Senators’ Mark Borowiecki continues heroics for hometown team

The first blow, an errant stick blade to the face from New Jersey Devils‘ winger Blake Coleman, would have sent the average hockey warrior into the dressing room for the night.

“If I got hit in the face like that, I think I’d be out for about six weeks,” said Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson.

Mark Borowiecki is no average hockey warrior.

It was Monday night at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Devils were visiting. Bleeding from a cut above and below his right eye, the 6-foot-2, 204-pound Borowiecki got stitched back together and returned to the game — only to get hit in the face again, leaking badly this time. Never mind a trainer, by that point the Senators defenceman needed a boxing cutman in his corner. Again, the wounds were sealed, and he finished the game.

Miraculously, the eye didn’t swell shut overnight, meaning Borowiecki was available for duty the next night in Buffalo. In the third period, Borowiecki was slew-footed, unintentionally, by the Sabres’ Kyle Okposo, sending him crashing to the ice and grabbing his right leg.

When he finally was able to get to his feet, helped off the ice without putting any weight on his leg, the entire scene had the look of a season-ending injury. Except this is Borowiecki, so, he was back in the game in a few minutes, whereupon he put together a 20-second highlight reel that could serve as a career GIF.

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Late in the third, with Ottawa clinging to a 3-2 lead, Borowiecki positioned his body in the way of a Marcus Johansson blast. The puck returned to the point and the Sabres teed-up Johansson once more.

Borowiecki twisted right just as he did the first time, blocked the shot again, only this time the puck stayed near him. He turned and launched it out of the zone. It caromed off the boards and into the empty net as though guided by the will of the hockey gods, rewarding Borowiecki for his pain and suffering in the name of the game.

Ottawa’s bench went crazy with celebration for their lunch-pail hero.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored his career-best 20th goal that night, but all he wanted to talk about was Borowiecki.

“I think my favourite goal tonight was Boro’s,” Pageau said. “Two blocked shots – he’s the kind of guy who’s showing up every day, day-in, day-out, being a good pro, always bringing his 110 percent. And to see him score that goal after the two blocked shots, I would love to see the camera on our bench. I mean, everyone was just so pumped.”

Post-game, Borowiecki greeted reporters in Buffalo with an ice pack on his knee and his face a red and swollen mess. The cut underneath the eye, he reported, required five stitches while the cut over the eye was held shut by glue. He absolved Okposo of blame for his sore knee, saying it was an awkward accident.

“The 20-year-old me would have been able to hop back up probably,” Borowiecki said, after a Thursday practice in Ottawa. “A few more miles on the body now.

“The one against Jersey was a little ridiculous. Sabby [Scott Sabourin] said it was like medieval jousting. Right in the eyeball, I can’t believe that went unnoticed. Such is life. It’s part of the game. It all comes out in the wash.”

Watching Borowiecki endure all, bounce back, prevail, were 25 scouts in the Buffalo press box. If they didn’t know yet what Borowiecki was all about, that final scene would have sold them on the value of this unrestricted free agent as the trade deadline approaches.

Fans in Ottawa who, for a time, didn’t fully appreciate the intangibles of Borowiecki, would expect no less than him sacrificing his body with the game on the line — regardless of the Senators’ low league rank.

“It’s just the way you’re wired, it’s not really a conscious thing,” Borowiecki said. “Off the ice I’m a pretty tame guy, but you go out there and a switch flips. You’re just a competitor, you’re playing instinctively and not really thinking about it. It doesn’t matter what place our team is or where we are in terms of a rebuild, it’s just the way I’m going to play and what I’m going to bring. It’s a point of pride.”

Senators head coach D.J. Smith was once a tough player himself, but when he’s asked if he’s ever seen anyone as tough as Borowiecki, he answers swiftly.

“No,” Smith said. “I mean, he’s mentally tough, physically tough. He conditions himself harder than anyone else. And when you train harder than everyone else, I think you have an edge on everybody. Mentally, you know you can go the extra distance. You know you’re maybe more prepared than other people. I haven’t seen many guys in hockey that work as hard as he does before and after [a game]. He takes care of himself. And when you have a guy playing that hard, the guys on the bench notice.

“We have a lot of fearless guys but he certainly leads the way.”

In his own mind, Borowiecki was such an afterthought for the 2008 draft, he didn’t bother to attend. And the event was being held in Kanata, Ont. — a small suburb outside Ottawa — where he grew up and has lived his entire life.

At home fiddling with a fishing rod, Borowiecki was stunned to get the call he’d been drafted by the Senators in the fifth round, 139th overall. He hustled over to the rink in late afternoon to do a few interviews. If nothing else came of his career, he’d provide reporters with a local sidebar for the day.

Selling him short then would have been a mistake. Though not blessed with natural skill or skating ability, Borowiecki had a history of over-achieving through sheer stubborn will and commitment. At Senators rookie camps, he twice won the hardest worker award, and could have won it a third time but the team opted to let some else have a shot. Ottawa’s development coaches adored Borowiecki for his work ethic, but they were hardly the first to fall in love with him.

At nearby Smiths Falls Ont., coach and GM Bill Bowker drafted Borowiecki for his CCHL team out of Kanata minor hockey, largely for his character. Bowker was struck by how respectful Borowiecki was to his mother while greeting her in the arena lobby after a practice.

From there, Borowiecki became a heart-and-soul player — what else? — at Clarkson University in New York, and was team captain in his senior year. As a junior, he scored eight goals and added 11 assists — not bad for a guy better known for clearing out the front of his own crease.

More than 11 years after being drafted, Borowiecki, 30, calls it “surreal” to be approaching his 10th season as a pro. He first joined AHL Binghamton in 2011.

