JackpotCity Fan Profile - HardPicsSens

This weeks JackpotCity Hitting the JackpOTT Fan Profile is HardPicsSens! Get to know Nathan as he shares some stories growing up, and the three categories for a "Sens Pic That Goes Hard" 👀

Tell us a bit about yourself!

My name is Nathan MacCallum, and I created and run the “Sens Pics that go hard” account on X (@hardpicssens). I grew up in Gananoque, a small town almost directly in between Toronto and Ottawa, and currently live in Kingston. I would always tell people that my favourite hockey team was the Sens as a kid, even though I didn’t know too much about hockey. I fell in love with the team while watching the 2007 Stanley Cup playoff run, and have been hooked ever since. In my everyday life, I am a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and work at an accounting firm here in Kingston. I play a lot of ball hockey through a recreational league in town, and enjoy camping with my girlfriend and building Lego in my spare time.

What does being a Sens fan mean to you?

Being a Sens fan has always felt like a symbol of belonging to something bigger than yourself. Both the online and in-person community surrounding the team has really kept me engaged over the years, and has kept up my love and passion for the team. I’m always amazed at the amount of fan-organized events that get put together, how much fun they end up being, as well as the crowds at team-organized events. It’s cool to have so many opportunities to be involved within the Sens community and share the love of the game and team with so many people who feel the same.

Where is your favourite place to watch the game?

Aside from being in-person, I love getting home to catch the game with my dad. When I started following the team more closely, he did the same, and watching the highs and lows of the team has been a shared experience for both of us over the years. I’m not typically a loud or overly talkative person in my everyday life, but I can’t stop myself from cheering and yelling at the TV after seeing the team score a big goal. I also love how fired up he gets, especially when we get to watch games together.

What is your coolest experience at a game, where was it?

I was fortunate enough to attend a playoff game during the Sens run in 2017 – it was game one against the Boston Bruins. The experience of attending a playoff game as a whole was by far the coolest atmosphere I’ve been a part of as a fan. I remember getting chills walking in and seeing the white rally towels all throughout the arena, and how deafeningly loud it was when they scored. Every game gets to be a fun experience when you’re there in person, but the atmosphere and stakes of a playoff game really take things to another level. I can’t wait to see the Sens back in the playoffs in the years to come.

What’s your must-have snack while watching a game?

If I’m at the CTC for the game, I love getting a poutine at Smoke’s Poutinerie – almost every time I’m there I try to get one before warmups. If I’m watching from home, I’m a sucker for a bag of chips – I’ve always been a big regular flavour person but I find any kind does the trick usually.

What is the your definition of a “Sens Pic That Goes Hard”?

There’s definitely been a theme to what I’ve posted and considered a “Sens pic that goes hard” over the years. What ends up getting posted from the submissions I get from other fans or the pictures I’m able to find through my own research typically fall into one of three categories.

The first would be any pictures of celebrities wearing Sens merch, of which there are a surprising amount. It’s always fun to see some popular faces acknowledging the city and team.

A lot of the pictures on the account are those of a cool or big moment in the history of the team – the most prominent examples that comes to mind for this past season are the overtime winner from Tim Stützle in Sweden, or Ridly Greig’s slap shot goal against the Leafs.

The third, and hardest to define, but probably my favourite category, I’d just call ‘times the Sens looked cool’. Growing up, one of my favourite things about watching hockey was how excited the players were when they scored. The passion the players have has always been so infectious as a fan, so I feel like there have been loads of ‘cellys’ that go hard. Other Sens fans and the players have ended up looking cool off the ice as well, so this category has also ended up including some of the cool costumes and outfits I’ve seen fans wear to games, or random moments that have ended up looking too cool to not post, like the time Alfie rode a bike to a game in the Olympics (which I will forever argue is the hardest Sens picture of all time).

Overall, I feel like a picture that “goes hard” of the Sens captures an iconic moment in the history of the team – whether it be happening on or off the ice.

What’s your favourite piece of Sens merch?

My favourite would be my Artem Zub white jersey – I was lucky enough to get him to sign it at Sens Fan Fest in 2022, and now I’m hoping to get it framed at some point to commemorate it forever. Aside from that, my Dad was able to get one of the prints of the Daniel Alfredsson art piece done by Tony Harris for Alfie’s 1,000th game, which I have proudly displayed at my place in Kingston. It always makes for a fun conversation piece when having other hockey fans over, Sens fans or otherwise.

If you could invent a Sens player, what parts of which player (past or present) would you include? What is their name and number?

I’d go with:

i. Daniel Alfredsson’s work ethic

ii. Brady Tkachuk’s leadership

iii. Chris Neil’s physicality and hitting ability

iv. Anton Volchenkov’s shot blocking

v. Jason Spezza’s deking/hands

vi. Erik Karlsson’s skating

To mash all these player’s names together, we’ll call them “Dranisonik Gulk”, and give them number 5.

Who is your favourite Sens player and why?

I’ve become a big fan of Artem Zub in recent years. I love his reliable, defensive style of play, and also feel like he’s scored some big goals when needed in the past few years. Growing up, I played a lot of soccer and wore the number 2, so I’ve also just had a bit of a soft spot for any players on the Sens who choose to wear that number.
I was also a big fan of Jason Spezza growing up – I loved his skill and the way he could make you jump out of your seat with some of the things he could do on the ice.

Who is your favourite Sens influencer?

I’ve consistently gotten a laugh out of following “Frank Senators” (@sleepenbaker) on X, but for a favourite I’d have to say I’m floored by the amount of work and effort that goes into the constant content pumped out by the Locked on SenatorsPodcast (@SensCentral). They seem to work tirelessly on covering the team and I’ve loved being able to listen in on their thoughts, especially with bigger events, like the draft, where there’s so many players with so little time to look into all of them, its great to have a resource like them where you can get insight on a lot of the up and coming young players that might be joining the team in the future.

What is your all-time favourite Sens memory?

It’s hard to not say Alfie’s goal to send the Sens to the Cup Final – I feel like that was such a big moment for so many fans, including myself – but if I had to pick aside from that, I’d say Clarke MacArthur’s overtime winner against the Boston Bruins in 2017. It was so cool to see him play again, and to see him get rewarded. I remember hardly eating in between the third period and overtime when we were supposed to be having supper, because of how nervous I was – then rushing back to the TV to catch the overtime period, and how loud of a yell my dad and I had seeing him bury the puck into the back of the net.

Where can other fans find you (if you want to plug your socials)?

I’m on X (@hardpicssens), but you can also find me on Instagram at (@nathan.maccallum)!