This was a great experience, well put on by both cities. Berlin was great and, obviously, Prague was great. We were treated very well. For us, we get to travel to different cities in North America. This was a different experience, different type of crowd. We got the drums in Berlin, which was pretty cool, got to see their culture and how they cheer on a game, so to experience that was really fortunate for us.
It's hard to pick out one moment that sticks out. It was the whole trip, going for dinner, seeing the crowd react to Tommy [Tomas Hertl] and Simmer [Radim Simek], that was super special. Just the team bonding moments that we've had on this trip.
Having played in a Global Series before, in 2018 with the Edmonton Oilers, I know this is something that can be important as the season goes on for our team. Especially for us. The Predators' group have been together for a long time, but there's a lot of new guys on our team.
A lot of time hanging out together, spending time getting to know each other, and I think that pays off midseason, end of the season, when a guy turns over a puck and you're sitting there, wanting to block a shot after your buddy just turned it over. It's that much easier once you get to know them and care for them more.
Besides Luke Kunin, who I played with on the Predators for the last two seasons, I didn't really know anybody on the Sharks. I got to know a little bit of everybody. Some guys that you've played a lot against in the past. A guy like Sturmy [Nico Sturm] and Steven Lorentz, we always find each other battling in the corners, so I said to them when I got here, "I'm glad you're on my team, so I don't have to battle with you in the corner because it was an absolute war." I'm looking forward to continuing to build the relationship with everyone.
We're still learning here. We're new from top to bottom, with GM, new coach, new systems for everybody, even the guys that were here last year. They're learning new systems that the coaches are bringing in too. It's a little bit of a learning curve, a couple tough lessons today and yesterday. I thought we played well. I thought we deserved a better outcome and really put pressure on them in the third period. I thought we deserved to get a goal. But that's hockey, that's life. It doesn't make it any easier, but I think there are some things we can build off from that game.
Now we get back in our routine. Talking to a lot of the guys, it's cool to come here and experience the culture and everything that they do here, but for us we're just programmed as routine. It's either gameday, off-day or practice day. So we'll get back into that routine of season mode and I think we're champing at the bit to get back home and get things rolling.
