Meet Kyle Ivan, the Viral Superfan the Senators ‘Banished’ to Taiwan to Reverse Postseason Jinx

Ivan's hype song for the Senators garnered attention—and not in a good way. Here's a look at how he's tried to turn it around with the help of the organization.

Kyle Ivan became an instant meme after his parody song for the Senators' series against the Hurricanes | Screengrab via the Ottawa Senators (@Senators) on X/Twitter

When Chris Kunitz sent a knuckler to the back of the net that took the Penguins to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, he became Ottawa's biggest villain. Kyle Ivan, a Senators superfan, took that unwanted crown nearly a decade later in a roundabout way.

In the melodrama that is the Stanley Cup playoffs, Kunitz's goal was as crushing as any. Although it was the Eastern Conference finals, the winner felt bound to go on and beat the Predators to win the Cup. Sure enough, the Penguins did take care of the Predators in six games to claim back-to-back titles.

Hockey fans live and die with each shot of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and for a franchise like the Senators that has yet to hoist the Cup, coming just short of the mountaintop hurts. Especially because it could be your team's last shot for a while, which was the case for Ottawa. After Kunitz's double overtime goal, the Senators didn't return to the playoffs for seven long seasons.

The sudden end to a magical playoff run devastated Ivan, but he remained a Sens fan through thick and thin.

“It's not even your team. Like, you're not on the team, but you feel like it. You feel like it's you who just got, like, defeated somehow,” Ivan told Sports Illustrated. “It's so personal for some reason. And that started a very long drought. I was always a Sens fan, but it was tough to feel good about it for a long time.”

A musician by trade, he's made parody songs centered around Ottawa's previous playoff runs. The latest song has taken on a life of its own across the internet, for better or for worse, as the Sens returned to the playoffs this season for the second straight year. Last season, he parodied Blur's "Song 2" ahead of the Sens' first-round series against the Maple Leafs. The "Leafs Suck" rendition of the celebratory song the Senators use after goals at Canadian Tire Centre drew some attention, especially from Toronto fans after Ottawa lost the series, but this year's parody reached another level.

Ahead of Ottawa's opening round series against the Hurricanes, Ivan released a parody of Eminem's "Without Me." This time, it wasn't Shady who was back, but the Sens as Ivan sang.

What was just another fun endeavor backfired as the internet united to dub the song “cringe” and hand the series to the Hurricanes before the puck dropped in Game 1. Last year, Ivan got some hate for his parody, but it mostly came from the opposing side.

"This year, when it was all my own barn coming at me basically, I was like, 'oh boy.' I felt that one at first. That was tough to swallow," he told SI. "I knew there was going to be some hate with what happened last year with the song too. So I went with the idea because from my perspective, a lot of people just see what happens on the internet, but I had a whole year of being the guy that made that song and had a bit of a meme. And for me, it was a lot of people that loved that it was a meme."

The newest parody went differently, however. Commenters came in droves to poke fun at the song. This time, the song definitely became a meme, but one that people loved to call corny in unison.

Ottawa dug a 2–0 hole to Carolina in the series after a crushing double-overtime loss in Game 2 where the Sens had numerous chances to even the series as it headed to Canada. The Hurricanes' quick lead in the series brought many to conclude that Ivan's latest parody jinxed the team.

How the Senators teamed up with Ivan in hopes of reversing any potential bad juju

The organization played into the fun and reached out to Ivan to figure out how they can make things right ahead of the Sens' first playoff home game. And they had the perfect plan. On Thursday morning ahead of Game 3, the Senators posted a video of Ivan in Taiwan because the team "wanted him as far away from the Canadian Tire Centre as possible."

"A video that was intended to share my joy and passion for our team has instead backfired and unleashed a firestorm of negativity, turning me into the biggest Sens villain since Chris Kunitz," Ivan said in the video.

You're welcome Sens fans. pic.twitter.com/gyQ5NBNFHt

— x - Ottawa Senators (@Senators) April 23, 2026

According to TSN, a Senators spokesperson said the team didn't actually send Ivan to Taiwan, but since he was already there, they decided to lean into it. Onlookers were all in on the story. Superstitions and curses are always top of mind throughout playoff droughts and "banishing" a fan who may or may not have jinxed the team to the other side of the world is debatably the most over-the-top method ever taken to try to undo a jinx.

Banishing a fan to Taiwan because he jinxed your team in the playoffs is the absolute funniest thing a professional sports organization has ever done and I don’t think it’s particularly close https://t.co/TTnhbmVPaL

— e - The Bratt Pack (@TheBrattPack63) April 23, 2026

Unfortunately for Sens fans, the banishment didn't immediately work as Ottawa dropped Game 3 to Carolina 2–1 and fell in a 3–0 hole in the series. "Should've sent him to the moon," the Hurricanes hilariously posted on X after the game.

Although a hockey jinx is likely low on the list for what NASA looks for on a résumé, both Ivan and the organization would go to those lengths if that's what it took.

"If he wasn’t such a huge fan we would have put him on Artemis 3," Senators president Cyril Leeder said on his X account.

SI asked Ivan if he'd leave the planet if that's what it took for the Sens to lift the Cup for the first time and he's all in.

"Hell yeah," he said. "If someone's going to pay me to get on a spaceship and get a free trip to the moon, that sounds like something I would've loved to do as a kid anyway. People dream of that. Call me Katy Perry, I'll go up there and be an astronaut."

If Ivan wasn't such an easygoing person and a good sport, his viral moment could have gone a lot different. He could've ignored the noise as much as possible, waited for time to pass and go on with his daily life. He's chosen to take the high road, however, and lean into the fun which turned a moment that didn't go his way into a wild story that shows us all why we love the absurdity that sports fandom can bring.

"I think I've had enough life experience to know when you don't get the most positive response, take it with a grain of salt and try to look at it in a different light," he said. "That doesn't mean that I didn't feel the negativity, I'm not immune to it, but I think that's something I grew into recently. I'm sure I would've taken this way more to heart when I was a bit younger."

Now on the other side of the world enjoying some bubble tea and meat skewers from vendors in Taiwanese night markets, Ivan's at ease. He's done all he can do to help his team from outside the boards.

The Sens will try to avoid a first-round sweep to the Hurricanes Saturday in Game 4. Ivan will wake up at 3 a.m. local time to catch the puck drop as he hopes the sleepy watch isn't the end of what's become a wild ride.

"I think I've done everything I can do superstition wise, I think I've exhausted my options. If you're still superstitious, I think it's time to look in the mirror and see what you can do. Like, can you change out your jersey, not wash something, put on some crazy costume.

"You don't even have to worry about being cringe, I've clearly set the bar impossibly high. Just do whatever you want, you can't be the one that's called out for being cringe now."

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