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Defenceman Jordie Benn has been a pleasant surprise for the Canadiens since being acquired from the Dallas Stars on Feb. 27 in exchange for Greg Pateryn and a fourth-round pick at this year’s NHL Draft.

The fact Benn even made it to the NHL is also a surprise.

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Benn never played major-junior hockey or at the U.S. college level. Instead, the British Columbia native spent four years playing Tier 2 junior hockey in his home town of Victoria and wasn’t selected at the NHL Draft.

“I got a scholarship to (the University of) Alaska Fairbanks when I was 17,” Benn recalled after the Canadiens’ 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators Sunday night at the Bell Centre. “I felt I committed too early … should have played my 18-, 19-year-old year and then committed. But it is what it is. I just decided not to go to school … didn’t really want to go to Fairbanks and live up there.

“When I was getting 19, 20, I had a couple of teams come and ask me if I wanted to come play in the WHL,” Benn added. “I just figured there’s no real point when I’m 19, 20 years old to go there and have one or two years (of major junior) and you never know what can happen, right? I thought, if nothing else, I’d go to school and then have four more years of experience. But it didn’t work like that and I just went to the East Coast and worked my way up.”