NHL, Kings, Coyotes go the distance for Global Series -- Melbourne success

MELBOURNE, Australia -- When the NHL decided to stage the 2023 NHL Global Series -- Melbourne, it expected success. It wouldn’t have committed to travel to the Southern Hemisphere for the first time otherwise.

Still, no matter how much research and planning you do, you never know until you go, and now we know the NHL can sell out back-to-back preseason games in Melbourne, Australia. We know fans can wear hockey gear and clean out the merchandise stands to buy more. We know they can clap and cheer and roar.

A crowd of 13,118 watched the Los Angeles Kings defeat the Arizona Coyotes 3-2 at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday, after a crowd of 13,097 watched the Coyotes defeat the Kings 5-3 there Saturday.

“The atmosphere here was unbelievable,” Kings goalie Cam Talbot said. “I mean, to have two sold-out games, back-to-back afternoons, it was pretty incredible. They were into it the whole time.”

Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny struggled to find the right words to describe it.

“There’s way more hockey fans than I knew,” he said. “I just didn’t know. I think to see the number of NHL jerseys everywhere and the number of fans, the way the people were cheering and everything, I think that was … Pretty cool is not strong enough. I think it was amazing for me to see. I was not expecting that.”

The NHL has come a long way -- literally, in this case, as well as figuratively.

The League had never played this far from home before. Australia represented its fourth continent. To pull this off, it had to ship equipment usually used to build an outdoor rink through the Panama Canal to the other side of the planet. It had to put ice on top of the court that hosts the Australian Open tennis tournament.

“This is a whole different thing,” said David Proper, NHL senior executive vice president, media and international strategy. “I mean, this is just an entirely different model. When we play in most Global Series games, we’re showing up, they’ve got the ice plant, the whole facility, so when we actually do what we’re trying to do, we’re really just building off of what’s already there. Here, it’s all brand new.”

The teams faced challenges of their own. Each had to take a 15 1/2-hour, 8,000-mile charter flight from Los Angeles. While the NHL built the rink at Rod Laver Arena, each had dress there and bus to practice at a local rink during the week. The Kings held an open practice at Rod Laver Arena on Friday; the Coyotes open practice was canceled to ensure the ice would be optimal for the weekend.

But the coaches and players got an opportunity to bond in a beautiful city, going out to eat, going to the zoo, going golfing. They got to see the Collingwood Magpies defeat the Greater Western Sydney Giants 58-57 in the Australian Football League Preliminary Finals before a crowd of 97,665 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday night. Most important, they got to showcase the NHL in Australia, a country with a modest but long hockey history.

The League tried to bring the sights and sounds of an NHL arena to Rod Laver Arena, with creative touches to connect to the local community. The face-off dots were tennis balls. The red line contained tennis courts. Kings organist Dieter Ruehle played his usual music Sunday, but he also played “Waltzing Matilda,” a folk song that serves as the unofficial national anthem of Australia. The fans buzzed. It was as if you could hear them smile.

“I think the thing that’s really been amazing to me is just the welcoming nature of everything that’s happened here,” Proper said. “From us to the teams to everybody else, it’s been really an incredible experience. [There’s been] enthusiasm just for our participation, our willingness to come here, and then everybody we meet with is just talking more and more about how excited they are that we’re here.”

The NHL came to Australia with the intention of coming back someday, but when it considers returning in the future, it needs to talk to the NHL Players’ Association to see what the players thought about everything. It needs to talk to Ice Hockey Australia and see if there has been an uptick in interest. It needs to talk to its business partners.

Asked what he would tell a fellow NHL coach whose team was being considered to come to Melbourne, McLellan said: “I would tell him that once you get here, it’s an outstanding experience. The people of Melbourne, the organizing people, the life in the city, the energy, the AFL game, the fans, I would say it’s an unreal experience. It’s getting here and getting home that isn’t very convenient. But we committed to it. We’ve done three quarters of it. Now we’ll work hard coming back and starting training camp all over.”

The distance can’t be ignored. It’s what made this difficult. It’s what made this special.

“When we look back on this three months from now,” Proper said, “I think it’s going to be one of those things you just … you can’t believe we actually accomplished and you’re really thrilled with.”