Source: Ottawa Citizen

Three times before he used his first-round pick on Friday, Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray called several other National Hockey League teams in an effort to move up.

There was a certain player Murray wanted, but he thought some other team would grab him first, so he got on the phone and tried to make a deal, as he successfully did four years ago before selecting Erik Karlsson.

This time no other team would budge, though, so all Murray could do was wait.

"I honestly never thought he would be available at 15," Murray said.

Fortunately, on a night when the NHL Central Scouting Bureau rankings were turned inside-out, the player Murray wanted was, surprisingly, available when the Senators' pick finally came around.

So, in the end, Murray got his guy: Ottawa 67's defenceman Cody Ceci of Orléans.

Ceci was ranked sixth in the final Central Scouting rankings and it was expected that he'd go in the top 10 of the first round.

No one was happier than Ceci and the large contingent of family and friends who made the trip here, most notably mother Karen, father Parri, brother Cole and sister Chelsea.

"At first I wasn't too nervous, but, when it got around to where I was ranked, I got a little nervous every time a team passed me," Ceci said.

"But a lot of the other guys out there were feeling the same thing. It was a nerve-wracking day, but, in the end, it all worked out and I'm very happy."

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