Senators' pop star girlfriends draw another type of fan
Last Updated: Friday, March 13, 2009 | 12:45 PM ET
CBC News
Actor-singer Hilary Duff (right) cheers as the Ottawa Senators play the Toronto Maple Leafs in Ottawa on Monday. Ottawa won 2-1. (Canadian Press)Fans who come out to see the Ottawa Senators play may have noticed a little more glitter in the stands these days — two of the players' celebrity girlfriends.
Singers Carrie Underwood and Hilary Duff have Ottawa abuzz with celebrity sightings and gossip.
Underwood is rumoured to be dating Mike Fisher and Duff has been spotted around town with Mike Comrie.
For those who follow the singers and not the Sens, Fisher and Comrie are both forwards with the Senators.
Stories of sightings have appeared in People magazine and on Entertainment Tonight.
"The other day, I opened the television and looked at Entertainment Tonight and they talked about my salon," says Rinaldo Canonico, the owner of Rinaldo Hair Designers and Spa.
"And it said, 'Carrie Underwood here in the salon and blah, blah, blah,'" said Canonico. "And I said, 'Oh, that's very nice.'"
Canonico said he's accustomed to being discreet when he's dealing with celebrities.
But not everyone is used to running into such recognizable celebrities in Ottawa.
"I wish I'd been at Fratelli's when they were there," said Audra Poulin, who heard that Underwood and Fisher had dined at the restaurant in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata.
"I would have gone over to get an autograph," she said.
Poulin said she knows women who work there who resisted approaching the singer.
"I think the next game," said Poulin, "there will be a whole bunch of people trying to get a glimpse of her."
Even regular Sens fans are excited by the recent celebrity pairings.
"I think it's kind of neat for them to come support the Sens," says Spencer Galipeau, who works in Kanata.
He said a friend of his saw Comrie with pop star Duff at the AMC movie theatre. He also confessed to scanning the crowd for the two singers at a game the other night.
"It's pretty cool to see they can stand the cold weather in Ottawa at the moment," said Galipeau.
