G'day, mates!
Believe it or not, the NHL is headed down under!
The NHL announced earlier today that the Arizona Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings will be traveling to Melbourne, Australia for pre-season games next September!
Check it out:
Crazy!
I personally really get a kick out of it when the NHL heads to European markets like Russia, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, etc. but I kind of tune out when they go to new markets like China, Japan, United Kingdom and the like. Australia would obviously fit into the second category, so I'm not terribly excited for these potential games, but I do think there's some novelty to it.
Frankly, I wish the NHL would do a better job of serving its existing markets, rather than trying to shoe horn itself into non-traditional markets but I think the ship sailed on that decades ago.
More from the NHL.com:
The NHL will appear in Australia for the first time when the Arizona Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings play preseason games in the 2023 NHL Global Series -- Melbourne on Sept. 23 and 24.
Author AttributionThe Coyotes and Kings will skate inside Rod Laver Arena, home of the Australian Open tennis tournament, on a rink the NHL will construct with many of the same parts used for outdoor games. The retractable roof will remain closed.
The League announced the event at 10 a.m. Wednesday (8 p.m. Tuesday ET) at a press conference in Federation Square in Melbourne.
It will be one of the boldest moves the NHL has made to grow the game, one of the most difficult projects the League has pulled off logistically and could be just the beginning.
"The intention would not be to come to Australia, play and never come back," said David Proper, NHL senior executive vice president, media and international strategy. "The intention is to make this a recurring set of games and help continue to grow hockey in the market."
The trip will be the NHL's first to the Southern Hemisphere, the farthest it has trekked from North America after playing often in Europe and making a few forays to Asia. Australia represents its fourth continent.
The Coyotes and Kings will report to training camp ahead of the rest of the NHL. Each will split into two squads, the primary traveling to Melbourne on Sept. 16 and the other remaining in North America.
The teams will practice at O'Brien Icehouse, a local rink, on Sept. 19 and 20. They'll take Sept. 21 off before practicing at Rod Laver Arena on Sept. 22. The Coyotes will be designated as the home team Sept. 23, the Kings on Sept. 24. They will depart for home Sept. 25.