Regrets? He has a few. Mostly, the way he was awestruck as a rookie.

“I was a bit timid at the beginning of my career,” he says, using a word never associated with this hard-nosed character.

“Sometimes there’s a missed opportunity you didn’t make the most of because you’re scared, you’re nervous, you’re anxious. Coming into the league, you’re not comfortable in your own skin and that can translate to being a little hesitant on the ice. But it’s been an amazing journey, I’ve made so many good relationships and been blessed with so much.

“ I don’t feel old but the greys are sprouting and I’m 10 years pro.”

The ride hasn’t always been smooth. A few years ago Borowiecki was getting so much flak on social media — especially from the data analysts — that he quit Twitter. In recent years, though, his followers in real life have grown to be legion. How can anyone not admire Borowiecki’s will and selflessness for the cause, his honesty and generosity in the community?

Now the deadline is approaching and there is fear Borowiecki could be traded. He has seemed hurt there haven’t been any real contract talks, although a breakthrough is still possible.

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Before the All-Star break, he admits he became extremely sensitive to the situation — his wife, Tara, expecting the couple’s first child in two weeks, and Borowiecki wary of being dealt for an asset or draft choice by Feb. 24. He had what he calls a “mini-meltdown,” and felt the uncertainty of his situation was affecting his play. Borowiecki leaned on his Ottawa coaches for support, including a discussion with Senators consultant Dave Smart, the Carleton University basketball coaching legend.

Talking it out helped. Now he’s trying to think of going through this uncertainty as a chance to grow as a person.

“When you get too emotionally attached, too sentimental, that’s when you make things hard on yourself,” Borowiecki says.

And yet, we all know he doesn’t want to leave Ottawa, the community or the Senators coaching staff.

“I’ve put my heart and soul into this team, this organization,” he says. “I’ve been asked to do a lot, sometimes against my better judgment, I’ve done it. I feel a very strong sense of loyalty to this city. This city gave me a chance to grow up in a safe environment. I was given a ton of opportunities to blossom as a person and would you like to see it resolved sooner?

“Sure. But again, there’s a business side to this.

“My eyes have been opened a bit in terms of having a child soon and taking care of my family. I know I’m in the back half of my career here and my No. 1 priority is taking care of my wife and my kid. Wherever that takes me, so be it.”

As if on cue, the hockey gods have ordained that Borowiecki would have the highest offensive output of his career as he pursues his next contract. With six goals – double his previous best – Borowiecki has nearly as many as the rest of the Ottawa’s D-corps combined (seven). His 17 points are also a career-high.

Like everything else in his career, Borowiecki worked for this offensive boost – spending the off-season focused on shooting and cardio, even losing a few pounds to keep up with the “kids” of the NHL.

If he didn’t already exist in the real world, Mark Borowiecki surely would have been invented as a comic book superhero.

‘BoroCop’: The hockey player who fights crime by day, blocks 100 miles per hour shots at night.

Or, ‘NailGun’ (a name bestowed upon him by Brady Tkachuk): Abuse him with sticks, pucks and fists and he comes back spitting nails.

In 10-plus years in the Senators organization, Borowiecki watchers have seen the man display so many feats of strength, courage and bone-crushing hits while standing up for marginalized members of the community that it takes a lot to get our attention.

But the recent BoroFiles are something else. As it is with superheroes, stuff happens around them. And not just double blocks on Marcus Johansson slapshots. Spiderman can’t avoid conflict no matter how hard he tries to sling to his own business. BoroCop can’t even walk down the street in Vancouver’s Gastown district the day before a game against the Canucks without being in the middle of a crime scene.

Naturally, he acted.

This was in early December. Borowiecki saw a man smash a car window and grab a knapsack within. Borowiecki told the suspect to put the bag down, but the man came at him on his bicycle. Borowiecki reached out and clothes-lined him, wrestled him to the ground like a dangerous goal-scorer in the slot and recovered the bag, which contained passports and other valuables.

Of course, the story went viral. Rather than capitalize on the incident for his personal gain, the ‘BoroCop’ t-shirts that emerged from the caper were used to support the Ottawa Condors — the group of hockey youth with physical and mental challenges who are Borowiecki’s other, non-Senators teammates — and he their honorary captain.

Like Kyle and Julie Turris before them (Matt Carkner was the first Senator to get involved with the Condors), Mark and Tara Borowiecki, do endless work for the Condors, but are also actively involved in charities for the LGBT community and Canadian soldiers, through Soldier On.

Borowiecki has often said if he wasn’t a pro hockey player he would likely be a soldier or police officer today. Instead, he keeps peace on the ice, sometimes using his fists, although after suffering a bad concussion he only fights when he can’t avoid it these days.

In truth, he’d prefer to restore order without violence, just as he routinely commits acts of goodwill so naturally that a third alter ego comes to mind: GoodSamaritanMan.

A book could be written on known examples of Borowiecki lending a helping hand, and there are likely many more not yet shared. The Senators’ communications site once tweeted out photos of Borowiecki pushing cars out of snowbanks on Palladium Drive, near the Canadian Tire Centre, during a February storm. There is another tale of him ripping the car door off a vehicle to free a woman trapped inside.

Tara shared a story with The Athletic of travelling with Mark to Montreal for his sports hernia surgery in 2015, only to stop en route to assist a motorist with two passengers whose car had flipped over and into a ditch. Borowiecki ran across the highway, first on the scene, while Tara called 911.

“Just another day at the office for BoroCop,” as a play-by-play broadcaster said of Borowiecki’s on-ice heroics in Buffalo this week.

On or off the ice, the Borocop is ever-alert and vigilant.

He’s not just a guy the Senators – or all NHL teams – need.

He’s a guy the world needs right about now.

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