Spring is traditionally a time when professional hockey teams appeal to season-ticket holders to renew for next season - not save the owner's life.

But that is exactly what happened Thursday when the Ottawa Senators called a most unusual news conference to ask for potential donors to step forward and offer a portion of their healthy livers to Eugene Melnyk, now lying in Toronto General Hospital urgently in need of a transplant.

"Time is of the essence," Senators president Cyril Leeder said.

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The club's owner, who will turn 56 later this month, has been in hospital for three weeks. His last appearance in Ottawa was for the hockey team's end-of-season official photograph. Melnyk looked drawn and pale and, noticeably out of character, failed to comment on the playoff chances of the Senators.

The Senators had gone on a late-season surge, led by thenunheralded goaltender Andrew (Hamburglar) Hammond, that had surprisingly lifted them into the final playoff spot. They lasted six games in the opening round before bowing out to the powerful Montreal Canadiens, who had finished first overall in the Eastern Conference.

The hockey team's feel-good story was in stark, and welcome, contrast to what had been a very tough year health-wise for the franchise.

General manager Bryan Murray, 72, went through the season battling Stage 4 colon cancer, never missing a day's work during chemotherapy treatment. Murray often sat in the stands during team practices hooked up to a body IV drip.

In April, beloved assistant coach Mark Reeds succumbed to the cancer he had fought all year.

The 55-year-old former NHLer's last message to the team had been "Let's win it all."

It didn't happen, but they won enough to be dubbed the "Cinderella" story of the NHL's 2014-15 season.

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Melnyk, who made his money in pharmaceuticals, had saved the club from bankruptcy in 2003 when he purchased the team and arena for $170-million. Forbes magazine recently valued the franchise at $400-million, though Melnyk has claimed his losses have amounted to more than $100-million since he took over the club.

Though he has lived in Barbados since the early 1990s, Melnyk has been a familiar face around Canadian Tire Centre when his team is doing well. His absence during the team's magical run to reach the playoffs did not go unnoticed.

"Our biggest cheerleader was noticeably absent," Leeder said.

Melnyk entered hospital in Toronto in mid-April with "liverrelated complications." Tests soon confirmed that he was urgently in need of a live-donor transplant. Because of his relatively rare blood type, AB, it was deemed unlikely that the organ of a deceased donor would be suitable.

Live donors do not have to have an exact blood match, though other criteria comes into play. Family members and friends were solicited and some tests brought potential donors "to the one-yard line," Leeder said, but when no suitable donor could be found in this way the hockey club decided to turn to public appeal.

"He was reluctant to go public," Leeder said. "We had to convince him."

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The Senators say they were aware that this might seem like "queue-jumping" and so they were careful to ensure that in publicly appealing for a live donor they were doing so appropriately.

Leeder was joined by Don Chow, the team physician, and Gary O'Byrne, regional manager of the Canadian Liver Foundation. Both Chow and O'Byrne said that this public appeal could not only potentially save Melnyk's life but could also inform the public about the high success rate of live-donor transplants. As well, it could inspire the public to commit to organ donations.

The Senators have an admirable history of turning personal tragedies into public good. After the death of Hall-of-Famer Roger Neilson in 2003, the Senators Foundation established Roger's House in memory of their assistant coach. Roger's House/La maison de Roger provides pediatric palliative care to young patients and their families on the grounds of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

In the fall of 2010, Daron Richardson, daughter of assistant coach Luke Richardson, took her own life. The Richardson family later joined with the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health and the Senators Foundation to establish a program, Do It for Daron, which raises money and awareness for the prevention of teen suicide.

When Bryan Murray went public with his cancer situation, he openly chastised himself for failing to undergo a simple colonoscopy even though men his age should have one every few years or so. Since then, Murray has joined with cancer survivors to encourage older people to get checked regularly.

Murray recently announced his intention to stay on as general manager after discussing the situation with his doctors and family. He has two assistant GMs, Randy Lee and Pierre Dorion, to help prepare for the NHL entry draft, which is June 26 and 27 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla.

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In their effort to find a suitable living donor - someone in good health, ages 18 to 55 - for Melnyk, the Senators had staff answering calls at 613-599-0100 Thursday evening and all day Friday.

Interested potential donors can also complete an online form through http://www.uhn.ca.

"All of it comes together to help everyone," O'Byrne said.

"Hopefully," Leeder added, "this will be able to shed some light on donor donations. Some good can come from this."