Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vinny Prospal will share a daily diary while the team is in Europe, including his native Czech Republic. The team opens the regular season today in Prague against the New York Rangers.
I tried to treat Friday as much as the day before a road game as possible. We had breakfast as a team at 8 a.m. or so and took the team bus to the O2 Arena at 9 a.m. for a team meeting and 10:30 a.m. practice.
I must say the arena looks nothing today like it did when we first practiced here last Friday - has it really been a whole week? There is now an NHL Premiere logo at center ice, all 50 of the sponsor logos that were in the ice are gone and the signs on the glass surrounding the rink are gone.
All of the trademarks of European hockey - think soccer too - are gone and the rink looks and feels just like a standard NHL rink.
After lunch I went out for a short walk, bought a couple of newspapers and then came back to my room for some light reading and a nap. I turned off the cell phone (all of my tickets have been distributed - so friends, leave me alone) and had a good sleep.
I then enjoyed a team dinner at 7 p.m. followed by another short walk, watched some television and went to bed for the evening.
With the game at 6 p.m. Czech time today, we have a 7:45 a.m. breakfast and a skate at 10 a.m. Then we will really be back into our normal regular-season routine.
I must admit, and I think my teammates would agree, it's time to get down to business and get focused on the season. I am looking forward to getting a couple of wins (hopefully) and coming back to Tampa early Monday morning.
I look forward to seeing my wife and kids again. I miss them and I am sure they miss me, too.
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