NHL makes it official, Bruins will open next season in Prague
The NHL has made the Bruins’ long-rumored European vacation official, announcing the teams that will open next season on the other side of the Atlantic. The Bruins are among the record six teams venturing to Europe, as they will take on Phoenix in the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic on Saturday, Oct. 9 and Sunday, Oct. 10.
The other teams involved in the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere events are Carolina and Minnesota, which will play at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland, on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, and Columbus and San Jose, which will play at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9.
It’s the fourth straight year that the NHL has opened its regular season with games in Europe. The Bruins and Coyotes will be the second pair of teams to play in Prague, as the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning played two games there to open the 2008-09 regular season.
The games will be a homecoming for Bruins David Krejci and Vladimir Sobotka, who are natives of the Czech Republic, while captain Zdeno Chara and forward Miroslav Satan hail from nearby Slovakia. The Coyotes could have more local support though, as their current roster includes Czech Olympian Zbynek Michalek and countrymen Petr Prucha, Martin Hanzal, Robert Lang and Radim Vrbata.
Both teams have played in Europe before. The Bruins and Rangers played in a 10-city, 23-game European tour that included games in London, Geneva, Paris, Antwerp, Zurich, Berlin and Vienna, but that was all the way back after the 1958-59 season. The Coyotes participated in a preseason tournament in Finland in 1994, but that was back when the franchise was still in Winnipeg and known as the Jets.
