As the NHL’s easternmost Western Conference team, the Columbus Blue Jackets have become accustomed to making long treks to play their road games.
However, even the team’s longest annual trips to the likes of California and Vancouver pale in comparison to their latest road trip, as they prepare to open the 2010-2011 season in Stockholm, Sweden.
One of six NHL squads selected by the league to open their season in Europe, the Jackets will kick-off the franchise’s 10th season on Friday at Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe Arena against their Western Conference foe, the San Jose Sharks, as part of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Games.
Given this rare opportunity and boasting three Swedes on their roster, the Jackets players and coaches are excited about the trip.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing and it’s just going to be a great trip,” said defenseman and Sweden native Anton Stralman. “Its obviously a great opportunity for the fans of Sweden, on television and for those who get to go see it live.”
Ending their preseason schedule stateside with a 4-3 home victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday night, the Jackets quickly boarded a plane and were off to Sweden where they will play an exhibition game today and back-to-back regular-season contests with the Sharks, Friday and Saturday.
After practicing Sunday and Monday, the team will wrap up its preseason schedule today with an exhibition contest against the Malmö Redhawks of HockeyAllsvenskan, the second-highest hockey league in Sweden.
Although playing a non-NHL team is a unique experience, Jackets’ head coach Scott Arniel said he hopes the game against Malmö will help eliminate distractions and serve as a tune-up for San Jose.
“That’s why we’re playing that game Tuesday in Malmö,” Arniel said. “That’s going to be a funny one because we’re going to play on Olympic-sized ice for that game and then go back to the normal size against San Jose. There are lots of distractions, but we’re going to try to get as focused as possible.”
Right wing Jared Boll said it’s his and his teammates’ jobs to get past those distractions.
“Obviously, it’s going to wear on you a little bit, it’s a big time difference, but we can’t really look at it like that,” he said. “We’ve just got to take care of our bodies and get ready for the games.”
With Stralman and fellow Swedish teammates Kristian Huselius and Samuel Pahlsson playing in their home country, the experience is sure to be an emotional one. Yet, even with the excitement, Huselius said the team can’t lose sight of the reason for the trip: playing hockey.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a great feeling,” Huselius said about returning home. “Hopefully we can do something good too. It’s not just going over there to have fun, we have to do work and be ready when the season starts.”
And although Arniel acknowledged he wants his team to bond and soak in the experience, he said it needs to remain focused.
“We would like to obviously do some team-building while we’re there. I want the guys to, when they have some off-time, enjoy themselves and see the city, see the country,” he said. “But we’re also there to do business, and they have to get ready and focus on that when we start to roll around into Wednesday, into Thursday and, obviously, Friday.”
