It was standing room only at MacLaren’s when Team Canada played at the World Juniors – line-ups to get into the bar, throngs of energized fans, and a busy bar staff. Across Centretown, The Prescott drew similar crowds for the six Canada games that stretched between Boxing Day and Jan. 5.

“It was crazy. Absolutely crazy,” says MacLaren’s bartender Daniel Veres.

But the bars aren’t so wild anymore. A competitive Ottawa Senators team, the Beijing Olympics, the EURO Cup, an NFL team striving for a perfect season, and the World Junior Hockey Championship in Ottawa made for a busy 2008 (and five days of 2009) for Centretown sports bars. Things don’t look as promising for the new year.

“There’s not much more to look forward to,” says Danny Goulet, a waiter at The Prescott. “Right now, we’re just taking a hit.”

The struggling economy may be affecting the number of people going out to the bars, but not having exciting games on the flat screen TVs matters too.

The Ottawa Senators, who hold one of the worst records in the NHL, might be the cause of the slowdown.

“There’s been an extreme drop-off in interest. Last year we would fill up on any given [Senators] game night and now we just get a regular crowd,” Goulet says.

Veres agrees that the Sens slump is part of the problem. He says there used to be a line-up to get into MacLaren’s two hours before playoff games.

But it’s not just a successful hockey team that attracts a crowd. Goulet remembers the throngs of people at The Prescott and on all of Preston Street when the Italian National Soccer Team took the pitch during last summer’s EURO Cup tournament.

Sports fans were also drawn to local bars for the other major sports events of 2008, a year dubbed the “best ever” by Sports Illustrated magazine.

The storied Boston Celtics won their first NBA championship in more thanff 20 years, and Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt were remarkable at the Olympic Games, setting nine world records and winning 10 gold medals between them. Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open golf tournament with a badly injured knee, the New York Yankees played their last game at Yankee Stadium, and Arizona played host to the biggest upset in Super Bowl history.

Sporting events with that kind of draw or historic significance won’t be quite as frequent in 2009.

“It seemed like there was something you needed to watch every week last year,” says Jean Begin, who goes to MacLaren’s a few times per month and considers himself an avid sports fan. “This year might be a bit different. And if the Sens are playing, you can usually head home after the second period.”

With the team not doing well, MacLaren’s and The Prescott are trying to attract customers in some creative ways.

But Begin says, “In the end, people are going to be most attracted to good games and exciting events.”