The Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils are set to face off in the 2024 NHL Global Series Czechia presented by Fastenal, starting the regular season with two games at O2 Arena in Prague on Oct. 4 and 5. Before they get to Prague, the Sabres are making a stop in Munich for the 2024 NHL Global Series Challenge Germany presented by Fastenal.
Sabres defenseman Owen Power will be keeping a blog with NHL.com throughout the Global Series, giving fans a taste of what life is like on the ground as they go through the experience. Power's third entry comes Friday after the Sabres' 5-0 win against EHC Red Bull Munchen at SAP Garden.
MUNICH -- As I am doing this blog in the background are all these kids chanting loudly for JJ Peterka, screaming his name, hoping he comes to them to sign autographs and take selfies.
This is just awesome.
For him to be able to come to his hometown and play with his NHL team is amazing, not to mention score a goal in a 5-0 win. For these kids here he's someone they look up to. For them to have an NHL team come in here and watch him play that's just awesome too.
This whole night was just a lot of fun. The crowd was awesome. It was a different atmosphere than you're used to with the fans chanting and banging drums and waving flags. I thought it was a ton of fun.
Of course, we entered the arena all wearing lederhosen. I'll be honest, I don't think I pull it off well. It's a little tight for me.
By the way, JJ just went over to the kids to sign autographs and take pictures with them. What a great moment.
Back to the lederhosen, I can't say I'm the biggest fan of wearing it. I haven't seen any pictures yet so I can't say who wore it best, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow. We're all supposed to wear it to our team outing at Oktoberfest too.
To be honest, I don't even know how it all came about that we would be wearing it. I was just told yesterday that we were going to be wearing it and they got it for me. We originally were just supposed to wear it to Oktoberfest, but then we decided we had to wear it to the game too.
Overall, the experience here, especially the game tonight, it has exceeded my expectations of what I thought it was going to be like. This atmosphere is so much fun to play in. It's almost like you're playing a soccer game with all the chants.
On top of that, I think it was a pretty good game for us too. There is some sloppy stuff we can clean up, but overall we didn't give up too much. It was a good game to use to get ready to go.
We have the day off as a team tomorrow so we're going to Oktoberfest. We'll practice here Sunday before going to Prague. Before you know it the regular season will be here. We're ready to get going.
