Global Series Finland blog: Kraken’s Catton on going to sauna

The Seattle Kraken and Carolina Hurricanes have taken a break from their North American portion of the NHL schedule to play two games at Veikkaus Arena in Helsinki for the 2026 NHL Global Series Finland. The games are Thursday (12 p.m. ET; HHN, Prime Video, CARNHL, KONG, NHLN, SN+, TVAS) and Saturday (1 p.m. ET; HHN, Prime Video, CARNHL, KONG, KING, NHLN, SN1).

Kraken forward Berkly Catton will keep a blog with NHL.com throughout the Global Series, giving fans a taste of what life is like on the ground as they go through the experience in Finland. Catton’s second entry discusses the Kraken’s trip to the sauna and dinner on Monday, a shopping trip with teammate Chandler Stephenson on the day off Tuesday and returning to practice Wednesday to get ready to face the Hurricanes.

After practice on Monday, we went back to the hotel and went to a little coffee shop. We hung out there for a bit before walking around Helsinki for a while and then went to the sauna as a team at a place called Loyly. 

It was not my first time at a sauna. We have one at our rink in Seattle, and I’ve been in that one a fair amount. But this is where the best saunas in the world are, and I think the natural cold plunge in the Baltic Sea was pretty fun.

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Of course, our four players from Finland – Kaapo Kakko, Ville Ottavainen, Jani Nyman and Nikke Kokko – they were pros. They all had their little sauna caps on. We all did.

It’s funny. You can just tell by the way they throw the water on the on the rocks that “Yeah, he's been in a sauna before.” It’s a really big part of their culture, so to do that with them was fun.

We also had dinner there. On the menu, there was some crispy chicken and reindeer. That was my first time having that. That was really good. The salmon soup was unreal. So, we kind of got the full Finnish experience, I guess.

Going as a team was the best part about it. I feel like when you’re in those types of environments is when you get to know the guys a little better. You’re just hanging out and having a good time away from the rink, so that was cool.

We had the day off Tuesday, so there was more time to explore the city. I got up and went to breakfast and hung out there for a bit. Then, Chandler Stephenson and I went shopping at Stockmann, which is a big department store like Nordstrom back home.

That store was pretty unreal. We spent some money there. We bought lots of Euro-looking clothes. I’ve always liked their style a lot and they obviously had all that stuff there. 

Chandler and I hang out a lot on the road. We don’t usually do too much shopping, but it was just a cool spot.

Then, we went back and got some dinner and just kind of chilled. 

It's been kind of weird adjusting the past couple days, so it was good to get back to practice today. I think it's always nice to just get on the ice and get moving and kind of feeling your element.

Obviously, we've had a little bit of time now between games, so it's been kind of nice to prepare for Carolina a bit more so than other times during the season when you’re busier playing games.

I think our team does a good job of when we're at the rink, it's all business, and we know what we need to do. Then, maybe later today we'll walk around and enjoy ourselves and get our mind away from it. Then, come game time tomorrow, we'll all be ready to roll.

I've seen Euro games and just how excited the fans are and how loud it is in the building, so I’m looking forward to it. I think that'll be really cool to experience.