For the first time in more than 50 years, the Boston Bruins look like they’ll take a European vacation. From exhibition games in Ireland to two season-opening matches in Prague, the team might be a little jet-lagged to start the 2010-11 season, but my guess is most of them will find the trip worthwhile.
The Boston Bruins are slated to play an exhibition game at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. local time as part of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Challenge.
The Bruins will play the Belfast Giants Select, a unified team comprised of an All-Star selection of the best of the UK Elite League players from each team. Ticket sales and broadcast information for this game will be released at a later date.
The Bruins will officially open their 2010-11 NHL regular season by playing the Phoenix Coyotes in two games at Prague’s O2 Arena on Saturday, Oct. 9 and Sunday, Oct. 10.
The Bruins return to Europe for the first time in 50 years. After the 1958-59 season, the Bruins and New York Rangers embarked on a 10-city, 23-game European tour that included games in London, Geneva, Paris, Antwerp, Zurich, Berlin and Vienna, among others.
Expect more interesting developments regarding the 2010-11 regular and exhibition season as the schedule comes out over the next week or so.