How Mark Borowiecki's scary end to his NHL career brought out the fighter — against his demons

Mark Borowiecki tried the driver's side door handle first, but ripped it clean off the car.

"I was like, 'Oh, (expletive),'" the recently retired Nashville Predators defenseman said.

Unsure what to do next, Borowiecki threw the handle, then called 911.

Borowiecki had woken up early from his gameday afternoon nap on Oct. 21, 2021, when he decided to go with his wife Tara to pick up their son Miles from school. On the way, Borowiecki said he saw a car sitting in the middle of 21st Avenue, traffic swerving around it. Inside he saw a man slumped over the steering wheel, "almost not breathing."

The 911 dispatcher told Borowiecki first responders were on the way, and to "do whatever you got to do to resolve the situation."

So Borowiecki, who had instructed Tara to let him out of the car and continue on to get their son, banged on the window. No response.

He then kicked in the driver's side window, leaving shards of glass in his wake — and his feet. He was wearing sandals.

After finally getting the door open, he put the car in park, took the keys and woke the man up.

"He was not in a great place," Borowiecki said on a mid-May morning while sitting in a coffee shop not far from where he saw that car and that man that October afternoon. "I don't know what happened."

After police and paramedics arrived, Borowiecki, whose foot was bleeding and swollen, called someone from the Predators to pick him up.

He played his 400th career game that night at Bridgestone Arena against the New York Rangers. One year and one day later, Borowiecki himself was knocked unconscious and stretchered away in what turned out to be his final NHL game.

On May 3, a little more than six months later, he announced his retirement, and he recently sat down with The Tennessean to discuss the life and incident that led him to that decision.

What happened to Mark Borowiecki?

Borowiecki’s hockey playing career ended on a stretcher behind the Philadelphia Flyers' net at Bridgestone Arena on Oct. 22.

Borowiecki lay facedown, momentarily motionless, after awkwardly slamming into the boards after a nudge from Flyers forward Morgan Frost. There were 13 minutes, 36 seconds left in the second period. The clock had run out on Borowiecki's career.

The arena immediately fell silent. The sound of Filip Forsberg frantically summoning Predators head athletic trainer Kevin Morley echoed for all to hear.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Forsberg yelled.

He wore a look of worry while he motioned toward his team's bench and pointed down at Borowiecki.

More trainers rushed to him. Players from both teams gathered around him. Morley then raised his right hand, signaling for a stretcher, signaling the end of Borowiecki's playing days.

"It's never comforting when you see a player go down in that fashion," Predators coach John Hynes said after that game, adding that Borowiecki was a good teammate, father and husband.

Borowiecki's memory is void of the collision. One of his last memories, fittingly, was his fight against Nicolas Deslauriers just 2:15 into that final game. It was the 68th and final scuffle during his 12 NHL seasons.

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"I guess that's one way to go out in my career," Borowiecki said, adding that Deslauriers was among the first to text him later that night.

Borowiecki was met that night at Vanderbilt University Medical Center by Tara, who had left the game early to take their young son home.

There the two cried. There they faced reality, "a bit of a warning shot from the universe," he said.

“I kind of knew in my heart of hearts this was the end,” Borowiecki said. “That kind of hits you a little bit.”

Still, Borowiecki had every intention of returning. He worked out vigorously with teammates. He trained and trained. He'd wanted to go out on his own terms. His body said no.

But his retirement wasn’t completely unexpected, given the numerous concussions Borowiecki had suffered, and given that he and Tara had decided before the season it likely was going to be his last anyway. The couple also have three young children. The lure of being more dad and husband and less hockey player spoke to him.

A fighter, back in school, to tame mental health

The man who made a career out of fighting opponents on the ice and fighting demons off it wants to help like he's been helped.

So Mark Borowiecki is a college student again.

He's finishing up his undergraduate courses online at Arizona State University. He plans to earn a master's degree in psychology, something Predators team psychiatrist Vickie Woolsey has encouraged him to do throughout their regular sessions together.

"It took me 11 years to go back (to school)," Borowiecki said, adding that not finishing is one of his biggest regrets. "I was like, 'You know what? I take a lot of pride in being able to use my brain, or what's left of it."

He carries a notepad and pen with him almost everywhere he goes. He enjoys reading and writing.

