We’re staying right in the heart of downtown Helsinki. I didn’t know it was right on the water. There’s a lake or a river or whatever it is, but there’s a body of water running through the city so it’s a very pretty walk around downtown.
A lot of fans from Chicago have made the trip and the people of Finland have been great as far as hospitality goes. I think they’re all excited to see some NHL hockey and we can’t wait to get started.
They held a pep rally today and introduced both teams. We stood on stage, both coaches talked, we heard from the captains and each Finnish player — one from each team — spoke to the crowd, so that was good for the fans who were waiting in the cold. (Jonathan Toews) mumbled through another question. He got interviewed up there and gave a terrible answer like he always does. There were a lot of people from Chicago and a lot of people from Finland were wearing Blackhawks jerseys, so that’s always a good sign.
We’ve kind of had two different preseason training camps, one in Chicago and one again in Switzerland and we’re happy that’s over with. We got a lot out of it and we’ve gotten better as the weeks have gone on. I think everyone’s just excited to play NHL hockey starting (Friday).
Tonight we have our team meal, coaches, staff and players. We’re going to kind of get things kicked off with a nice meal, then I’ll go home. I’m going to fire up my computer and try to talk to my girlfriend and maybe even my other girlfriend, Adam Burish.
(Wednesday) we got in pretty early in the morning and (Brent) Seabrook and I took in some sites of Helsinki. It was nice to walk around and not have anyone recognize us.
The hotels are a little different over here. The rooms aren’t like the usual ones in North America, so they thought it was best to let us go off on our own. It’s pretty lonely being in a room by myself. I don’t know if it’s because I’m by myself or it’s because my usual roommate (Burish) just talks so much.
The highlight for me is probably stepping on the ice for those games in Switzerland. It was a good atmosphere for hockey.
We’ve been on the road for a while now and we’re kind of stuck with each other. That’s good this time of year to kind of build chemistry and come together as a team.
