Mark Borowiecki is writing a blog for NHL.com with the Nashville Predators in Europe this week. The Predators play an exhibition against SC Bern at PostFinance Arena in Bern, Switzerland, on Monday (2 p.m. ET; BSSO, NHLN) as part of the 2022 NHL Global Series Challenge, before opening the regular season with back-to-back games against the San Jose Sharks in Prague on Friday and Saturday as part of the 2022 NHL Global Series.
Today, in his first installment, the defenseman writes about the Predators’ arrival in Bern:
This is my first trip to continental Europe, so I’m quite excited. I did some reading about Bern, a city built in medieval times with a lot of cool history and architecture.
We flew to Zurich, bused to Bern and arrived about 4:30 pm local time Saturday. Right away, I showered up, brushed my teeth, threw on my rain jacket and walked around for a while.
It was honestly comical how picturesque the city was, despite a light rain. Just gorgeous. Everywhere you looked, it was something stunning, whether it was the houses or the landscape or the Aare River. I was really taken back by that.
And then we had a great time in the evening. We had a team dinner at Altes Tramdepot, a brewery and restaurant overlooking the famous Bear Park, a bear habitat across the river from Old Town. The quality of the food and beer were so good, and the people were very hospitable. It was awesome.
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Before practice this morning, Colton Sissons, Eeli Tolvanen and I went for a 40-minute walk.
We went to the coffee shop at The Einstein House, a museum of the apartment in Old Town where Albert Einstein developed the theory of relativity while living in Bern in 1905. We grabbed a coffee and snapped some pictures.
But the highlight was going down to the river. It was honestly stunning, just the color of the water. It was so clean. Again, everywhere you look, it almost doesn’t even look real sometimes. I’m just trying to soak it all in.
The body is a bit thrown off for sure. I won’t lie. In practice, the first three or four drills, you’re like, “I feel pretty good,” and then the gas tank is depleted quickly. We didn’t really eat a ton on Saturday. You’re flying through the night. You’re kind of dehydrated. You certainly feel the effects of that, but this is a day where you can kind of reload and recharge a bit.
I’m looking forward to the game because of our captain, Roman Josewho grew up in Bern and played for SC Bern before coming to North America.
Roman’s a guy I just have so much respect for. I just love him. I think the world of him, as a player, a person and a leader. To see how much this means to him and his family, just to be a part of that is pretty cool.
Just walking around this morning, I said to Colton and Eeli, “Like, imagine being Roman and growing up in this city.” I’m just looking around at the cobblestone streets. This is a pretty cool thing.
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