Sieloff happy to get chance with Sens
Patrick Sieloff made his Ottawa Senators debut at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday night.
Many wondered if that day would ever come.
Nearly 18 months had passed since Sieloff hit winger Clarke MacArthur in the corner during a training camp scrimmage on Sept. 25, 2016. Since then, the veteran defenceman has been toiling with the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League.
While Sieloff hasn’t been forgotten by Ottawa fans, he has put the incident that caused MacArthur’s fourth concussion in 18 months behind him. Many thought Sieloff ended MacArthur’s career, although MacArthur did return to the Senators’ lineup for the end of the regular season and the playoffs in 2017.
“It’s an unfortunate circumstance, but I’m just happy to be here and happy to get the opportunity,” Sieloff said Tuesday morning. “I’ve never questioned my hard work and my work ethic. If you keep putting in the hard work, eventually it will pay off, whether it’s next week or a year from now.
“I just trusted the process and I knew that one day it would work out like it is.”
MacArthur didn’t pass the medical exam in training camp in September and isn’t expected to play again. He also had a neck injury during the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring.
On the day of the incident with Sieloff, winger Bobby Ryan dropped his gloves and fought Sieloff, 23, who was sent off the ice during the scrimmage and wasn’t recalled from the AHL affiliate last season, but did re-sign with the Senators as a restricted free agent last summer.
“Honestly, when it happened, they handled it the way they had to handle it,” Sieloff said.
“It was just another bump in the road. I just wanted to keep moving on and playing my game and worked to get back up here.
“It’s been good ( being in Ottawa). Honestly, the guys are all good. They’ve been awesome. They’ve been great. They all came up, said ‘Hi,’ welcomed me and said, ‘Let’s go play hockey and have fun.’”
Tuesday’s game was only the second Sieloff has played in the NHL — he scored a goal and collected two penalty minutes for the Calgary Flames against the Minnesota Wild on April 9, 2016 — but the Senators felt he deserved the opportunity to get recalled because he had played well in Belleville.
“It’s never an easy thing down there. You’re always trying to work on your game and get better,” Sieloffsaid.
“You have to do your job and do what got you here.”