Arizona Coyotes defenseman Matt Dumba is writing a blog for NHL.com during the 2023 NHL Global Series in Melbourne, Australia, the NHL's first event in the Southern Hemisphere. The Coyotes will play the Los Angeles Kings in two preseason games at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday and Sunday. The games will air on NHL Network and ESPN+ in the United States; Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ in Canada; and 9Go, 9Now, ESPN and the ESPN App in Australia.
In his second entry, Dumba, who signed with the Coyotes as a free agent this offseason, writes about the team bonding he has gotten to be a part of, heading to the zoo and golfing with his new teammates.
MELBOURNE, Australia -- To be able to do these team bonding activities, it's pretty cool. I've gotten to know a lot of guys here in a very short amount of time because we spend every waking moment together. You don't really get that in a typical training camp. So that's been a lot of fun for me. Guys have had some nice dinners, spent a lot of good time together. It's definitely bringing this group closer together each day.
For me, joining the Coyotes, it's been pretty easy. It's already a pretty tight-knit squad and the boys are awesome here. Everyone gets along. Good banter. It's fun. I knew Clayton Keller pretty well, played with Nick Bjugstad, played with Jason Zucker. Knew Nick Schmaltz, we've got mutual friends, so we've crossed paths. We've played against each other for a long time now. It's great.
On Wednesday, our day off, we got to go play at Huntingdale Golf Course. It was fun. A little bit cold, but it was a good day. They definitely hooked it up. Just being able to get that many rental clubs for all of us is a feat in itself. It was good to come together and do something here.
I like to golf. But maybe I won't play on the road as much now that I'm living in a hot climate. But in Minnesota (with the Wild), I was shipping the sticks to places like Vegas and Nashville when we could. Even Arizona. I think it's just for me, golf is just such a nice mental break to be out there with the guys and just be playing a game, kind of tap out from the world and everything else that's going on. That's what I love about golf.
My favorite place that I've played is maybe The Summit Club in Las Vegas or Medalist in Florida. Those are two silky tracks.
I've got to think 'Kells' and 'Schmaltzy' are up there for the best on the team at golf and then my 'D' partner, J.J. Moser, he was carrying a bucket of range balls around yesterday because he was reloading pretty often. 'Mo' might be the worst, but he's a good sport about it. He made it fun. He's not one of those guys that's moping around the course because he can't hit it. You don't want to be that guy.
On Monday, the team went to the zoo. The orangutan scaled three floors in a hurry for the fellas. He was putting on a show. It's cool to see the tigers. It was a little chilly for most animals. I think they were inside, sleeping. I think more than anything it was just good for us to get out and go walking instead of getting into bed and shutting it down midday. We didn't get to see any of the Australian animals, though. We were looking for some big cats.
