Hockey|The Dallas Stars have taken the joy out of the trip to Finland. The head coach is happy.
Tampere
If Today, the coach of the SM league team would announce that his team was careful on the road to the game, there would probably be confusion.
In the NHL, alcohol consumption is not exactly a taboo.
When from the head coach of the Dallas Stars Peter DeBoerilta was asked after Thursday’s practice in Tampere how he has ensured his team is ready for the weekend’s top matches, the answer was surprising.
“We have gone to the sauna twice and drank quite a lot of Finnish beer,” announced DeBoer.
Konkari’s coach already spoke at the beginning of the week in Helsinki about how important such a trip is for the team to bond together. He already let it be understood at the time that this week the players have permission – even an order – to loosen up in a hotel room together instead of sleeping.
“I don’t have to do a lot to get my team fired up for matches against the reigning champion. Motivation can be found in Takuu just from that itself,” DeBoer continued in a slightly more serious tone.
“These are once-in-a-lifetime trips, so you have to know how to enjoy them as well. That’s what we’ve done, and we’ve also had a couple of good practices. The guys are ready for tomorrow.”
Peter DeBoer is one of the NHL’s most respected head coaches.
Dallas the team beeped already on Monday in the Helsinki night. Star player Tyler Seguinin after dinner, the trip continued to the karaoke restaurant. Tuesday was the “main day” of the trip in terms of activities outside the rink, as the transfer from Helsinki to Tampere was not scheduled until early Wednesday evening.
On Wednesday night, the number one center Roope Hintz took the group to a wing dinner in Tampere.
However, the fun part of the trip is already over. The puck will fall on the ice on Friday evening at Nokia Arena at 8 p.m.
“We’ll probably go out to eat with the team today, but then we have to start focusing on the weekend and the games,” Hintz said.
Dallas downstairs host Esa Lindell says that the teammates seemed to be satisfied with their experiences in Finland.
“Actually, just a posy came. Except maybe a bit about that Jokers game. That was said back to me a bit,” says Lindell.
On Tuesday evening, Lindell took some of his teammates to watch the game between Jokerien Mestis, which he co-owns. Before the game, he also took his friends to sign autographs, and there was quite a queue.
“Information about that first job before the game. It became a bit of a receipt, Lindell laughs when asked,” about what he had received feedback about the Jokers’ match.
For Lindell, it was the first Jokers match he saw on the spot. He also dropped the starting puck.
“I got a little chills when the fans screamed. And it was nice to see how many people from our gang were there.
“That kind of fan club singing and big tickets is not typical for Americans. It’s a European mood. A lot of people paid attention to that,” Lindell said.
Esa Lindell went to drop the starting puck in the Joker’s match.
According to him, the highlight of the trip for the Dallas team so far has been the sauna trip in Helsinki’s Hernesaari.
Teammates once asked Lindell to throw a proper slop, but they quickly ran away.
“Once I got to relax a bit. There they asked for more warmth, but then the gang went out!”
Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers will meet on Friday and Saturday in NHL matches in Tampere.