5 sporting events you'll want tickets for in 2020

Our CFL club finished last overall.Our pro hockey team is dwelling near the cellar.

Our soccer teamhas folded, and who knows what's going on with our baseball team.

No one's about to claim 2019 wasa banner year for local sports, so let's turn our attention to the next 12 months.

From curling to volleyball, from ringette to basketball, here are five big sporting events coming to eastern Ontario in 2020.

A Sens legend returns

No one has played more games for the Ottawa Senators than Chris Phillips, and this February, he'll be back atthe Canadian Tire Centre one more time.

The longtime defenceman will see his number 4 raised to the rafterson Feb. 18, when the Sens host the Buffalo Sabres.

Phillips debuted with the teamway back in 1997 as a 19-year-old. He would go on to play 1,179 regular season games still a club record while racking up 288 points and serving as an imposing presence on the team's blue line.

He'll be the third Senators player to have his number retired, after Frank Finnigan and Daniel Alfredsson.

Elite curling action

More than a dozen of Canada's top men's curling rinks will be throwing hits and drawsin Kingston, Ont., this winter atthe 2020Tim Hortons Brier.

The national championship will run from Feb. 29 until March 8at the Leon's Centre.

Defending champion Kevin Koe and 13 as-of-yet unconfirmed rinks will be fighting not just for national bragging rights and a $105,000 prize, but also the chance to wear the red and white at the world championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

It's the first time the Brier has been held in the Limestone City since 1957.

A real ringer

At least 40 of Canada's top ringette teams will be hitting the ice in Ottawa this April for theCanadian Ringette Championships.

From April 5 to 11, teams from across the country will compete in Ottawa in three different categories: under-16, under-19, and the 19-and-over National RingetteLeague division.

Games will rotate between theJim Durrell Recreation Centre, the Richcraft Sensplex and the Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex,with the championship game at TD Place.

It's the first time the tournament's been held in the region since 1996.

Nothing but net

For the first time in seven years, professional basketball will be a big part of the local sports scene.

In November, the Ottawa Blackjacks were unveiled as the seventh club in the Canadian Elite Basketball League.

The team which must be primarily stocked with Canadian players will be hitting the TD Place hardwood this spring, with the first home game set for May 14.

Canada's capital hasn't had a pro basketball team since 2013, when the Ottawa Skyhawks spent a single season in the National Basketball League of Canada.

And if university basketball's more your jam, both the women's and men's editions of the U Sports Final 8 championships will be held at TD Place in March.

The Carleton Ravens are the defending men's champions. There are 22 games slated to be played overfour days, starting March 5.

Get set for some volleyball

TheVolleyball Nations League makes yet another stop in Ottawa in 2020 andfor the first time, fans will get to see Canada's women's team in action.

The league features 16 teams from around the globe, squaring off in round-robin action before the eventual champion is crowned in Russia later in July.

If the national women's squad wants to make it that far, however, they'll first have to do well in their games against Poland, Japan and the Netherlands.

They'll be held from June 2 to 4 at TD Place.

Ottawa hosted league matches involving the national men's team in 2018 and 2019, but this year those games will be played in Edmonton instead.