Posted by Mark Borowiecki on June 30, 2008

We finished off our week with a 3-on-3 tournament at the Bell Sensplex this morning. It was a little more enjoyable than those two-hour practices we've been having. Everyone had some fun and we were giving it our all, but we weren’t getting bag skated. Yeah, we were competitive about it but at the same time, we didn’t go out there to kill each other. It was definitely lots of fun.

Our Team Red made it to the final but we lost 3-2 in a shootout to Team Blue. I scored one of the shootout goals for our team. I didn’t think I had that in me. I just kind of winged it and it worked out. I don’t practise those things. I was hoping it would stand up as the game winner but Nick Foligno scored a nice one for them to tie it up. I don’t know what I would have done if it had come around to me a second time. I told the guys I was all out of shootout moves.

My best memory of the week here was probably just being on the ice with guys like this. Coming out of Tier II and being on the ice with players who’ve had experience in the NHL is a pretty good thing to do. I definitely enjoyed that. They don’t even have to give you advice. You learn just by watching them and seeing the amount of effort they put into it and how hard they work.

I haven’t been here long enough yet that everyone knows how to pronounce my last name. I’m sure I’ll still get some different versions of it. Hopefully, people around here will see me make it and everyone will eventually know the right way to say it. We’ll see. If you're wondering, it’s Bor-VEE-ev-sky.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my posts. I had a good time here at Senators development camp and it was a great experience. I worked hard and I’m looking forward to it again next year. Hope to see you all then!

Posted by Mark Borowiecki on June 29, 2008

It wasn’t quite a regular day of practice for us today. We worked more on skills. We did an hour of power skating and an hour of puck control and stickhandling and skills like that. As a young kid, you kind of work more on that but as you get older, you tend to get away from it and work more on tactics and flow drills. It was kind of cool getting back into that stuff.

I don’t really consider puckhandling one of my strengths, so it was good to have an hour to work solely on that. It wasn’t too hard a day physically. I don’t think I really broke a sweat, but it’s the kind of stuff that’s a necessity and you have to learn it.

We’ve all had to go through a vision training session this week. I did mine late Saturday afternoon and I found it challenging, for sure. I’ve never really done anything like it and it was definitely an experience. They have you stand in front of this big board. There’s about a hundred lights and you’ve got to focus on this one little line and you hit lights as they come up. They flash digits really fast and you’ve got to take a snapshot of the digits as they come up and then try to repeat them The idea is to work on your peripheral vision and improve that and see if you have any weaknesses.

Our week is almost over and if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s about just the effort it’s going to take to get to the next level. I’ve never had to do two-hour workouts in the morning and then two-hour hard practices in the afternoon. That’s kind of a regular day thing for these guys. That same work ethic is something I can take with me to Clarkson University this fall. College hockey is definitely a step up from Junior A, too, and you have to work that much harder.

It’s been kind of nice having all the facilities and everything this week, but I think everyone is a little tired now and ready to go home. It was definitely a great week for my development and for Clarkson next year, learning more about getting in shape and getting used to the effort it’s going to take there.

Posted by Mark Borowiecki on June 28, 2008

We had a real chance to relax on Friday afternoon. We went out to the home of Roy Mlakar, the Senators team president, and he took a few of us out in a boat. Some of the guys went tubing and some other guys went swimming in the pool. He had a pretty nice barbecue set up for us, too. It was kind of nice to have the night off. His house is amazing and he’s right on the Ottawa River. Mr. Mlakar is a real nice guy. I had a chance to meet him but we didn’t really talk much. He was pretty busy setting up the boat and stuff like that.

I’m still enjoying being here, even though I’m still waking up stiff in the mornings. It kind of gets worse every day, but we’re more than halfway done. I think everyone’s enjoying their time but everyone is looking forward to a bit of a rest when we’re done. I’m just going to take a couple of days off just to recover because we’ve been going pretty hard all week. When this camp is over, I’ll have a talk with Randy Lee and hopefully set something up for my workouts or he’ll give me something to work on. I’m pretty sure he’s going to give us a program with some of the exercises we’ve being doing this week.

It’s been a good group of guys to spend time with. When 3-on-3 scrimmages get started, you kind of stick with your team, but everyone is getting along. It’s been the same that way all week. I expect some of us will keep in touch through the summer, especially your roommate (mine is Derek Grant). You spend a lot of time with him, though we really haven’t had a lot of time to talk. When we get back to the hotel, we’re pretty gassed, so you fall asleep right away and you don’t really do a whole lot.

I have to admit I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again soon. It’s kind of tough when you’re lying in a hotel and you think, my house is just 15 minutes away. It’s been a good week but it’ll be nice to wrap things up and lay low for a couple of days.

Posted by Mark Borowiecki on June 27, 2008

We had some fans out at the Bell Sensplex for our practice this morning and it was nice to see. It’s not too much different, I guess. They just want to see the upcoming prospects. I’m used to playing front of big crowds because we had good fan support when I played in Smiths Falls. My dad took the day off work today to come and watch me. I haven’t talked to him yet, but I’m sure he’s pretty proud.

I remember going to watch Senators practices when I was younger. It was a long time ago but it was always good. I always enjoyed it. I looked up to those guys and I’m sure there were kids watching today who looked up to some of the guys out there on the ice. A few people asked me for autographs and I’m sure there were some people making the rounds after this practice. I got that in Smiths Falls a lot. We were pretty big in the community.

