Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame a 'really big honour' for former Senators defenceman Jason York

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With a chance in Game 4 to grab a stranglehold on what had been an extremely tight series — Ottawa won Games 1 and 2 in overtime — York had a goal and an assist at home en route to a 4-3 victory and a 3-1 series lead. In Game 6, it was total bedlam at the Palladium when Duchesne scored the empty-netter to put it away.

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“I still think that those early times at the CTC, that’s the loudest the building’s ever been,” York said.

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York had 124 points (25 goals, 99 assists) in 380 regular season games with the Senators. Perhaps a good omen, trading for the hometown kid back in 1996 led to 11 consecutive trips to the playoffs for the franchise.

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“The team just got better and better and better,” York said. “Although we never got far in the playoffs, those five years in Ottawa, I call them building block years for the franchise. The team always made the playoffs, we were always good.”

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Nearly three decades after his homecoming, York got a call from an old friend with some good news. Former Ottawa Police chief Mike Flanagan — whose son Declan was coached by York in Kanata minor hockey — had nominated York for the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame, and the board voted him in.

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“It was a great feeling,” York said, “being from here, growing up here, playing for the Nepean Raiders as a kid and then going and playing in the (Central Canada Hockey League) for the Smiths Falls Bears. I played baseball here, my brothers played here. I have a long family history here, so to get in a local sports hall of fame for me is a really big honour.”

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On Wednesday night at Lansdowne Park’s Horticulture Building, York was officially inducted into the Hall alongside curlers Rachel Homan and Emma Miskew, Canadian Football League offensive lineman Val St. Germain, legendary local volunteer Keith Brown, and the 1976 Rockland Nationals junior hockey team, coached by the late Bryan Murray.

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York has worn many hats since retiring from pro hockey in 2007 — he owned and coached the CCHL’s Kemptville 73’s from 2017 to 2021 — but working in hockey media has always been his passion.

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York was a media darling throughout his NHL career, sitting down for long conversations with journalists after practice and accruing “a ton” of those famed Hockey Night In Canada white towels handed out to players featured on the post-game broadcast.

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“I remember (TSN 1200’s) Gord Wilson saying to me, ‘Yorkie, what’s your plan after you’re done playing?’ And I go, ‘Well, I want to do colour.’ And he says, ‘Well, that’s my job!’ And we had a laugh about it.”

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Everything began line up for York’s post-career aspirations the summer before his final NHL season. The league was offering a one-week, hands-on media program at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. York flew out, stayed in the dorms and took part in seven 10-hour school days. He hosted a sports highlights show, did play-by-play for three innings at a local baseball game, and made a demo reel.

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The following year, after he finished with the Boston Bruins, York had several avenues to contemplate. He had an offer to play in Russia for “a ton of money,” and another offer to coach with the Ontario Hockey League’s Peterborough Petes. Or he could stay in Ottawa, coach his sons in novice hockey, and see what media opportunities came along.

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For York, the choice was obvious.

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He got a full-time radio gig with TSN 1200 hosting the morning show with Steve Lloyd. Then Sportsnet asked York to be an intermission analyst alongside Ian Mendes for Sens games. Six years later, he was doing colour for Montreal Canadiens broadcasts.

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Today, with his kids all grown up, York, 56, flies around doing colour for 20-plus Calgary Flames games a season, but Ottawa remains home.

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York is still well-connected with the team that brought him back to his roots long, long ago. He co-hosts Sens podcast Coming in Hot with Brent Wallace and Graeme Nichols, and shows up at the odd game to perform alumnus duties.

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Thirty years later, the franchise is once again forming those “building blocks.” Perhaps it’s the beginning of a similar run York helped ignite.

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