Manotick Teen Wins Ottawa Senators Trip Of A Lifetime

Clark McEachran, 13, Winner In The Air Canada Fan Flight Contest

For Clark McEachran of Manotick, it was the trip of a lifetime.

The 13-year-old St. Mark student was selected as the Ottawa Senators’ winner of the Air Canada Fan Flight contest. He, his father Ryan, his cousin and his uncle won Air Canada flights to Nashville, hotel accommodations, and tickets to an Ottawa Senators gave against the Nashville Predators.

The Air Canada Fan Flight program runs across Canada in NHL cities and in some CHL cities. The airline rolled out the program to reward passionate young and deserving sports fans who have done something positive in the community. Clark’s father entered him in the contest.

“I had no idea that my dad had entered me in it,” Clark said of the contest.

Clark, who plays hockey in the Osgoode Rideau Senators U15 program, has a skate sharpening enterprise called On the Edge. He offers free skate sharpening to seniors and veterans in the community.

In addition to his involvement in hockey and skating, Clark also volunteers at the Manotick Legion. He helped out at December’s Breakfast with Santa, working on set-up, table setting and serving.

Clark was selected as the winner for “his resilience and positivity in the face of adversity.” In addition to the airfare, accommodation, and tickets to the game in Nashville, they also got a special gate departure send-off with Ottawa Senators mascot Spartacat, priority boarding, ground transportation, city passes, a meet and greet with special guests, and gifts.

Ryan told Clark that he was one of the finalists in the contests, and that they had to go for a video shoot with the club to promote the contest. What Clark didn’t know was at the end of the video shoot, they told him he was the winner.

“He kept it a total secret from me,” Clark said of his father. “He didn’t want me to find out.”

Clark was totally caught off guard when Ottawa Senators in-game host Lauren Fine told him he was heading to Nashville.

“After the interview, they told me I was going to go,” he said. “I was very excited, very happy, and very proud.”

It was an early start to the day on Sun., Feb. 25 when they departed, as they left Manotick for Macdonald-Cartier Airport at 2 a.m.

“We had a full day there Sunday, and on Monday we did what we want,” Clark said. We went downtown and looked around a lot. We went into some great places to eat. I listen to country music so it was really cool to be there. We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

One of the people Clark got to meet was Ottawa Senators head coach Jacques Martin. Clark also came home with a special souvenir.

“We went to ice level before the game and Mathieu Joseph of the Sens tossed me a puck,” Clark said.

Clark also said he enjoyed the experience of watching a hockey game in a different market. “Smashville” is known for having a loud and passionate fanbase.”

“It was a lot of fun and a great place to watch a game,” he said. “We were wearing our Sens jerseys and we really stood out because the crowd was all yellow with their Predators jerseys.”

Even though he is only 13, Clark is looking ahead at his future.

“I am looking into kinesiology,” he said. “I’m very interested in how the body works.”

His dream, which is even more vivid after his trip to Nashville, is to someday be a physiotherapist for the Ottawa Senators.

Clark McEachran gets ready for his road trip to Nashville with his father, cousin and Sparty.

Clark McEachran got a pre-game puck from Mathieu Joseph at ice level in Nashville.

The McEachran clan was among the group of contest winners from Ottawa in Nashville.