Devils Practice Shifts to O2 Arena | NOTEBOOK

PRAGUE - The Devils held their third practice in Prague this morning, this time hitting the ice at O2 Arena -- the site of this weekend's games -- for the first time. Check back through the day for full coverage, including lineups, video and more.

Watch Archive

The commentary was in Czech language, but if you want a glimpse into the team's practice at O2 Arena in Prague, you can watch here:

Thursday's Lines and Skate

The lines and defense pairings were once again the same for the fourth practice in a row:

Meier - Hughes - Bratt
Tatar - Hischier - Mercer
Palat - Haula - Noesen
Cotter - Lazar - Bastian
Foote - Bowers - MacDermid

Dillon - Hamilton
Siegenthaler - Kovacevic
Casey - Nemec
White - DeSimone

Markstrom
Allen
Daws

Great Atmosphere at Practice

After two practices at the ICERINK, the mood certainly shifted as the team practiced on Thursday at the arena they'll be playing games in Friday and Saturday. There were plenty of fans there to watch the team as well, many of them kids.

"Don't they have school? That's a lot of kids," laughed Jack Hughes. "It's really cool for them. Us North Americans grew up and it's NHL everywhere. Here, they can't even watch because it's so late at night. To be able to come to these Global Series games is pretty cool."

The crowd made Jack reflect on similar experiences he had when he was young.

"I remember when I was a kid, I got to go to an NHL practice, it's really special. All these morning skates in front of empty crowds, it's fun to have them here."

Dawson Mercer reflected back on similar experiences as a kid growing up in Newfoundland. Much like kids in Prague, he didn't have a lot of interaction with NHL players.

"When Danny Cleary won the Cup and they had the Cup parade back home," he remembered. "Being from Newfoundland, there's no teams there and you're not really close. It's a lucky circumstance to see a game live."

Ondrej Palat signed a lot of pucks and took a lot of photos today. He didn't mind one bit.

"It's great to see all the kids. All the fans there, excited and cheering. I threw them some pucks," he said.

Palat talked about getting pucks like that when he was young and how he'd put them above his bed, cherishing the memory each time he looked at it.

"It means a lot. Especially, we won a World Championship here. The whole Czech Republic was watching it, the kids experienced that for the first time. For us, it's special. Just little things like that, throw them the puck or sign autographs it goes a long way. For us, it's a little thing and for them it's a very great experience."

Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe was hoping the environment helps get the team amped up for the game tomorrow.

"It helps ramp it up. Much different environment here, not just the kids and fans, the ice is now painted and crisp. It feels more official. You're in a far different environment than our previous practices (at the practice rink)," he said. "It took us a bit to adjust, get our practice going. It was hard to keep focus early on."

Ready for the Real Thing

After a week's worth of practice across two continents, the team is antsy to start playing for real.

"It's preseason. New coach, we have a lot of new stuff we have to get going. I think we feel better about it, now," said Jack. "We've been excited. We've been in Prague for a few days now. We're excited to play hockey. It's time."

Hischier added, "It's definitely not what you're used to. It was a little different but it was great. We had some great practices and we're excited to get going here, play two games then fly back."

Coach Keefe appreciated the earlier practice time as he continues to try and get his squad adjusted.

"Being here, having more of a simple day. 11:00 practice today. Aside from the team photo we had to start practice off with, it's good to get your bearings here in this facility. Guys are excited to go."

The bench boss added that he understands that the ideal situation is the club has constant improvement throughout the campaign.

"We're not there yet. We have to take it one step at a time. We need to walk before we can run. We're hoping it all comes together for us here starting tomorrow night but we've got 82 of these things to get through and we want to improve here on our way."

Casey Confirmed

Coach Keefe hinted at it yesterday with his comments and the pairings and power play units the past few days, but it was Jack Hughes that let the cat out of the bag.

"Seamus is playing his first game," said Hughes. "We're excited."

Keefe was asked later at his press conference and confirmed.

"It's fun," he said of being able to tell Casey he's playing his first game. "There's more to it than that. We had a number of defensemen in camp competing for a spot. There's no handouts here, he's earned it.With our injuries, we have an opportunity available on our back-end and he's given us reason to believe in him."

He noted that the real excitement should be throughout the organization among management and scouts, development coaches and more.

"It's exciting as a coach to get a lot of these types of moments. I'm still the new guy here, I'm not here the day he's drafted so I'm sure there's a lot of people in the organization who are excited to see Seamus start his pro career."