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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 23, 2009

Patrik Berglund

DAVID KEON: We're joined by St. Louis forward, Patrik Berglund. Patrik is heading into his second NHL season with the Blues after posting 21 goals in 26 assists for 47 points in his rookie season. The Vasteras native will be playing against another hometown boy, Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, when the Blues take to the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm to meet the Red Wings next week. Thank you to Patrik for joining us to answer your questions.

Q. How many tickets have you tried to get together for this trip back?
PATRIK BERGLUND: I think I got 22 tickets and they were all for both games. So it's a couple of friends, but not that many.

Q. Are you hitting up your teammates for them or just going through the team?
PATRIK BERGLUND: No, I just bought all the tickets to be sure that I have tickets for all my family and friends back home.

Q. Just wondering if you and maybe Alex Steen, and Jonas Junland, if you can make the trip, do you have anything planned for your fellow teammates over there?
PATRIK BERGLUND: Not right now. Obviously, we're going to look into it, if we've got some spare time over there. But right now we're just focused to get over there, and get into the time difference and, you know, just prepare ourselves for the big games.
You know, like I said, if we've got any time over there, we would love to do something for our teammates.

Q. What would you like to do with them?
PATRIK BERGLUND: I have no idea right now, you know. We'll have to take it day by day and see what comes up.

Q. Do you think Andy will allow you to have much fun over there?
PATRIK BERGLUND: I don't know, you know. We'll see.

Q. One thing T.J. told one of my colleagues over the summer, he said that Berglund's house is 45 minutes from Stockholm, so hopefully you'll have dinner over there. Any chance that you are going to be able to get back to Vasteras? Get home for a little bit?
PATRIK BERGLUND: You know what, right now, I have no idea. I just know that we've just received the schedule. It looks pretty busy every day. We're there for one purpose, and that is to steal the win from the Detroit Red Wings. That's what we're doing there. So if we've got some time over every day and if it's possible, of course, I'd love to bring T.J. home and let my mom cook for him for sure. But I don't think it's possible and we're there for one purpose.

Q. The other question I have is I'm going to be doing something on Erik Johnson, how has he been looking to you guys in practices and in these games? Does he look like a guy who sat out a year?
PATRIK BERGLUND: Well, no, not to me at all. He's been working real hard and he's been growing. He's gotten bigger, and he's gotten even better in my opinion. He's a great guy.
I came here early August and I stayed with him for a month. He showed great leadership right away. He's going to be a great player for us. He's got a big shot, great hockey sense, and he's a big guy. We're lucky to have him.

Q. One other thing that just came up and we just thought about it. You've done this travel back to Sweden many, many times now. How is the adjustment in the body and with the six?hour time difference? How long does it take for you to adjust?
PATRIK BERGLUND: It is a big adjustment, obviously. It depends, you know, what you want to do with it. If you want to get into the time difference right away you have to take care of what you eat and how you sleep, when you should sleep, you know. You know, the whole team and the organization is aware of the time difference. They're going to do everything they can to help us get into the time difference.
It's tough, but I know we will get through it fast so we're ready for the games.

Q. Your Coach, Andy Murray, mentioned that there is a noticeable difference in confidence for all the young players coming in. Coming from one of the young players, how much more confident are you? And how did you, if you did at all after having a full year in the NHL, did you train change your training in the off?season to get you where you're at right now?
PATRIK BERGLUND: Obviously, I think we all are a little more confident. We all know that, you know, this is the difference. You have to play good all the time. You can't think back last year and just skating around and think everything is good. You need to work hard every day and show the organization and your teammates that you want to be a part of this team and you want to help this team and be as good as you can.
So is it a lot comfortable? No, I don't think so. Of the good thing is we know all the guys now, and that way we'll feel comfortable, but other than that we need to work even harder this year and keep going.

Q. From your experience playing in the league last year, did you change, or how did you change your training this off?season to help you better prepare for this year?
PATRIK BERGLUND: I kind of stick to the same program as last year, with the boost program. And work through it every day. Get stronger, get faster, get bigger. So far I've been doing progress, and hopefully I can, you know, stay on the same weight, and keep going. Work hard during the whole season with our strength coach and just try to stay in shape.

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