Day 7 Notebook | Sabres take the ice for practice in Munich

MUNICH, Germany – JJ Peterka was the focal point of several cameras as he skated onto the ice on an auxiliary rink within SAP Garden for practice on Wednesday.

This first half of the NHL Global Series is a homecoming for Peterka, a Munich native. Peterka even played professionally for Red Bull Munich, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga club that will face the Sabres in an exhibition game on Friday. It will be the grand-opening event for SAP Garden, an 11,500-seat venue located within the city’s Olympic Park.

“I’m just super excited,” Peterka said. “Just being back here, being on the ice, being back in the city and seeing all the people here from Red Bull – just super excited for the game.”

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff spoke prior to the team’s departure on Tuesday about the team-bonding benefits of an 11-day stay in Europe to open the season. He reflected on his previous experience opening the 2011-12 season in Helsinki, Finland and Berlin, Germany as coach of the Sabres and the camaraderie it wrought through shared meals and time together away from the rink.

Ruff also emphasized the importance of not losing sight of the fact that the Sabres are using these days in Europe as their final preparation for the regular season, which opens with back-to-back games against the New Jersey Devils in Czechia next Friday and Saturday.

“I think first and foremost we’re trying to get dialed in to start the NHL season,” Ruff said. “This is a fun opportunity to get another game in before we play and play in a brand-new building, which is pretty special. But at the same time, we know we’re getting ready for the league, and we want to be detailed through our practices and be ready for that first game.”

The Sabres wasted no time to that end on Wednesday. After their red-eye flight from Buffalo landed around 11 a.m. in Munich, the team was on the ice for practice by 3 p.m. The session was like those that preceded it back home - fast-paced and competitive.

The idea behind the quick turnaround was to get players acclimated to the new time zone as quickly as possible, a decision made with input from the team's sports science department.

“You leave in the timeframe where you try to keep it where you’re sleeping overnight, and now the key is stay awake and go to bed at a normal time,” Ruff said.

The acclimation continues with another practice Thursday morning. In the meantime, here are more notes from Wednesday’s session.

1. Rasmus Dahlin practiced with the team for the second straight day, this time without a non-contact jersey. Ruff gave an optimistic outlook for the defenseman’s status for Friday’s exhibition game against Red Bull.

“He looked like he got through the [practice] really well, so I would feel if tomorrow’s a good day, there shouldn’t be any restrictions on him playing,” Ruff said.

2. The Sabres’ 27-man traveling group lined up the same way as in Tuesday’s practice back in Buffalo, including Henri Jokiharju on the top defense pair alongside Dahlin:

3. That group of 27 players has largely been together since Day 1 of training camp, a departure from the league norm. Typically, camps open with large rosters broken into multiple groups, each featuring a mix of established NHL players, prospects, and AHL players.

With limited preparation time before their departure to Europe, Ruff and his staff made the choice to have their NHL group together right at the outset. The group – with a handful of exceptions – has already had five practices and two games together, with another week of practice and one more exhibition still to play before the regular-season opener.

“We went to our group that we felt were possible candidates to be a Buffalo Sabre this year and started day one of camp just practicing with that group,” Ruff said.

“… We felt we had a lot of changes in the way we wanted to play, so we stressed that in practice versus having scrimmages, and felt that the best way to practice would be NHLers practicing against NHLers.”

4. Jiri Kulich is especially grateful to be part of the group that made the trip overseas, and not just because it represents a chance for the 20-year-old to continue to state his case for the NHL roster.

Kulich is from Kadan, Czechia, about 60 miles west from where the Sabres will open the regular season in Prague next weekend.

“To be honest, it’s like a childhood dream,” Kulich said. “I was never thinking I could be in Czechia with an NHL team. Yeah, it’s like a dream.”