{"id":18633,"date":"2017-10-11T15:58:30","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T19:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18633"},"modified":"2017-10-11T15:58:30","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T19:58:30","slug":"ex-tiger-formenton-makes-nhl-debut-with-sens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/ex-tiger-formenton-makes-nhl-debut-with-sens\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Tiger Formenton makes NHL debut with Sens"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the Ottawa Senators were introduced for their warm-up before their matchup with the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre, one lone skater took to the ice for a couple of laps.
\nAs is tradition in hockey circles, that player was Alex Formenton, skating in his first ever regular season NHL game.
\nJust two seasons ago, Formenton was skating on the left side at the Aurora Community Centre for the OJHL\u2019s Aurora Tigers.
\nSaturday, the winger from King City\u2019s NHL dreams came to fruition, lacing them up for the Ottawa Senators.
\nTwo years removed from a thirteen goal, thirteen assist season in Aurora, Formenton became the youngest player in Senators history to make his NHL debut at 18 years, 24 days.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s definitely exciting,\u201d said Formenton. \u201cI can\u2019t take the smile off my face. It\u2019s been fun lately.\u201d
\nHis rise to the top level of hockey has been rapid and unexpected from all corners of the hockey perspective, with most scouts pegging the skinny youngster as a mid-second round pick at the 2017 NHL Draft.
\nPicked 47th overall by the Senators, Formenton impressed the higher-ups enough in camp to earn a surprise roster spot over a handful of much more experienced NHLers.
\nThough Saturday\u2019s debut against the Red Wings came with just seven shifts, compiling a little under five minutes of ice time, Formenton made sure to make his presence felt with both a hit and a shot block.
\n\u201cIt was tough because it was so tight,\u201d coach Guy Boucher said in a press conference after a 2-1 shootout loss to the Red Wings. \u201cYou don\u2019t want the kid to make the poor mistake there and he remembers his first game. If you take the lead, matchups are a little tough. He\u2019s not on the power play and he\u2019s not on the penalty kill. He worked hard, he skated. There\u2019s no issue there.\u201d
\nThe skilled winger started showing NHL potential in his one season with the OHL\u2019s London Knights in 2016-17, when he put up 16 goals and 18 assists as a rookie with limited ice time.
\nAn expected assignment to the Senators\u2019 AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, was put on hold after a strong preseason in September where Formenton notched a goal and two assists in five preseason appearances.
\nWith a nametag above a stall now in the Sens\u2019 dressing room, it all seems very real for the former OJHLer. Though it may be a long shot, as most players as young as Formenton are sent back to the junior ranks to develop, he is hoping to get the chance to stay.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve got a good stall here,\u201d said Formenton. \u201cI\u2019m hoping to maintain it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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When the Ottawa Senators were introduced for their warm-up before their matchup with the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre, one lone skater took to the ice for a couple of laps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/2017-10-12-09.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4Qx","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-10 13:04:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}