Los Angeles Kings forward Kevin Fiala is writing a blog for NHL.com during the 2023 NHL Global Series in Melbourne, Australia, the NHL’s first event in the Southern Hemisphere. The Kings will play the Arizona Coyotes in two preseason games at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday and Sunday. The games will air on NHL Network and ESPN+ in the United States; Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ in Canada; and 9Go, 9Now, ESPN and the ESPN App in Australia.
Today, in his first entry, the Fiala writes about the Kings’ 15 ½-hour, 8,000-mile charter flight from Los Angeles and their first day in Melbourne.
MELBOURNE, Australia -- It was a long flight. We left late Saturday night in Los Angeles, and we arrived early Monday morning in Melbourne. It was fun, though, being with the team again, doing something I’ve personally never done before.
We played some card games and board games on the plane, and we wore some blue light glasses to try stay up as long as possible and adjust to the 17-hour time change from home. I slept about seven or eight hours, very good, more than I expected I would.
When I woke up, I had a good breakfast on the plane. After we landed, we took a bus to the hotel and had a little time there -- like, three or four hours. I chilled in my room and watched a movie. We had lunch as a team in the hotel, and then we went to Rod Laver Arena.
We went to the gym first, and then we had some conditioning on the grass outside. It was tough. The warmup in the gym was good. The conditioning was a little harder, to be honest. Every time you do something like that, it’s hard. But you have to kind of go through it, because you really feel the difference right away when you’re done.
It's amazing to see how they’re building an NHL rink on top of the tennis court where they play the Australian Open. I’m a big tennis fan, so I’ve seen so many matches in that arena, not live, but on TV. I was very excited to see the rink. I’m such a big Roger Federer fan. He’s been in there. Now they turn it to ice, which is pretty incredible.
Tonight, I plan to stay up until about 10 or 11 p.m. Hopefully, I can do that and get some sleep and be ready for tomorrow.