Borowiecki prides himself on being a "loyal guy" and said he has a lot of "love for the Predators," Woolsey especially, because they have stuck with him through some dark times. He'd like to return the favor, to help people understand it's OK to not be OK.

He's unsure of what his future in hockey will be. But he said he'd like to be a resource for players, bridge the gap between them and the mental health professionals. Borowiecki spent a lot of time during the months following his injury around the team, lending an ear and sometimes advice to many young players.

Forward Cody Glass was among them. He, too, struggled with mental health.

Incoming general manager Barry Trotz and outgoing general manager David Poile suggested strongly there could be a place in the organization for Borowiecki in the future.

"If he doesn't want to play anymore, I certainly would like to talk to him," Poile said after the season. "Boro's been around. I said to him, we missed Boro in our lineup — not only his physical presence, but the person he is. He's a real mentor to the younger guys."

He also was first in line to be a Predators face in the community. He continued to be a loud voice about the importance of trying to understand mental health. He remains steadfast in his support of the LGBTQ+ community.

None of which went unnoticed by Predators captain Roman Josi, who didn't know Borowiecki personally until he came to Nashville three seasons ago.

"I only played against him, and he's so mean on the ice, right?" Josi said. "Like, you better watch out for Boro.

"As mean as he was on the ice, he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. He's involved in so many good causes and always wants to help people. He's special."

Seeing the light from 'really dark space'

Fighting, it turned out, was a trigger for Borowiecki. Put him "in a really dark space."

The intense, negative energy would bubble. He thought it necessary, a way to define himself in the league.

"If I asked someone to fight and they said no, it would crush me the rest of the game," he said.

Sometimes when that happened he'd "go nuts." Between periods or after a game, he'd sometimes disappear into the gym, still wearing his pads, and perform power cleans, looking for an outlet for that toxic energy.

He spoke of his and Tara's relationship "taking a hit" because he was withdrawn, his brain in a rat's nest. She encouraged him to get help. He entered the NHLPA's Player Assistance Program. But it didn't take.

Borowiecki originally was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder. He later found out, though, he really suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

All the medication he had taken when he thought he was anxious, the lies he told to get that dosage increased, put Borowiecki's mind in a state of gray. He experienced neither intense highs nor lows but rather felt nothing.

“That’s not a way to live life,” he said.

He reached his tipping point, he said, during a game in Tampa on Jan. 30, 2021.

He was sitting in the penalty box after he was called for hooking. The Lightning scored. Borowiecki beat himself up mentally before going to the locker room and throwing up. He returned to the ice and — what else? — started a fight with the Lightning’s Pat Maroon, which resulted in an unsportsmanlike penalty on Borowiecki.

He knew he needed help. After consulting with Woolsey and some others, that's exactly what Borowiecki received.

Since then, he's been trying to give it back.

'BoroCop' too

That afternoon in the middle of 21st Avenue, when Borowiecki kicked in that car window, wasn't the only experience of that ilk for the man nicknamed "BoroCop." It wasn't even the only time it involved the smashing of a car window.

“This stuff just follows me around," he said.

Such as the time, he said, he and Tara were driving to Montreal and he pulled a woman from a car that had flipped over at a high rate of speed.

Such as the time, he said, during an off day in Vancouver, when he stopped a robbery in progress on a main street in broad daylight. He was playing for his hometown Ottawa Senators then. Tara was pregnant with Miles. After lunch, he decided do some shopping at a nearby baby store when he saw a "shady guy" on a bike looking through cars.

Standing across the street, Borowiecki watched the man smash a car window with a piece of metal and steal a backpack, something Borowiecki had urged him not to do. The man, spewing vulgarities all the way, charged at Borowiecki with his bike.

“I underhooked his arm, pulled him off his bike, grabbed the bag and stood there, making sure he wasn’t going to pull something on me,” Borowiecki said.

The man fled. The bag was returned to its owner.

Then there was the time in Dallas, during Borowiecki's first season with the Predators.

Borowiecki said he was sitting outside a Whole Foods, nibbling on some sushi, when he noticed some police officers nearby struggling with a man, who "was going for the cop's gun." Borowiecki asked the officer if he needed help restraining the man. The officer answered yes. So Borowiecki did what he aspires to do: He helped.

"I warn people, you probably don't want to walk around with me," he said with a laugh.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Mark Borowiecki fights mental health in Nashville Predators retirement