Chris Phillips came to talk to us yesterday and gave us a pretty good talk in the video room. He talked about the work it’s going to take to make it to the next level and the effort you’ve got to put into it. He’s the type of defenceman I want to model my game after, so to hear him talk about those things was pretty cool. He’s definitely picked up a lot of knowledge over the years and he’s been through what we’re going through right now. So he knows what it’s all about.

The 3-on-3 games were definitely enjoyable for us today. We had a round of shootouts at one point, and we were betting against each other and stuff like that. I got stopped on mine. I’m not much of a goal scorer.

We’re now at the midpoint of this week’s camp and it definitely gets better every day. You get more adjusted to the pace and the routine, but I’m still pretty stiff in the mornings.

Posted by Mark Borowiecki on June 26, 2008

Wednesday night, they took us out to Mooney’s Bay for some dragon boat racing. I’ve never done it before, so it was fun to try it out. It was tough and it was definitely a lot harder than I thought it would be, but it was fun and we ended up winning. I got into a bit of a water fight at the end and got soaked pretty good.

I think the idea was probably to emphasize teamwork. The boat goes nowhere if everyone is paddling off on their own, so we really had to work together and co-ordinate our strokes and stuff like that. Even though it was nice to win, we weren’t that competitive about it. It was just fun. Dragon boating also gave us a nice break from the everyday routine. We’ve pretty much been doing the same thing every day. You work out in the morning and skate in the afternoon. It was kind of nice to get a bit of a break.

Yesterday afternoon, we did some skating with parachutes attached to our backs. It was a good test and it was tough. It definitely gives you some resistance there. You work hard and it really helps your technique and stuff like that. To tell you the truth, it’s not that strong when you’re pulling straight forward but the problem is, when you change directions the parachute swings out and it’s pulling you all over the place and you’ve really got to work to stabilize yourself.

We had a good workout this morning and then we’ll be on the ice again for two hours. The guys who don’t have vision training will have the night off, so it’ll be kind of nice to have a bit of a rest. They’re also feeding us well here. The lunches have been awesome. I’ve got no complaints at all about that.

Posted by Mark Borowiecki on June 25, 2008

I woke up a little sore today. I was tired from that first day at camp. The first day is always the hardest, getting used to the routine and stuff. But I’m kind of settling in now and it’s definitely getting a little better.

We had a pretty tough workout this morning, so it was nice to lie down and relax there for a bit in yoga class. I haven’t done yoga before. It was a fairly new experience but it was really good. You definitely loosen up and hopefully that’ll help on the ice. It was relaxing, for sure.

My roommate in the hotel is Derek Grant, who the Senators drafted in the fourth round. Last night, we didn’t talk a whole lot. We both fell asleep around 9:30. We think this has definitely a good experience. It’s cool to see guys who are probably going to be playing for the Sens next year and how hard they work. Both of us chose the same path in hockey: Tier II (Derek played for Langley in the B.C. Hockey League) and then NCAA. So we both talk about our schools and stuff.

Saturday at the draft was definitely a huge day for the Smiths Falls Bears, with three of us getting picked. Only two guys in the whole Central Junior league got drafted prior to that, so three guys on one team in one NHL draft is pretty remarkable for that league. We’d all talked to a few teams and had a few interviews, but I don’t think all three of us expected to go.

Bill Bowker, our coach and GM in Smiths Falls, is just thrilled for us. It’s huge for the organization in terms of getting players to come and play in Smiths Falls. There’s going to be a lot of players who want to come and play there now – we have eight players going to the NCAA and three of us that got drafted by NHL teams.

Posted by Mark Borowiecki on June 25, 2008

The drive to Scotiabank Place for the first day of my first Ottawa Senators development camp was a little nerve-wracking, I’m not going to lie. I didn’t really know what to expect going in. But at the same time, I was kind of anxious to get it started.

When I first walked into the Senators dressing room this morning, I was kind of in awe. I grew up watching the Sens and you get to walk into the room and see all their stuff. You can’t really believe it. It was definitely an honour to put on clothing with the Senators crest on it. I was real excited. It was kind of a start to a new part of my life. It was lots of work but I really liked it. It was a good experience.

Our day started with fitness testing and medicals. I did some fitness testing at the beginning of the summer for Clarkson University, where I’ll be attending school this fall, but you can definitely tell that it’s a step up for the pro level and you definitely know there’s going to be a lot of hard work involved and you’ve got to push yourself. When you watch guys like Nick Foligno, who played on the team last year, you can see they definitely work really, really hard on everything. They don’t take any exercise or any rep off, so you definitely have to push yourself.

They showed all of us a video on the Scotiabank Place scoreboard and that was cool to see. I watched them all season but just to sit and think I’m kind of a part of that now, for sure, that was pretty cool.

I felt a little nervous for my first practice at the Bell Sensplex. You’re gripping the stick a little too tight, you don’t feel like you have any legs. But after that first hour, I felt like I settled in a little better. It was definitely a step up from what I’m used to.

All in all, I really enjoyed my first day as a Senator. It was a lot of hard work, a lot of hard skating but it was definitely pretty gratifying to get off the ice and know that I successfully spent a day in an Ottawa Senators camp.