On April 5, 2016, the Ottawa Senators were in the midst of a 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the eventual Stanley Cup champions.  A 21-year old defenseman from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Ben Harpur, showed a glimmer of the same potential that had enticed the Senators to make him their fourth round draft pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He picked up his first career NHL point as he assisted on Mike Hoffman’s goal in the second period. It was just Harpur’s third career NHL game and he had skated 18 hard shifts. On one of the night’s longest shifts, he and his Senators line mates got caught on an icing call. Already exhausted, Harpur was absolutely taken aback when he witnessed number 87 from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia hop over the boards.

“I got stuck out on the ice after an icing and Crosby’s line came on. I remember gasping for breath and watching Crosby line up for a faceoff. It was kind of crazy. One of the best players in the world and I’m on the same ice surface as him. It was really cool and it was extra motivation for me to not get scored on.”

To put into perspective, Ben was 10 years old when Crosby was taken first overall by Pittsburgh in the 2005 NHL draft. A lot has changed since 2005; Crosby has gone on to win two Stanley Cups and two Olympic gold medals while cementing his legacy as one of the greatest players of all-time. Harpur has since sprouted into a lumbering defenseman standing 6 foot 6 inches tall. He has enjoyed a successful junior hockey career, was drafted by the Ottawa Senators 108^th overall in 2013, and this season, his first at the professional level, became one of only a handful of players to play in the ECHL, American Hockey League, and NHL in the same season. It was on that night in April, however, that their respective careers intersected.

Being raised in a household of athletes seems to have fostered Ben’s growth as a competitor. Also growing up alongside two other elite athletes—his sister Katie is a forward on the Brock University Varsity Women’s Basketball team and his brother Chris is a defenseman for the Cowichan Valley Capitals of the BCHL—had fostered a competitive environment in their home. When talking of his brother Chris, Ben recalls that “we would always have our battles in the basement, pushing each other to get better.”

In 2011, Harpur was selected in the third round (43^rd overall) of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) draft by the Guelph Storm. He then spent three and a half years patrolling Guelph’s blueline. The highlight of his time on the Storm was surely when they won the 2014 OHL Cup and came second in the Memorial Cup tournament. While reflecting on his time in Guelph, Harpur tried to pinpoint just what made that Storm team so dynamic.

“Just the fact that a lot of us had been on the same team for three years. I remember my 16- year old season going in there, with it being a rebuild year and we had a lot of young guys. We kind of struggled and went through a growing phase. We were set to peak in my third year and fortunately that’s when we ended up winning. We made some good trades during the season and we ended up improving the already-great core that we had. We were very close, both on and off of the ice, which made it such a special group.”

He split his last season of junior hockey between Guelph and Barrie and had his best offensive production of his four year OHL career. After a 31 point 2014-15 campaign, Ben figures that his sudden jump in scoring can be attributed to a change in his on-ice role. “I think just playing a bigger role with the team helped. In my 19 year-old season I started getting powerplay time and was put into more offensive situations which helped a lot.”

It was a change up from the shutdown, third-pairing role that he played on Guelph’s championship team. “We ended up making some trades for some other defensemen, which put me into a shutdown, third-pair role. That was something I just had to accept. I was happy to do it because I knew it was going to make our team better.”

An impressive junior career, paired with the potential that comes with Harpur’s height, reach, and quick feet, was bound to catch the eye of some pro scouts. Prior to the draft, Ben had worked out at the Buffalo Sabres’ mini-combine and in the process had conversations with some NHL scouts. But when he heard that it was Ottawa selecting him in the fourth round, there was nobody more surprised than Harpur, “I actually wasn’t expecting Ottawa at all, I don’t think I talked to them once before the draft.”

At the end of the day, it didn’t matter where he went or how high he was picked, Harpur was ecstatic to share such an unforgettable moment with his friends and family.

“It was awesome. I had an idea of when I was going to be picked but nothing was set in stone. I made the decision to go down to the draft and go in with an open mind and think of it as a once in a life-time opportunity. I was going to walk away obviously really happy if I got drafted and I wasn’t going to be disappointed if I didn’t. I got to go down with a bunch of my family and some family friends and my minor midget coach. Just hearing my name and being able to share the moment with them was awesome.”

