Yesterday was a good day; it was a lot. They kept us busy all day. We played a little golf simulator. We played this tennis game, but it's in like a little box and it is OK if you hit it off the wall. We played a little 11-on-11 soccer at an indoor field which was a blast. Then we had a comedian for an hour and then had a team dinner. It was a good day hanging out with the guys and a good practice today.
The comedian was pretty funny. I think laughter is the best medicine, so after a long day, it was nice to kind of just relax and sit down for a bit and get a laugh. So that was good.
A bunch of us went to a comedy show in Columbus with Dave Chappelle and Joe Rogan and a couple other guys, that was the first one I've ever been to. So that was a lot of fun. And then obviously, this was a cool experience, a little bit different than a stadium full of people. It was the team in a room, so it was a good one.
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I am excited to have the rest of the day off and tomorrow too and hopefully get to do some stuff.
For dinner we went to Steffen's and a I had a nice steak. Patty [Laine] took care of the boys. So very thankful for that and the welcome to his home country.
It was nice to be around the guys and get to hang out and talk to new guys and just kind of hear their perspectives. I was able to have good conversation with Gus Nyqvist, Jake Bean and Eric Robinson at the dinner table, so it was a lot of fun.
I had reindeer meatballs. I didn't know if I'd like them as I'm a very picky eater. I told someone earlier I don't know I'd I make it in Europe just because like the food is just so different. Like breakfast is very different here than it is back in the States. So yeah, I mean, reindeer. I don't know. I just get a weird, weird feeling about eating it. We we're making jokes and coming from the North Pole, or whatever.
The practice today was good. We hadn't been on the ice in a while. Obviously, this rink is a lot different than what we're kind of used to with an NHL facility. It's kind of cool. You think about how far you've come from where you were. My dad, Karl, took me to a rink like this when I was 6 or 7 years old and he'd make me carry my bag. It's kind of cool to see. I was that little kid who was watching with his dad at the at the rink growing up, so it's pretty cool for me to be here now.
Waking up this morning, I was thinking that I not only have the opportunity to play in the National Hockey League, but to be able to play in a Global Series in Finland. I don't think many people get to go to go to Europe or get to go to Finland once or even twice and then obviously there's a select few that are able to play in the NHL.
I'm just enjoying every single day and I'm just trying to live in the moment. Very thankful.
It was a good day for me on the ice, a good hour-long practice, I haven't played in a week, so the body feels really good. Like I said I am really excited and it is just so cool to be able to do this with this group of guys. It's something that I will remember forever.
Now we get to enjoy the rest of the day here and are off tomorrow. Then, we're taking a train to Tampere on Thursday so I'm excited for that.
