NEW SENATORS DEFENCEMAN A LONG WAY FROM SNOWFLAKE

Falk signs two-way deal just under the wire and makes it in time to suit up Saturday

Justin Falk made it just in time to make an immediate impact in his new home Saturday.

As for his first home, well, it doesn’t really exist anymore.

Falk, the imposing 6-5, 223-pound defenceman who delivered six hits and a fight in his Ottawa Senators debut Saturday, hails from a place called Snowflake, Manitoba.

Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it.

There is no there. It’s a ghost village, 190 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, home to little more than prairie winds and a lonely landscape.

“There’s not much left there any more,” Falk said amid the celebration of the Senators third consecutive win, a 6-2 victory over Erik Karlsson and the San Jose Sharks. “It’s a farming community, basically just a post office there and a chemical supply shop where the farmers get together for a coffee. But I love it. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Those are my roots and I stayed grounded there.”

Is there even an outdoor rink where kids gather, with dreams of following in Falk’s footsteps?

“Well, we had a shed,” said Falk. “But once I left, Hutterites bought it for a pig barn, so no one was playing there anymore.”

Now 30, Falk has travelled a winding road from there to here.

For most of his 10-year professional career, he has been on a yo-yo ride between the NHL and the AHL, primarily an organizational depth defenceman who can add muscle to a blue line. He has registered a combined three goals, 30 assists and 213 penalty minutes in the big leagues with Minnesota, the New York Rangers, Columbus and Buffalo.

Falk began the current season in Calgary, attending the Flames training camp on a professional tryout offer, hoping for the best, but fully recognizing making the team was a long-shot. Then family issues entered the equation.

“I went down to Stockton (California, home of the Flames AHL affiliate), but I have three young kids and my youngest was born on Sept. 4,” said Falk. “So, I had to make a decision at that point. It was best for me to go home and be a Dad and a husband for a few weeks and hope that time would take care of itself and something would come up. I believe everything happens for a reason.”

Eventually, the Colorado Eagles, the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, came calling, bringing Falk in on a professional tryout offer. He played eight games for the squad based in Loveland, Colo. — the places in his life belong in one of those sappy, made-for-TV Christmas movies — allowing him to wonder if his NHL days were completely behind him.

“I’m fortunate in that I seem to get invested and emotionally attached to wherever I am and I was emotionally invested in Colorado,” he said.

“I had my mind set that this is where I was going to be and if something presented itself, that was great, but I wasn’t going to sit there and think or hope that something was going to happen. I prepared well and I was very grateful they took me in and let me play there.”

On to Friday, when he signed a two-way contract with the Senators — $650,000 if he sticks with Ottawa, $185,000 if he’s assigned to Belleville of the AHL — quickly packed a bag and embarked on his own Amazing Race in order to be in the Senators lineup Saturday.

“It was a whirlwind and I was able to make something happen and I was in scramble mode to get here,” he said.

“It was a mad scramble to get me a number and they needed to know right away and it got to the point where I said I don’t care what number you give me. Then it was, ‘Make sure you are on the plane’ and I only got to hotel (in Ottawa) at 2:30 in morning — a lot of flying around and then grab a quick nap and away we go for a matinee game.”

With most eyes on the guy wearing number 65 on the Sharks, Falk impressed in his own way while wearing 42 in his first game with the Senators.

“It’s the best I’ve ever seen, in all my years,” Senators coach Guy Boucher said of Falk’s adjustment. “A player coming in with nothing, no practice, just a few minutes of talking and getting on the ice. There are some particular things we do defensively that might be hard to get accustomed to. And right away, he does everything right. He gets in there, has a big hit and a fight after and shows that he’s present and contributing already.”

There are no long-term guarantees that Falk will remain in Ottawa, but he has certainly shown that he’s adaptable to change during his career.

When he woke up in his newest home Sunday, there was at least some familiarity. A few snowflakes were falling.