OTTAWA, ON – On Tuesday, May 28th at Lansdowne Park’s Horticulture Building, the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame is inducting five new members to our local sports shrine – Dr. Mark Aubry (Builder – Medical), Mike Bullard (Athlete – Hockey), James Duthie (Builder – Media), Lyndon Hooper (Athlete – Soccer) and Luke Richardson (Athlete – Hockey), while a pair of teams will be honoured for their milestone national championship victories – the 1974 Ottawa Sooners and 1999 Ottawa 67’s. Each Tuesday and Thursday until the event, the Sport Hall will post an article on an aspect of the event. Today’s article is on Keynote Speaker Erin Crowe.

2024 Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies Keynote Speaker Erin Crowe

In one week, Ottawa Senators Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer Erin Crowe will deliver the keynote speech at the 2024 Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame celebrations on May 28 at Lansdowne Park’s Horticulture Building.

Crowe is one of the most influential figures on the Ottawa sports scene. The Ottawa native and Queen’s University commerce graduate has helped guide the Sens from some of their earliest days, having first joined the organization’s finance department in 1996.

Crowe later became the Sens’ Chief Financial Officer and first represented the club at NHL Board of Governors meetings in 2009, when she was both the youngest person in the room and the only female.

Crowe has earned numerous awards during her career. She was recently recognized by the Ottawa Business Journal as the capital’s CFO of the Year in 2022, before she again earned promotion as the Senators’ VP and COO.

Crowe has also served as a volunteer board member for local groups such as the Ottawa Food Bank and CHEO, among several others.

“The Ottawa Senators have been a great partner of the Hall for many, many years – ever since they started really – and Erin’s been a great friend and supporter of the Hall too,” notes Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame Chair Dave Best. “We’re really looking forward to having her talk on behalf of Ottawa sport, and about what sport heritage means to her.

“Erin has a really great perspective – she’s succeeded incredibly well both in business and in sport – and we’ll look forward to her sharing a bit about her experience and how she got there as a female in a very traditionally male-dominated environment.”

Russ Jackson and Elizabeth Manley are among those who have appeared as past keynote speakers at the Ottawa Sport Hall’s inductions. Crowe will take the podium on the heels of 2019 Hall inductee Chris Phillips, who spoke at last year’s event.

Crowe will be saluting a number of figures from the hockey world during the Hall’s 2024 celebrations.

Former Senators defenceman Luke Richardson, fellow retired NHLer Mike Bullard, TSN hockey host James Duthie and Senators team doctor Mark Aubry will be inducted into the Hall on May 28, while the Ottawa 67’s will be honoured for their Memorial Cup title 25 years ago. The 1974 Canadian junior football-champion Ottawa Sooners and Team Canada soccer great Lyndon Hooper round out the honourees.

Tickets to the dinner are now sold out. The festivities will be rebroadcast on Rogers TV during the first week of June. Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame Director Terry Marcotte, the former long-time CTV Ottawa sports anchor, will serve as event emcee.

Meet 3 new Ottawa Sport Hall directors

Three new members of the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame board of directors have added energy and an extensive array of expertise to the team that’s working hard behind the scenes to prepare for the Hall’s annual induction ceremonies next week. They are:

Matt Bennett

Matt is the Vice President of Corporate Partnerships & Ticketing for the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group. Matt has built impactful relationships with key stakeholders at local, regional and national levels during the past decade with OSEG, plus another nine years before that with Senators Sports & Entertainment.

Born and raised in Ottawa, Matt is a proud Brock Badgers Sport Management alum and also holds a Human Kinetics Masters degree from the University of Windsor. Matt currently lives in Kanata with his wife Heather and two kids, Hadley & Dax.

Jeff Harrop

Jeff is the Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Customer Engagement for the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club. Jeff has held extensive leadership roles in a myriad of dynamic, highly competitive industries for over 20 years.

The McGill University MBA graduate began his career with Johnson & Johnson and Molson Coors before joining the Edmonton Oilers Entertainment Group as a marketing and executive leader. He then served as President of FC Edmonton in the Canadian Premier League before joining the Sens in December 2023.

Cody Sorensen

Originally a track-and-field athlete, Cody Sorensen parlayed his University of Guelph Gryphons sprint hurdling skills into two Olympic appearances as a bobsledder.

The Ottawa native first took to the ice in advance of the Vancouver 2010 Games, but wound up making his debut at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics as a member of Canada’s top push crew. Sorensen returned for a second run eight years later at Beijing 2022, placing ninth.

In between Olympic appearances, the Queen’s MBA grad built a career in mergers and acquisitions with Welch Capital Partners Inc., where he drew on his experience as an athlete to inspire and lead his team, foster a culture of excellence, and overcome challenges along the way.

A two-time World Championships and four-time bobsleigh World Cup circuit medallist, Sorensen is a second-generation Olympian following his father Ole, a Munich 1972 wrestler. He is also a director with Big Brothers Big Sisters Ottawa.

The new trio join returning directors Dave Best, Sue Kavanagh, Mike Flanagan, Micheal Burch, Aldo Chiappa, Ed Blomeley, Al Charron and Terry Marcotte, who are all excited to celebrate the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame Class of ’24 in one week from today!

MAY 28 OTTAWA SPORT HALL OF FAME INDUCTION EVENING

Tickets for the Tuesday, May 28th Induction Ceremony are now sold out!

In the lead-up to the banquet, full-length features on each of the inductees and honoured teams will be posted on the Hall’s website at OttawaSportHall.ca and shared through the Ottawa Sports Pages.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available. See OttawaSportHall.ca/Sponsorship for more details.

-30-

Contacts:

Dave Best
Chair, Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame
Chair@OttawaSportHall.ca

About the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame:

The Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization, which documents, curates and celebrates outstanding achievement in local sport heritage. The Sport Hall is overseen by a volunteer Board of Directors to maintain and preserve our rich sporting legacies. Each year, the Hall of Fame Board receives nominations from the public and selects new inductees to be honoured in the Hall.