“I think I feel really confident that I’m 100 percent, and I’ll be ready to go tonight.”

The aforementioned quote by Zach Senyshyn might have sounded a little different a couple of weeks ago after a couple of setbacks. First, Senyshyn missed all of Development Camp in July due to mono. A couple of months later, the 2015 first rounder missed all of Bruins rookie camp after undergoing an emergency appendectomy.

For a guy coming off an impressive 45-goal campaign with the SOO Greyhounds — good for a tie for fifth in the Ontario Hockey League — the last thing Senyshyn needed were abrupt interruptions of his summer training.

In the second preseason game, Senyshyn made a quick recovery and donned the Spoked-B for the first time.

“He’s a little behind with not being able to train as much as he would’ve liked to for the whole summer, but he seems to be feeling a lot better, and he seems to be ready to play,” assistant coach Jay Pandolfo said after Wednesday’s Training Camp sessions at Warrior Ice Arena. “He’s going to get an opportunity [Wednesday night].”

That opportunity goes beyond last night’s preseason game for Senyshyn. With Frank Vatrano’s injury, another forward spot opens up for the Bruins’ opening night roster. Senyshyn along with Jake DeBrusk, Peter Mueller (PTO), Danton Heinen and Austin Czarnik (to name a few) are expected to be the favorites to take one of those spots when the Black and Gold travel to Columbus on October 13th.

Making a good first impression is a starting point for Senyshyn, who hopes to become a more well-rounded player from a year ago.

“I just want to show that I got stronger over the course of the season and really worked on my defensive play and really rounded out my game,” Senyshyn said. “I was very one-dimensional last year I thought, and I made real strides in trying to improve on that part of my game, and hopefully I’ll be able to show that.”

Looking to showcase his potential, Senyshyn also needed to get back into game shape. Last skating in Game 5 of the OHL Playoffs against Erie back in April, the 6-2 forward looked a little rusty through the first 20 minutes of play during the Bruins’ 5-1 loss to the Red Wings.

Eventually, he was able to showcase his speed and created a few scoring chances of his own. He ended the night tied with Colin Miller for a team-high five shots on goal during his 15:03 of ice time, which also included 45 seconds of power play time on ice.

“I think he’s getting up to speed. You know, I think he’s missed some time, and I think that’s caused him to have a setback. He’s obviously got great speed, and that’s the thing that jumps out at you when you watch him play,” assistant coach Joe Sacco said about Senyshyn. “You know, physically I think just missing that time I think that it’s not allowed him to really, to be up to speed as far as where he wants to be, so he’s a young player that’s, you know, obviously he’s just got to continue to get stronger physically, as well, but certainly he has that element that, you know, we’re looking for as an organization with that speed.”

“Yeah, I think in the first period, I was a little bit shaky at the start, and it kind of took me a little while to get my nerves under me,” Senyshyn said in his self-assessment. “It’s a great crowd out there, and it’s pretty awesome to play in front of, but I thought I was able to play better in the second and third.”

With this recent bout of adversity behind him, Senyshyn can look forward to building off his performance in the last 40 minutes when his name is called for one of the next preseason games.