When the Predators 09-10 season ended in May, I headed to the World Championships in my home country of Germany. For me it was really great because I was given the honor of being Captain of the German team, and I got to play with my younger brother, Nikolai in front of our home crowd. In the Championships we finished fourth, which is the best finish that Germany has ever had. We beat some of the best hockey nations like the U.S., who we beat 2-1 in overtime, and Slovakia, as well. One of my favorite moments of the Championships was during our first game against the U.S. We played in front of a crowd of 76,000 people! It was really good for German hockey.

After the Worlds, I went to Althengstett, Germany, where I spend my summers, which is about 10 minutes from where I grew up, and about ten minutes from all of my family and my wife’s family. While I’m here I try to spend as much time with them as I can and I try to see my friends that live here too. It was really nice because for the first couple of weeks after the Championships I just relaxed and didn’t do anything.

We headed on a great vacation after I got back from the World Championships. We took five days and visited Cannes, France and Barcelona, Spain. The picture of me on the boat is when we took a trip to Mallorca, an island off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea. It was a great vacation.

About three weeks after the season ended, I started my workouts again, to start getting ready for the new season. My brothers and I took a trip to do a training camp about three hours away from where we live, which was really fun.

On my own, I usually work out in the mornings and I’ll do warm-ups, sprints, strength conditioning, and some cardio too. I do that between 5-6 days a week.

I’m really getting excited to see the guys again and I’m definitely looking forward to the start of the 10-11 season!