As a kid growing up in the East End of the city, Ceci spent a good portion of his time hitting up the various outdoor rinks around his community including a pad that was just steps away from his backdoor.
"I used to go to either the Avalon Rink a lot or the Queenswood Heights Rink which are both in Orleans," he recalled. "My mom also made a pretty good one in our backyard so I would have a lot of friends come over to skate when I wasn't making the trip out to the bigger, local ones."
The caliber of play at the community rinks wasn't anything to scoff at either as Ceci would routinely coordinate with his friends, which included an eventual NHL peer, to line up shinny games.
"There were some good players that we used to play against including guys like Alan Quine who was just in town with the Islanders last month," said Ceci about the competition. "We were really good friends growing up and we would always go at it either in my backyard or the outdoor rinks in Orleans."
During his rookie season with the Senators, Ceci got his first taste of a professional "outdoor" game when he skated against the Canucks in the Heritage Classic back in 2014 at BC Place. The conditions were anything but winter however and much different than what the weather looks like for this weekend.
"Some snow would be nice this time," chuckled Ceci. "It started to rain in Vancouver so they ended up closing the roof and you didn't get the same feel. I think it'd be cool with a little bit of snow coming down."
Besides some uncharacteristically un-Canadian winter weather, it was a game that Ceci remembers fondly. In fact, he scored his second career NHL goal that day which would go on to be the game winner.
Watch: Youtube Video
But it was the nature of that game, much like the 2017 Scotiabank NHL 100 Classic, that Ceci cherished the most as it combined two of the pillars from his childhood: playing hockey outdoors and sharing that experience with his loved ones.
"I grew up playing on a lot of outdoor rinks so to get to play an NHL game outside was pretty neat," he recalled about his first outdoor game. "My whole family was able to make the trip out to Vancouver for the game as well so having them there to see me score that goal was just the cherry on top for the entire weekend."
Ceci's family will also be in attendance on Saturday when the Senators host the Canadiens at Lansdowne Park. The mild and rainy Vancouver weather however...will not.
"It'd be great if it snows on Saturday," he said. "Temperature-wise, you know it's going to be cold so we're going to have to get ready for that."
He's absolutely right. As of now the projected temperature for puck drop will be somewhere between -10 and -20 degrees so like the 30,000+ fans in attendance, Ceci and the Senators are going to want to bundle up.
The frigid atmosphere of Ottawa in December is sure to conjure up childhood memories of frozen toes and frostbitten cheeks for Ceci who grew up skating in similar conditions for hours on end pretending to be an NHL hockey player.
On Saturday, he gets to do that for real.
For more details on the 2017 Scotiabank NHL 100 Classic,
click here
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