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Colorado Avalanche to Play Columbus in Finland for Global Series 2020

ByNadia Archuleta|
Spectators are reflected in the window of their Sauna box as they watch the Liiga (Professional Finnish league) Ice Hockey match on January 13, 2009 at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki. Saunas 'boxes' can be booked in the Hartwell Arena, Finland's biggest fitting 13,000 spectators, from which people may soak in the warmth and watch the game. AFP PHOTO OLIVIER MORIN (Photo credit should read OLIVIER MORIN/AFP via Getty Images)
Spectators are reflected in the window of their Sauna box as they watch the Liiga (Professional Finnish league) Ice Hockey match on January 13, 2009 at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki. Saunas 'boxes' can be booked in the Hartwell Arena, Finland's biggest fitting 13,000 spectators, from which people may soak in the warmth and watch the game. AFP PHOTO OLIVIER MORIN (Photo credit should read OLIVIER MORIN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Colorado Avalanche will continue to grow their brand worldwide as they’re set to participate in another Global Series game.

The Colorado Avalanche will be participating in another Global Series game, this one to take place early in the 2020-21 season once the team finally sobers up from all its Stanley Cup celebrations.

Ok, that last part isn’t a given. However, the Avalanche will be facing the Columbus Blue Jackets for two regular season games. They’ll be playing at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland.

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Finland is, of course, where our star winger — Joonas Donskoi, he of last night’s hat trick — hails from. Oh, that Big Moose, Mikko Rantanen is also from Finland. We’re all hoping his mystery leg injury is healed by then.

The 2020 Global Series Challenge will start off with regular season games between the Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators in Prague, Czech Republic. Those two teams will complete their training camps in Europe (Germany for Boston, Switzerland for Nashville) before opening their seasons at the O2 Arena.

I’m glad the Avs aren’t doing that. Going to training camp is always a pleasure.

Anyway, the Avalanche’s two games won’t be until later in the fall. Judging by the Global Series game currently taking place between the Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning, we can probably expect early November for the matchup.

In case you didn’t know, sitting in the sauna is a very popular activity in Finland. Apparently you can do so while watching hockey at Hartwell Arena:

Spectators watch the Liiga (Professional Finnish league) Ice Hockey match from a sauna on January 13, 2009 at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki. Saunas ‘boxes’ can be booked in the Hartwell Arena, Finland’s biggest fitting 13 000 spectators, from which people may soak in the warmth and watch the game. )
Spectators watch the Liiga (Professional Finnish league) Ice Hockey match from a sauna on January 13, 2009 at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki. Saunas ‘boxes’ can be booked in the Hartwell Arena, Finland’s biggest fitting 13 000 spectators, from which people may soak in the warmth and watch the game. )

I visited Finland and froze my butt off — and that was in the middle of summer. I highly recommend trying to secure one of these boxes.

The Colorado Avalanche have already participated in the Global Series Challenge. In 2017, they played a pair of games against the Ottawa Senators in our captain, Gabriel Landeskog’s, home town of Stockholm, Sweden. Colorado dropped both games.

They also dropped off star center Matt Duchene to the Senators just before the Sweden series. I don’t promise any such blockbuster trades will take place before the 2020 Global Series matches, and that’s probably a good thing.

The 2020 Global Series will represent the fourth straight year teams have played regular season games as part of the challenge. In nine overall seasons, NHL teams have played regular season games in Europe.

The goal of these games is to continue growing the NHL. Fans in Europe and other countries get the chance to see the most elite forms of hockey.

However, it’s a well-known fact that many fans from both teams also travel to see these games. In 2017, many a Colorado Avalanche fan traveled to Sweden to watch the Avs play.

Obviously, we can’t know about tickets until the dates are set, and we have to get through the pesky 2019-20 season first. Hey, we’ve still got our Stadium Series game coming up in a couple months!

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