The Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers meet in Tampere on Friday and Saturday – earlier this week they focused on getting to know Finnish culture.
How to introduce your American friends to Finland? Saunas seem to be high on the list for most people – so also for the Finnish NHL stars in Dallas and Florida.
– What did we do? Bathed in the sauna, drank a lot of Finnish beer and had fun, summarizes Dallas coach Peter DeBoer at the press conference after Thursday’s training.
– It was very cold to jump into the sea after the sauna, but at the same time nice, both Dallas captain Jamie Benn and Florida goal shooter Sam Reinhart rate.
There is video evidence of the former. The Dallas players stayed in a sauna in central Helsinki, Anton Lundell in turn made sure that the Panthers got to go out to Kalvholmen for some smoke sauna. Or a “ghost island”, as Matthew Tkachuk calls it.
– I am very satisfied with how it went. The guys seemed to like it. Afterwards we ate Finnish salmon and the guys seemed positive, so I’m satisfied, says tour leader Lundell and smiles contentedly.
But no introduction to Finnish-Swedish culture as snap songs or?
– Well, we didn’t have time to sing snap songs, unfortunately. That will be for the next trip, answers Lundell, continuing with a cheerful smile.
“Like having your cake and not eating it”
For Stars, wings were on the menu, or as Swede Nils Lundkvist calls it: “something that at least resembled wings”.
– No, but it was very good. It is apparently important to eat such things here in Tampere and I am satisfied, says the back.
Has it been difficult to be forced to experience as much “Finnish” as a Swedish player in the team?
Lundkvist laughs.
– No, not at all. There is still much that is very similar. For me, it will be more like I also get to participate and show off Scandinavian culture to my teammates. Even if it will be a bit like having the cake in your hand and not getting to eat it, as we play on this side of the Baltic Sea.
Ghost Thursday
The matches are fast approaching and at the same time it is also noticeable that it is becoming more and more serious for the teams. On Thursday, there was still room for a little more spex.
Roope Hintz got to start practice with a gold helmet (which he then passed on to Sam Reinhart in Florida).
– It was a fun prank. I told the guys that I can run our first practices with it on my head, but then I changed. I still didn’t get to wear it very many times before I left the league for the NHL, says Hintz.
And in Florida’s locker room, where Tappara usually keeps house, “for some reason” a huge poster of a young Tappara-Aleksander Barkov was waiting on the table.
– I have no idea what the thing is, but we have written our autographs on it. I don’t know if it was intended or not, says Matthew Tkachuk.
“Almost feels strange”
After all the appearances for the media, there will still be full focus on the two matches. And it’s not just any two matches.
The fact that it is Dallas and Florida that meet in Tampere is not only significant from the perspective that it is two Tampere-born first centers that meet – these are also two teams that can very well go to the semi-finals in the NHL for the third year in a row.
The matches are, on paper, among the most high-class ever played outside of North America.
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– It’s been fun to take a little vacation for a few days, but we don’t need to do anything special to recharge now that it’s getting serious. These are guys who know how good the opposition is and know how hard we have to work to score against them, said Dallas coach DeBoer.
The fact that the matches are played in Finland makes it much more special for the Finnish stars.
– It almost feels strange, admits Lundell.
– But it will be an incredible experience, says Barkov, just like all other Finnish players do.
