2015 NHL Draft
SHARE
Share with your Friends


Compuware NHL Premiere bigger than ever

Sunday, 09.19.2010 / 9:00 AM / 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere

By Shawn P. Roarke - NHL.com Senior Managing Editor

Share with your Friends


Compuware NHL Premiere bigger than ever
Six teams will take part in the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series this season, marking the biggest "invasion" yet in the annual series.
A modest experiment by the NHL has turned into a full-fledged European success story in just four years time. In the fall of 2007, the League decided to send the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings to London for a pair of regular-season games as part of a bold NHL Premiere game initiative.

Today, the Compuware NHL Premiere initiative is bigger than ever before.

This fall, six NHL teams will head to Europe to open the season with regular-season games. The Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes will play in Prague, the Columbus Blue Jackets and San Jose Sharks tangle in Stockholm and the Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild will battle in Helsinki.

Plus, each of those six teams has an ambitious European exhibition schedule before starting the regular season. Boston plays a United Kingdom Elite League all-star team in Belfast, Northern Ireland and also plays an exhibition against Czech club, Liberec. Phoenix plays Dynamo Riga of the Kontinental Hockey League in Latvia, while Carolina plays legendary KHL club SKA St. Petersburg. 

"Who would have thought it was possible to play NHL games in your home country? For the players, it's great because they're going to be treated like gold over there. For some of the players it's their first time in Europe. They're going to like it over there."
-- Calgary Flames center Olli Jokinen

San Jose will not only train for several days in Manheim, Germany, but also will play an exhibition against local club Adler Manheim. Columbus will play Swedish club Malmo and Minnesota will travel to Tampere, Finland to play Ilves.

It has been quite the trip from the humble beginnings forged in London four years ago. Sure, NHL teams had played numerous exhibition games across the European continent during the past half century, but the groundbreaking 2007 meeting between the Kings and Ducks was the first time games involving regular-season points were contested outside North America. And the packed houses in London's majestic O2 Arena showed the NHL it was on to something.

Since that beginning, the NHL Premiere series has grown by leaps and bounds. In 2008, Stockholm and Prague hosted regular-season games. Last season, it was Stockholm and Finland. This October, all three of those cities will host games as a record number of teams go abroad to kick off the 2010-11 regular season.

The stated goal of bringing the NHL brand of hockey to the European fan base has certainly been fulfilled. Stockholm was in a hockey frenzy when Swedish hero Daniel Alfredsson brought his Ottawa Senators to Sweden to play Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008. Amazingly, there was even more excitement the following year when a Detroit team laden with Swedish-born players -- including national icon Nick Lidstrom -- came calling.

Sell-out crowds in Prague greeted the New York Rangers during their foray to the Czech Republic three years ago to play the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Helsinki hosted the star-studded Penguins in 2008, playing an exhibition against club team Jokerit in what was one of the biggest moments in that club's proud history. It proved the perfect dress rehearsal for the 2009 visit of the Chicago Blackhawks and Finnish goalie Antti Niemi against the Florida Panthers.

In a screenplay straight out of Hollywood, Niemi, a rookie, earned his first NHL start during the Helsinki weekend and cast a spell over the Hartwall Arena crowd by registering a shutout. It is on-ice moments like those that have made these season-opening games in Europe a can't-miss event for NHL fans across the pond.

It has become a coveted assignment for European-born players, as well. Calgary Flames center Olli Jokinen has yet to take part in the Premiere Game series, but he knows a number of European players have enjoyed their homecoming in Helsinki, Stockholm and Prague.

"I think it's great for the fans back home in Finland," Jokinen told NHL.com. "They can see a couple NHL games and some Finnish players play. The players' side; it's a great experience for all those Finnish guys to go over there.

"Who would have thought it was possible to play NHL games in your home country? For the players, it's great because they're going to be treated like gold over there. For some of the players it's their first time in Europe. They're going to like it over there. They'll see how much Finnish people care about hockey players and the sport. It's a big thing over there."

For the NHL and its teams, the European experiment has always been about more than just playing regular-season games abroad. It has been about embracing a large and passionate segment of the League's fan base and exposing the League's players to hockey cultures outside of North America.

And despite the hardships associated with travel and time changes, it has been warmly embraced by the teams involved.

The first year, then Anaheim GM Brian Burke was a passionate proponent of the venture and nobody there will ever forget the double-decker bus tour through London his players took with the Stanley Cup. The reactions were priceless, to say the least.

The next year, Pittsburgh went to Stockholm and engaged in a scavenger hunt through the city that began a team-bonding process that culminated that spring with the Penguins lifting the Stanley Cup.

Last season, Chicago went to Switzerland and Finland in a whirlwind eight-day trip. Nine months later, they emerged from the 2009-10 season as Stanley Cup champions.

While clearly good fortune played a part in those titles, Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby also said that the team bonding that goes on during a European tour can pay some pretty serious dividends.

"You look at thinks like Europe or the Winter Classic, all those type of things are always good for teams as far as building and going through experiences," Crosby told NHL.com. 

"It would be tough to do it every year with the schedule, but I think if teams have the opportunity to play in Europe, the people are excited to have the teams there and the players are excited to see a new place and like I said, to be with your team is a great thing and teams try to make the most of it when they do it."

NHL.TV™

NHL GameCenter LIVE™ is now NHL.TV™.
Watch out-of-market games and replays with an all new redesigned media player, mobile and connected device apps.

LEARN MORE

NHL Mobile App

Introducing the new official NHL App, available for iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones and tablets. A host of new features and improved functionality are available across all platforms, including a redesigned league-wide scoreboard, expanded news coverage, searchable video highlights, individual team experiences* and more. The new NHL App on your tablet also introduces new offerings such as 60fps video, Multitasking** and Picture-in-Picture.

*Available only for smartphones
** Available only for suported iPads