A long year for former Clarkson University Hockey standout Mark Borowiecki came to an exciting end on June 7 when Borowiecki and his Binghamton Senators teammates won the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup.

Binghamton defeated the Houston Aeros four games to two, winning the final three games in a row and four of the last five after dropping the series opener. The Senators clinched the AHL’s top prize with a 3-2 victory over Houston in Game 6 of the finals at the Toyota Center in Texas.

Borowiecki, who began the 2010-11 season in early October as the Golden Knights’ captain, signed a professional contract with the Ottawa Senators organization at the conclusion of his junior campaign with Clarkson in early March. The 6-1, 198-pound defenseman reported to Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, Binghamton, and played nine games to close out the regular season for the B-Sens. Borowiecki played in 21 of the 23 games of the Calder Cup playoffs, including all six games of the championship series, and recorded two assists and a +5 in postseason action.

The Senators, who joined the AHL in 2002-03 as the top development team of Ottawa, had missed the playoffs for five consecutive seasons entering the 2010-11 campaign, but finished it by earning the city of Binghamton’s first championship in 29 years of hosting an American Hockey League franchise.

The Senators also established an AHL record with 10 road victories this postseason (10-2) and finished 15-4 in their final 19 playoff games overall after falling into a 3-1 deficit against the Manchester Monarchs in the first round. Binghamton overcame that deficit – winning all four games of the series in overtime – before knocking off the Portland Pirates (4-2) and Charlotte Checkers (4-0) en route to the Finals match-up with Houston.

Through 99 career games at Clarkson (2008-11), Borowiecki recorded 32 points on 12 goals and 20 assists, and posted 165 penalty minutes. A defensive-defenseman from Kanata, Ontario, he tied for the Knights’ scoring lead from the blueline this past year with 11 points on three goals and eight assists through 31 games, and finished with 67 penalty minutes. Borowiecki scored three power-play goals in 2010-11 and netted the game-winner in Clarkson’s 3-1 win at Brown on January 22. He was hampered by injuries down the stretch and missed five games in February with a severely bruised foot.

Borowiecki, 21, was selected by Ottawa in the 2008 National Hockey League Draft, going in the fifth round with the 139th pick.

The first Ottawa native ever drafted by the Senators, Borowiecki participated the past three summer's in club's summer development camp.

Borowiecki joins another former Clarkson defenseman, Randy Jones (2001-03), who have played on Calder Cup winning teams. Jones was a member of the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2005 (during the NHL lockout) when the Phantoms won the AHL’s championship.