Sweden to host two regular season NHL games in November

[March 25, 2017]  (Reuters) - Sweden will host a pair of regular-season games between the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators in November, the National Hockey League said on Friday.

The Senators and Avalanche will play at Stockholm's Ericsson Globe on Nov. 10 and Nov. 11, marking the sixth time the league has traveled to Europe for regular-season games, the NHL said in a statement.

"We have more Swedish players than ever in the NHL, and we are extremely pleased that the 2017 SAP NHL Global Series will allow us to showcase a number of those players, with their NHL teams, in their homeland," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.

The games will mark the 21st and 22nd regular-season games played in Europe and the seventh and eighth regular-season games played in Sweden.

Ottawa captain and Landsbro, Sweden, native Erik Karlsson as well as Avalanche captain and Stockholm, Sweden, native Gabriel Landeskog will be playing in their home country for the first time as NHL players.

Other Swedes currently playing for the two clubs include Ottawa's Frederik Claesson (Stockholm) and Viktor Stalberg (Gothenburg), and Colorado’s Anton Lindholm (Skelleftea) and Carl Soderberg (Malmo).

The news comes a day after the NHL said it would hold a news conference in China where the league is reportedly going to announce a pair of September exhibition games between the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks in Beijing.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto)

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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman speaks to media before the 2017 NHL All Star Game skills compeition at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports