NEW YORK, NY – The National Hockey League’s Minnesota Wild, in conjunction with the city of Helsinki, Finland, the NHL® and the NHLPA are offering free admission to their practice on Sunday, Oct. 3 at Hartwall Areena in Helsinki. This is the fourth straight year the NHL will begin the regular-season with games contested in Europe. Doors to the arena will open at 11 am local time in Helsinki, with the Wild scheduled to begin practice at Noon. Fans coming to the arena are asked to arrive in their seats by 11:45 am. There will be no charge to enter the arena and watch the NHL players take the ice as they prepare for the start of the regular-season. There will be a parking fee. The Wild and Carolina Hurricanes will play two regular-season NHL games against each other over the course of two days at Hartwall Areena on Thursday, Oct. 7 and Friday, Oct. 8 as part of 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere™. A limited number of tickets remain on sale to these spectacular NHL events. For more information visit www.hartwall-areena.com . As a warm-up to the regular-season, on Monday, Oct. 4, the Wild travel to Tampere, Finland, for an exhibition game against Ilves Tampere at Tampereen Jaahalli. NHL fans in Finland gave a tremendous reception to the first-ever NHL regular-season games played in that country in 2009. This year, they will be treated to the return of some of the top Finnish players in the NHL. The Hurricanes roster is currently comprised of two members of the 2010 Finnish Olympic team, Tuomo Ruutu and Joni Pitkanen, as well as standout Jussi Jokinen. The Wild counter with three 2010 Finnish Olympians of their own: captain Mikko Koivu, All-Star goalie Niklas Backstrom and right wing Antti Miettinen. Both franchises will be making their debut outside of North America. An unprecedented six NHL teams – the Wild, Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, Columbus Blue Jackets, Phoenix Coyotes and San Jose Sharks – will open the 2010-11 NHL regular season by playing six games in Europe as part of 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere and NHL Face-Off™. Contact Comment@prohockeynews.com
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