Jordan Caron rooms with Tyler Seguin at a condo in Charlestown when the two youngsters are in Boston, and he was Seguins roommate at the team hotel in Winnipeg when the 19-year-old now infamously overslept for team meetings on Tuesday morning.
Caron recounted what happened from his point of view when Seguin missed team breakfast and morning meetings before being scratched for the Bruins' game against the Winnipeg Jets. According to Caron, the team got in around 2 a.m. on Tuesday and both players went straight to bed after arriving in Winnipeg.
Caron awoke the next morning to get breakfast and left Seguin sleeping while he quietly exited their hotel room. Once Caron and his teammates realized that Seguin still hadnt woken up with the team meeting starting, they tried to call the 19-year-old. But Seguin had put his phone on vibrate and didnt hear any of the phone call attempts from his teammates, and Caron said he didnt physically walk up to the room to get him because the meeting was just about to start.
"We tried to call him a few times just before the meeting. His phone was off or something. It was an accident. I dont think it was anybodys fault. He wasnt out or anything," said Caron. We came in pretty late. We went to bed at the same time. I went to breakfast early the next morning and didnt want to wake him up, of course.
"It was an accident. The guys are behind him with support and Im pretty sure it wont be happening again."
Several among the Bruins traveling party indicated that the Verizon service on their cell phones was bouncing sporadically between the Central Time Zone for Winnipeg and the Mountain Time Zone, and that might have been what Seguin was clumsily attempting to explain when he said his phone was on Boston time after the Bs loss to the Jets.Seguin did face the media following morning skate Thursday, but simply said: "I talked about it the other day and I've alread kind ofmoved on to getting ready for tonight's game."
The one thing Caron wanted to make abundantly clear: Seguin was in the hotel the entire time and that it was a simple case of a 19-year-old kid making a mistake and sleeping through a meeting.
Boston Bruins
Hes usually the first one up and leaving the room, said Caron. Hes not someone that oversleeps all the time. It was just an accident. Last year in the playoffs I came in a bit late, but I didnt miss practice. I was so nervous. I was living right beside the rink here, and I remember grabbing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and running to the rink. Its a bad feeling."
No doubt its the same bad feeling Seguin has been experiencing the last couple of days. But Claude Julien said its time to turn the page on the incident, and reaffirmed that Seguin would be back in the lineup against the Florida Panthers Thursday night.
Theres no doubt the second-year forward should be armed with the proper motivation against a Florida team that's surprised this year.
This is old news. For us weve turned the page on it. Old news is old news and weve moved on, said Julien. Hes fine and Im fine. Hell be in the lineup and playing. Hes missed a game. Hes paid his dues. Hes a 19-year-old that is fine with us and hes a good professional. The page is turned and we move on.
Julien was wrong about one thing. The page will only be turned when Seguin goes out and performs like the teams leading scorer after his big sleep in Winnipeg. It could be as soon as tonight in Boston against the Panthers.