It's Official: 2008 Season Starts in Europe

The NHL made it official over the weekend by announcing that 4 teams will start the 2008-09 season in Europe by playing 2 games a piece in 2 cities.

The Senators and Penguins will play two games on back to back nights in Stockholm, Sweden while the Rangers and Lightning will play two in Prague, Czech Republic. The complete description and player reactions can be found at NHL.com in this article here. Jagr will finally get the chance to play in front of his fellow countryman, as well as Alfredsson.

Here in Stockholm this has obviously been big news and interest in tickets covers not just the immediate area but most of Northern Europe. Tickets haven't officially been released, the games aren't for another 8 months, but they will no doubt go quickly as soon as they become available.

As I mentioned in another post, this is really huge for Swedish hockey - especially in Stockholm where interest and resources have waned to some degree. Bringing two of the best teams in the world as well as some of the most notable players here will be a huge boost in getting the sport back into the spotlight. Despite what many believe about this country ice hockey comes in at a resounding second behind football/soccer in popularity. All this in combination with the Victoria Cup and Champions League, which is to start following next year's season, should be a major lift for European hockey.

If only there was something we could do about the issue with timezones...