HELSINKI -- I've been to Europe several times before but not to Helsinki. I'm usually OK with the time change but it really depends on the first day. If you don't do it right, you can really set yourself back. So staying awake when you arrive that first day is really important.
When I was at the World Junior Championship in Malmo, Sweden in 2014 and the World Championship in Cologne, Germany in 2017, those were both longer trips over here than this week will be. So there is a little pressure on to get acclimated here as quickly as possible this week.
Those earlier tournaments, it was more organic, the change. You really do want to get over the time change so you can feel better as quickly as possible. That isn't likely to come until Tuesday or Wednesday this week. But everyone's going through the same thing.
Saturday, after our game in Toronto (a 3-2 loss against the Maple Leafs) we went right to the airport and got on a plane for eight and a half hours.
It's not like we were really bad on Saturday night by any means. We played two of our best periods of the year, probably, and a couple of bad bounces and the game can change quickly when they have as much skill as they have.
I think we usually do a pretty good job of leaving a game behind but that one definitely stung. But we've got this whole spectacle ahead of us and getting on a plane for eight and a half hours, you can't be miserable for the whole time. By the time the plane took off we were having a little bit of fun.
We had a delay before we could take off Saturday because the plane had to be de-iced. Sitting on the tarmac for two hours waiting was a real grind, especially given the sleep schedules we're trying to be on. We were trying to fall asleep as quickly as possible, trying to get acclimated to Finland time as soon as possible.
We weren't really able to sleep until the plane took off. We only had two or three hours left before we were supposed to be awake. We wanted to eat as quickly as possible after boarding and then try to find a way to get a little bit of sleep. But you make the most of what you've got.
After we got in the air, Jacob Trouba and I were watching a show, and 20 minutes in, I could feel myself falling asleep. So I slept for about two hours and then we were supposed to wake up and eat again, then maybe get a bit more sleep.
We landed in Helsinki about 3:15 p.m. local time and went straight to our hotel. Then we went to have a team warm-up and a workout. It was a domed soccer field but it was cold and the sun was already down for an hour. We did some movement stuff and some mobility work, trying to get the plane out of us a little bit, hopefully. And we had a team dinner Sunday night and that was enough for one day. The goal was to get to sleep at a decent time.
