HAWKESBURY

In case it becomes an answer to a trivia question, just remember: Booth 2.

If the Senators do win a Stanley Cup under the current regime, they really should bring it to where the plan first started to take shape, at the fine establishment owned by the welcoming Sotiri Moshonas and his lovely wife Popi.

They need to haul the coveted mug to Le Vieux Chateau in Hawkesbury, where GM Pierre Dorion had his initial interview with Guy Boucher — the place where an “outstanding first impression” convinced the former to hire the latter as the Senators coach.

They have to plop it right in the middle of the table where the two men sat and discussed hockey for almost five hours.

Booth 2, to be exact.

“I think I remember serving them,” said Andi Sweetko, a popular employee at the 40-year old steakhouse and seafood restaurant which has been owned by the Moshonas’ since 2004. “They had a clipboard out. And they were drawing plays ... I think I saw ‘Sens’ on top.”

A “big Ottawa fan,” Andi thought she recognized Dorion, but wasn’t 100% sure.

“I didn’t want to ask,” she said. “I would have cramped up and asked for tickets.”

Sotiri, who arrived in Canada from Kalamata, Greece in the 1980s, also was at the restaurant that day. An avid sportsman, his first love is soccer, which he played at the Division 2 level in his homeland and he still plays today, at the age of 53. He had no previous allegiance to an NHL team.

To him, Dorion and Boucher were just a couple of guys looking for a Wi-Fi connection after the one available at the restaurant expired.

“It stops after three hours,” said Sotiri, who had to call home and ask Popi for their private password.

“I said to him, ‘are they legit? Make sure you know who they are,’ said Popi. “I don’t know what happens when you give somebody your password. He says ‘no, no, they look like very serious people.’”

More than a week later, Sotiri was thrilled to see a copy of the Sun identifying Le Vieux Chateau as their original meeting place.

“This is fantastic,” he said. “I’m going to be a big fan of the Senators now. I have a reason.

“I’ve been in Canada for 27 years and I finally have a hockey team I can root for. I finally have a team.”

Boucher, an intensely passionate fellow, would like Sotiri, who has such similar traits that he was once “fired” as coach of his son’s house league soccer team.

After spending more than two hours at Le Vieux Chateau Tuesday afternoon, I can understand why Dorion and Boucher were able to get so comfortable there. It’s a nice place. Everyone is friendly. The menu is 20 pages deep and the food is delicious.

Included among the on tap selection is Beaus, from nearby Vankleek Hill, but neither Dorion or Boucher had a beer.

“Maybe he would have picked the wrong man if they did,” teased Popi.

Do you believe in karma? Their restaurant is located on McGill St., almost halfway between Canadian Tire Centre and where Boucher went to school — McGill University in Montreal.

It’s also in the home town of recently fired Calgary Flames coach Bob Hartley, who has an arena in Hawkesbury named after him and is a frequent visitor to Le Vieux Chateau.

It might have been a little awkward had Hartley been there that day, since Dorion also interviewed him for the Ottawa job.

While Boucher has already hired Marc Crawford as an associate coach, he still has to fill out the rest of his staff, and that may take some time yet. One guy who would seem to be a perfect fit is Luke Richardson, who spent two decades as a defenceman in the NHL (Boucher and Crawford were forwards when they played), followed by three seasons as a Senators assistant coach and four years as the bench boss in Binghamton.

But at the conclusion of the most AHL season, Richardson told the Senators he was determined to be a head coach at the top level, and he has not had a change of heart.

“I’ve already turned down a few offers (to be an NHL assistant) and I’m hoping to get consideration for a head job,” Richardson told me in a text Tuesday. “No second thoughts. I know what I can do as a head guy and I will be patient.”

Too bad for the Senators.

Good for the local team, however, is the addition of Crawford.

With 15 years of experience as the boss behind an NHL bench followed by four more in Switzerland, Crawford was a candidate for another top job in the world’s best league. So why would he accept a lesser role with the Senators? Partly because he’s from Belleville and he has a beautiful home on the water in Summerstown, just east of Cornwall, where his wife Helene’s family lives.

And partly because of his close relationship with Boucher.

Crawford told TSN1200 on Tuesday that while the two of them were in Switzerland, he asked his friend to consider him as an assistant when Boucher landed a job in the NHL. Crawford also said Boucher is exactly the type of coach the Senators need.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the Ottawa Senators,” said Crawford. “I was so thankful when Guy called me.”

Meanwhile, the Moshonas’ will be equally elated should the new Senators regime returns to their restaurant for a Stanley Cup party one day. And what a bash they promise it will be.

“We’ll accommodate anything,” said Popi. “We’ll build a rooftop terrace if we have to.”

If they’re renovating then, they might have to take out Booth 2 and donate it to the Hockey Hall of Fame.