The Dallas Stars hockey NHL team arrived in Finland on Monday. The team’s Finnish players Roope Hintz, Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell have acted as the team’s guides in Helsinki.
The Finnish team has also been responsible for leisure activities, which have already included, for example, saunas.
Dallas will face the reigning champion Florida Panthers in Tampere this week on Friday and Saturday. The Dallas bunch that spends the beginning of the week in Helsinki will head to Tampere.
Alexander Barkov skippered Panthers will arrive in Finland on Tuesday, as they played in North America still Finnish time on the night between Monday and Tuesday, defeating the Buffalo Sabres.
“I don’t know how a sauna and dinner go together”
Dallas head coach by Peter DeBoer according to the team gets more free time from the beginning of the week than a normal game trip. Monday evening’s program included sauna and dinner.
– This is not a break for us, but this is something different for us in the middle of a busy season. However, I don’t know how well a sauna and dinner go together, DeBoer blurted out in front of the media on Monday.
– Our Finnish players are really excited about this trip. They have planned a couple of things for us. They have been talking about this trip since last year. They want to show off where and what kind of culture they come from. They want to introduce unique Finnish things to the team, explained DeBoer.
Finnish food familiar to everyone
Finnish players are excited when they get to play NHL games in Finland in front of their families and friends. The occasion is unique.
– I could never have imagined that I would get to play in the NHL in my home country. This is a unique opportunity, when the NHL regular season match is played in Finland, Hintz, Heiskanen and Lindell worked as one voice.
Teammates rely a lot on Finnish players when talking about the team’s free time in Finland. Hintz, Heiskanen and Lindell are responsible, for example, for where the team eats in Finland.
– All three of us have planned the activities in Helsinki and Tampere together, Lindell revealed.
– We get to show places and what kind of food is eaten in Finland. Yes, we Finns in the team act as the masters of ceremony here when we show how to act here, Heiskanen revealed.
Born in Tampere, Hintz has clear plans for what to do in Tampere at least. Tampere has been titled in some contexts as the “wing capital” of Finland.
– I don’t know if we’ll go eat black sausage in Tampere, but we have to go to the wings. We have to take the group there and see what they like, Hintz smiled.
Jokerit game on Tuesday night
– Yes, there is a togetherness here that strengthens the team spirit, Lindell summed up.
Lindell revealed that the team’s program includes Jokerite Mesti’s home game against Hokki on Tuesday evening. Lindell was raised by the Jokers and belongs to the club’s ownership ladder.
– Tomorrow we will go to Nordis to watch the game. Anyone who wants to can join, the game is not mandatory, Lindell smiled on Monday.
On Tuesday, the team practiced at the Herttoniemi ice rink in Helsinki. The team was supposed to train in Herttoniemi already on Monday afternoon, but the training had to be canceled due to a flight delay.
Karaoke and beer
The team’s Canadian star forward Tyler Seguin fell in love with saunas and swimming. According to him, he could take a sauna and swim in Finland every day.
– We were in the sauna yesterday and took a couple of dips in the water. It was extremely cold, but refreshing. It was the first time for me.
– After the sauna, we had dinner and karaoke. At dinner I ate reindeer and salmon soup. I was afraid of the reindeer portion at first, but it tasted pretty good. It was a good day, Seguin said after Tuesday’s morning frost.
– I would be in the sauna here every day if I could.
– This is a great game trip, when we can do things together outside the ice as well. We can certainly also have a couple of beers together and strengthen the spirit of togetherness.
The team heads to Tampere on Wednesday. Seguin’s program includes at least the purchase of firecrackers.
Canadian striker Matt Duchene everyone jumped into the cold water after sauna.
– It’s the same here as in Sweden. This is my first time in Finland. We had a really nice time yesterday. I ate reindeer for dinner, I hope it wasn’t Petteri Punakuono, Duchene joked.
– We also have some time here to get to know the places. It’s really nice here.
Head coach DeBoer also praised that Monday night was fun.
– We got our legs moving a bit and Finnish beer out of our bodies. We had a really nice time, we enjoyed the Finnish hospitality, DeBoer smiled after the morning ice.
– The ice was great, but slightly bigger than an NHL rink, the coach commented on the ice in the Herttoniemi ice rink.