Mittelstadt

Casey Mittelstadt will be keeping his own diary throughout the week and through the 2019 NHL Global Series in Stockholm. The first of two games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, at Ericsson Globe, is Friday (2 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN1, NHL.TV). The second is Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN1, SUN, MSG-B, NHL.TV). The Buffalo forward will check in regularly with behind-the-scenes access.
In his first entry, Mittelstadt writes about an upbeat first day of practice Monday in Stockholm, how excited Rasmus Dahlin, his roommate and one of six Swedish-born players on the Sabres, is about this trip, and how they have planned a visit to a Swedish hamburger joint.

It's great to be here in Stockholm. I have never been to Sweden before, so, for me, it's really exciting to experience this.
It's something different for us as players. We have played so many games at the start of the season and the schedule has been so fast with the games that we haven't had a lot of down time. Now we get over here and we get to do something different and spend a lot of time together as a team. You could kind of see how special it is for us today at practice. Despite just getting off the plane, it was pretty lively out there. It was a lot of fun.
The Swedish players were really enjoying themselves out there today. They were so fired up today. It's so cool for them to be home and to be around their family and friends. They don't get to do that much during the season. I think it is huge for them, their friends get to see them play and see them around the city. It helps you refresh and regroup.
I get to go home to Minnesota during Christmas or during a break in the season if I want to. It's such an easy flight. I can't imagine not being able to go home during the year.
I know all the Swedish players are excited, but Rasmus is really excited.
I live with Rasmus and I was still packing for the trip and he was already in the car waiting for me to go to the airport.
I have heard a lot about Sweden from Ras and he said it's awesome. From what I have seen walking around a bit this morning on a mission to get those adapters for the electrical outlet and grab a coffee before practice, it certainly is. I've got no complaints so far, for sure.
We didn't look around that much yet. We have the rest of the day now, grab a bite and look around a bit. Tomorrow, we have the day off and will probably spend most of it walking around. Tomorrow will be the tourist day.
I know Ras is fired up about going to the candy store; he's been talking about it for months. I've had quite a bit of Swedish candy now with living with Ras and with his parents and relatives coming in, they always bring a bag. There is this milk chocolate candy in there and it is so good. I love that one.
I know he wants to go to Max's too; he misses his Swedish fast food. He wants to swing in there.
Other than that, he hasn't talked too much about where we are going. Usually when he talks about Sweden, he is talking about Gothenburg. It's a good switch up for him too. I'm just going to follow him around and wherever he leads me, I'll give it a try.