Senators' Mark Borowiecki stopped robbery by clotheslining man on bicycle

As of Monday night, Mark Borowiecki led all NHL defencemen with 108 hits this season. That should come as no surprise to those who have watched the tough, stay-at-home defenceman play over the past number of seasons with the Ottawa Senators.

The impressive thing about that total in only 27 games so far this year? It doesn’t include his collision with a thief during the Senators’ off-day this past weekend in Vancouver.

According to Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch and Hailey Salvian of The Athletic, Borowiecki stopped a robbery in the Gastown district while his team was enjoying some time in the city.

The 30-year-old reportedly saw a man smash the back window of a parked car and grab a backpack, per Garrioch. After Borowiecki told him to stop, the robber refused to do so. Instead, the bold bandit decided to come at Borowiecki on his bicycle.

This is a reminder that the rugged blueliner in this story is six-foot-two and over 200 lbs. Additionally, he has been involved in 50 fights over the course of his NHL career, according to hockeyfights.com.

Therefore, while the decision to attempt to steal a backpack was cowardly, choosing to confront Borowiecki moments later was anything but. Unfortunately for the robber, though, that’s where things began to fall apart for him.

When the man approached, Borowiecki clotheslined him off of the bike and wrestled the bag from him, according to TSN 1200.

“I told him to give me the bag and he was telling me to get out of the way,” Borowiecki said after Ottawa’s skate at Rogers Arena on Monday afternoon, according to Garrioch.

Borowiecki handed the bag — which contained passports — to Vancouver Police on Monday, per Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy.

“We are grateful for Mark’s assistance and do recommend that if anybody does witness a crime to immediately notify the Vancouver Police and to stay safe,” a statement from the force read, according to Ben Cousins of CTVNews.ca.

Borowiecki’s job whenever he wears a Senators jersey involves blocking shots travelling over 100 MPH, absorbing hits at high speeds and dropping the mitts with some of the toughest people in the world on skates.

Safety is likely the last thing that is on his mind most of the time. And for that reason, he is Mark Borowiecki: Protector of the streets by (off-) day, protector of Senators goaltenders by night.

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