
So on Thursday, the Sens posted a video of Ivan saying he had been "banished" by the team to Taiwan to get him as far away from the players as possible.
A spokesperson for the Senators said the team didn't really send Ivan to Taiwan but, since he was actually there, they decided to lean into it.
“Kyle deserves all the credit for this blowing up and going viral because he was such a good sport about all of this," Ian Mendes, communications vice president for the Senators, said in an emailed statement.
"Our social team had a vision and concept for the video and Kyle executed it perfectly. It was really nice to see how the majority of our fan base — and the outside hockey world — embraced this little video. And hopefully it removed some of the negativity that was swirling around him on social media."
While Ivan's exile didn't break the curse in the capital — the Hurricanes beat the Senators 2-1 in game three Thursday — the Ottawa musician said the fans' reaction to his latest parody shows their passion for the team.
"I gotta give kudos to the whole fan base for having this much passion to pour out this much hate into my song," Ivan said after the Sens' game three loss.
Ivan said he hopes that passion turns into positive energy at the Canadian Tire Centre for game four on Saturday.
"Dress up as wild as you want, wear the gold bodysuits, paint your face, dress up in crazy costumes," he said. "Obviously it sucks when the plays don't work out, but we can't sound deflated there. We gotta keep the energy going."
Ivan said that if the Sens make a miracle comeback and win the next four games, he's hoping he'll be allowed back for the next round.
"I think in my perfect world ... because I think I did my part to lift this curse and if they get to the next round, at least let me come back for game one, you now? Let me get back to Sens Mile, let's see how it goes," Ivan said.
Making these songs has become a tradition for Ivan. He made his first parody in 2015 and additional videos for each of the Senators' series in 2017, when the team made it all the way to the conference final before losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in game seven.
Last year, Ivan's parody of Blur's Song 2 about the Senators' opening round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs drew major attention as the team returned to the post-season.
Ivan said that song got some hate online but he figured it was mostly from Leafs fans. The musician said it would occasionally be requested when he played shows and people would ask him if he was going to do a follow-up this year.
Ivan said that while he was ready for some online hate before posting this year's Eminem parody, he did not expect the wave of blowback.
"Oh boy, was I wrong, right? It was nearly twice as viral on the first day there, and way more hate. And of course, it's all from the Sens fans this time around," he said.
The comments included people saying they were actively cheering against the Senators because of the song and calling for "Canes in 3" — a mathematical impossibility.
Still, Ivan is taking it all in stride and has high hopes for the make-or-break game four this Saturday in Ottawa.
He said the Los Angeles Kings managed to come back from a 3-0 deficit in the first round and win the Stanley Cup in 2014, so an Ottawa comeback isn't impossible.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
