Sharks and Predators play NHL games in Prague
Prague’s O2 arena will host the opening games of the NHL regular season between the San Jose Sharks and the Nashville Predators. As part of the 2022 NHL Global Series, the two teams will meet here on October 7 and 8. Details for all European duels were announced on Thursday by the National Hockey League and the players’ association (NHLPA) together with the Live Nation agency.
Two Czech hockey players should also be introduced in the San Jose Sharks jersey: center Tomas Hertl defender Radim Šimek. Beyond Nashville David Rittichhowever, his current contract expires in the summer and he can become an unrestricted free agent.
“It’s something amazing, I can’t wait,” rejoices Hertl. “I grew up in Prague, I was born there, I have all my friends there, my whole family. It will definitely be a great experience to play there.”
The matches on the Czech ice will be preceded by preparatory duels with European teams under the banner of the 2022 NHL Global Series Challenge. The Predators will face the Swiss team SC Bern on October 3 at the PostFinance Arena, the Sharks will play the home team Eisbären a day later at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin.
The Global Series will continue on November 4th and 5th in Tampere, Finland, where the Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets play two regular season games. He catches the Czech goalkeeper for the team from Denver Pavel French and one of its drivers is the Finnish wing Mikko Rantanen; the engine of the group from Ohio is the Czech-Finnish tandem Jakub Voracek – Patrick Laine (who is a native of Tampere).
Tickets for the matches in Prague will go on sale on April 29 from 9:00 CEST on the server www.livenation.cz.
Tickets for duels in Finland go on sale at the same time, they can be purchased on the server www.livenation.fi.
Pre-sales for Eisbären’s Berlin game against the Sharks will open on May 9 at 10 a.m. CEST on the club’s website www.eisbaeren.de/tickets.
Last but not least, on May 19 from 10 a.m. CET, tickets for the Global Series Challenge match in Bern will go on sale atwww.ticketcorner.ch.
This year’s Global Series marks the ninth season in which the NHL will travel to Europe for regular season games to honor its loyal European fans. A total of 28 NHL games have already taken place in Europe, five of which have been played in Prague’s O2 arena. On October 4 and 5, 2008, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Rangers played there (the Rangers won both duels 2:1), on October 9 and 10, 2010, the Boston Bruins played two games with the Phoenix Coyotes (2:5, 3: 0) and on October 4, 2019, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4:3 in the largest Czech hall.
“I remember that the last time Philadelphia played there against Chicago, it was successful. The last time I played in front of my family was about five years ago, it will definitely be good to play at home in the Czech Republic,” Šimek is looking forward to.
This year, there are more than 30 percent of hockey players from Europe among the NHL players. The biggest draw for the duel in Switzerland will be the Nashville captain, a defender Roman Josi. In addition to Rantanen, a forward also plays for Colorado Arthur Lehkonenalongside Lainé, there is also a goalkeeper in Columbus Joonas Korpisalo and the general manager of the club is Finn Jarmo Kekäläinen.
While San Jose, Colorado and Columbus have already played on European ice, the Predators will be playing on the Old Continent in the regular season for the first time – having played two regular season games in 2000 in Japan. The Sharks and Blue Jackets played two duels against each other in Stockholm on October 8 and 9, 2010 (3:2 and 2:3), the Avalanche played on November 10 and 11, 2017, also in Stockholm against the Ottawa Senators (3:4 after extension and 3:4).