Four Ottawa city councillors each bought a pair of tickets for themselves and a guest to attend the NHL 100 Classic at TD Place last month, then handed the $1,700 bill over to taxpayers.

The outdoor hockey game between the victorious Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens marked the NHL's centennial and was a much-anticipated event that capped a year-long celebration for Canada's 150th anniversary.

The Dec.16 game was sold out, but in June councillors were offered a chance to buy full-price tickets before they went on sale to the general public.

Four of them took up the offer:

Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley , who spent $355 on a ticket for himself and an unnamed guest.

, who spent $355 on a ticket for himself and an unnamed guest. Innes Coun. Jody Mitic , who spent $553 (including PST) on a ticket for himself and a guest, although he didn't attend.

, who spent $553 (including PST) on a ticket for himself and a guest, although he didn't attend. Gloucester-South Nepean Coun. Michael Qaqish , who spent $409 on a ticket for himself and C. Vergette.

, who spent $409 on a ticket for himself and C. Vergette. Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney, who spent $409 on a ticket for himself and J. Tierney.

The spending for Qaqish and Tierney appeared on the September public disclosure of councillors' office expenses posted on the City of Ottawa's website.

Grabbed the 455 at Place D'Orleans with my son at 5:08pm and on site at <a href="https://twitter.com/TD_Place?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TD_Place</a> at 5:33. Great work <a href="https://twitter.com/OC_Transpo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OC_Transpo</a> ! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHL100Classic?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NHL100Classic</a> <a href="https://t.co/xYXxtnhlys">pic.twitter.com/xYXxtnhlys</a> —@TimTierney

The information for Hubley's purchase appeared in last August's statements — the expenses appear in the same month that the councillor's office files them — however he did not name the person he took to the game, as required by the city's rules on disclosure.

CBC contacted all 24 members of council on Monday about whether they attended the NHL game. Almost everyone responded, except for Hubley, Qaqish and Tierney. None of the three councillors in question — who CBC emailed several times and telephoned — have offered any comment about why they believe buying hockey tickets is a good use of public money, nor have they confirmed who their guests were.

Of the councillors who went to the game, only Rideau-Goulbourn Coun. Scott Moffatt attended without expensing the tickets. A friend who works at CIBC, a major sponsor of the city's 150 celebrations, invited Moffatt a few days before.

Councillors each earn more than $100,000 and have annual office budgets of about $250,000. Elected officials are free to spend their budgets on a wide array of items, including events. However, they don't usually buy tickets for themselves to professional sports events with public funds.

The NHL winter classic between the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 16 was sold out. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Sports commissioner didn't attend

Mitic's tickets, which he paid for last November, have not appeared in expense reports, which have only been posted up to last September.

By email, Mitic told CBC he bought two tickets to attend the game in his capacity as sports commissioner, but when he discovered there were no accessible seats left, he gave the tickets to staffers.

The Dec. 16 game also came days after Mitic said he would be taking time off to deal with addiction issues.

Although it might make sense that someone with the title of "sports commissioner" be at the game, that role is primarily defined as working on and winning sports bids for the city.

As well, it was largely Mayor Jim Watson and his office that did the heavy lifting on lobbying for the NHL to bring an outdoor game to Ottawa, arguing that it should be played at Lansdowne's TD Place after efforts to play the game on the lawn of Parliament Hill were nixed.

Mayor accepted tickets but didn't go

While it appears neither the NHL nor the Senators tried to offer councillors free tickets, the elected officials would not have been allowed to accept them anyway. Under city rules, politicians cannot accept gifts from any person or company that has an open lobbying file, which the Ottawa Senators do — for the redevelopment of LeBreton Flats.

But Watson was allowed to accept two tickets from the Senators. Because the mayor has a larger representational role in the city than an individual councillor, the integrity commissioner granted Watson an exemption.

In the end, an emergency appendectomy in mid-December prevented Watson from attending the game. Instead, according to his office, the mayor gave the tickets to his sister, Jayne Watson, who is the CEO of the National Arts Centre Foundation.

However, the integrity commissioner did allow councillors to accept free tickets to the Grey Cup final, which took place at TD Place a month before the NHL game.