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“I’m really glad that everybody in our organization and on that plane is now doing well, but it’s certainly a scary time. Yeah, it hit us, but at the same time it probably saved a lot of us because unless you see it up close that quickly, we probably got a little bit of a jump on this.”

Smith is hopeful the worst is behind the organization.

“The good news is that everyone who had it didn’t have horrible symptoms (like) what we’re seeing on TV and some of the people that have really struggled,” said Smith. “Some guys didn’t feel well, but being athletes, they all go through it and they’re all on the other side of it now.”

The Senators flew to California on March 6 to prepare to play the San Jose Sharks the next night. The Santa Clara health authorities issued a warning that the games should be played with no fans in the stands, but the Sharks went ahead with the game anyway. Looking back on it now, Smith admits it was different.

“In San Jose, it was kind of weird, we got onto Santana Row and there wasn’t really a lot of people out,” Smith said. “Guys usually like to try and go for a walk and dinner — at that point no one knew what we know now. Guys were aware, but I don’t think there’s any way of telling that it would have gotten to this level, certainly for us, anyway.

“But the fear hadn’t set in. I mean, San Jose was a little bit lighter, but when we were in Anaheim everything was normal and everybody in Anaheim and L.A. was living life as normal. You’d see the odd person with a mask on in L.A. at the end of the trip, but the world as we know it today was nowhere near it back then. That’s just part of it, is learning.”