During the 2015-16 season, Ben was quick to turn some heads. It is uncommon for prospects to rise as quickly as he was able to. After starting the year assigned to Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, Harpur was still trying to get used to the professional hockey atmosphere, “I found the biggest adjustment was just developing professional habits, coming to practice everyday, and being sharp everyday. I think that was a biggest part of the learning curve.”

Through an early season team meeting with staff from the Professional Hockey Players’ Association (PHPA) Ben was able to find the resources necessary to swallow the idea of hockey as a job off the ice as well as on. “We elected our team’s PHPA Player Representative in Binghamton and had a couple of team meetings with him as well to discuss how the PHPA assists players with just about anything. That was great. There were a lot of different resources that they offered that were really helpful to our careers now, as well as in the future.”

Harpur’s whole season was thrown out of whack when he separated his shoulder in Binghamton’s last game before the Christmas break. He spent four weeks rehabbing in Binghamton, and just when he was ready to return, he received some unexpected news.

“Just when I thought I was ready to go, they told me that I was being reassigned to Evansville. I was scheduled to play five games during their road trip, just to get my feet back under me after taking a month off. I knew I was going to be called back up from the ECHL to Binghamton at the time, but nothing in hockey is ever guaranteed. It kind of put a chip on my shoulder when I came back to Binghamton. I really got to work and stayed there for the All Star break to work out instead of going home. I thought that it was a good turning point in the year.”

The hard work paid off sooner rather than later. Harpur won his spot back on Binghamton and actually began to work his way up the defense depth chart. Late in the season, Ottawa’s blue line got bit with the injury bug. As the injuries mounted, Director of Player Development and Hockey Administration, Randy Lee informed Harpur that he was on the short list as a potential call up to the big league club.

Ahead of an Ottawa road trip in Minnesota, Ben found himself waiting by the phone for the call that could change his life.

“I was sitting in my apartment and I got a call from Randy and he said, “We think one of the guys is injured. It’s like a 95% chance that you’re playing tomorrow in Minnesota.” So I waited for a confirmation call, and they called me back in 5 minutes. I was on a flight at 6 am the next morning. I didn’t get a lot of sleep before my first game.”

While his first NHL stint only lasted five games, the experience Harpur gained was invaluable. Ben was able to see first-hand what it takes to play on hockey’s brightest stage. After experiencing ECHL, AHL, and NHL play, Harpur found that the biggest difference in game-style was how prepared each player and coach was for every game. “The biggest thing that I found, was the difference in the structure of the game. Everything in the NHL is faster, but at the same time it’s almost easier because everybody is in the right spot. Everything is so structured, everyone is committed to a single game plan.”

One of Harpur’s greatest assets is how he thinks the game. He has learned from some of the best, with a list of coaches and mentors that would make hockey card collectors salivate. In Guelph, he was coached by former NHLers Scott Walker, Todd Harvey, and Bill Stewart. In his brief time in Barrie, he played under Hall of Fame legend Dale Hawerchuk. One of his biggest mentors is a fellow native of Niagara Falls and former Philadelphia Flyer, Mark Botell who has helped Ben adjust to the off-ice lifestyle of a professional hockey player.

 Harpur is constantly looking to improve in any way he can, and looks at modelling his game after other huge defensemen such as Tyler Myers and Viktor Hedman. When self-evaluating his strengths and weaknesses, the advantage that Harpur’s size brings is not lost on him. But he is quick to notice that defensemen can’t just be big anymore, “I think it’s important to work on my skating. I think that being able to move as a big defender is invaluable in this game, so I try to work on it as much as I can.” 

The general consensus is that Ben Harpur has left a good impression after his first year of professional hockey. He has performed at every level and is a lot further along his growth curve than many could have expected. He has a long summer of work ahead of him, but he feels he is more than up to the challenge. Next fall, Harpur has every intention to go into training camp and stay in Ottawa as long as he can.

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