21.11.2018 - Derek O´Brien

English makes it easier, says Eric de la Rose

It’s been a whirlwind few days for Swedish defenceman ERIK DE LA ROSE, who was traded on Monday from Vítkovice to Sparta. By the next morning, he had travelled across the country and was on the ice with his new teammates.

Did you arrive in Prague this morning or last night?
I arrived last night at midnight. Then slept and then up in the morning for practice. It’s all been pretty quick.

Have you had a chance yet to meet the coaches or players?
I met the coach this morning at breakfast at the hotel, and I said hi to everybody before we went on the ice, and talked to some of the guys during warmups and on the ice.

This is now your second year in the Extraliga. Does that make it easier coming to a new team within the league?
Yeah. I didn’t really know what to expect last year in Jihlava. It was my first year in the league and I didn’t really know what it was like in the dressing room in the Czech Republic, or how the mentality is. It’s a bit different from Sweden and Norway, where I played before, but now I’m used to it, so this year it’s a bit easier.

Does the fact that Coach Krupp speaks English to the players make it easier for you?
Of course, it’s easier when you don’t need that middleman, another player, translating for you all the time. That’s how it was in Jihlava and Vítkovice. Now the coach speaks English to me here and, yeah, that’s much easier.

The team also has a couple of English-speaking defencemen. Do you know yet who you’ll be paired with?
No, I still don’t know yet if I’m going to play on Friday, or if I do, who I’ll play with. On the ice, though, it’s easier to communicate even if you don’t have the same language because it’s just short phrases like “I’ve got that guy.” Of course, it’s easier to speak about things on the bench if the guy speaks English, but I don’t see it as a problem.

You’ve played against Sparta already this season. What do you know about the team from that?
They’re a good, hardworking team. They’ve changed a little bit since last season, but they’re fast, forecheck all over the ice, and they’re a hard team to play against.

You also played against Sparta a few years ago in the Champions Hockey League as a member of Storhamar…
Yeah, we played Sparta at O2 and we beat them, and then they beat us at our place, so it was 1-1 in those two games.

One of your teammates in Storhamar was Alexander Reichenberg, who played for Sparta last season. Have you had a chance to speak to him about Sparta?
No, we haven’t spoken recently. I met him a couple of times last season when I played in Jihlava.

You’re from Leksand in Sweden, is that right?
No, I’m from Arvyka but I played in Leksand in junior and the first senior year.

Did you play on the same team there as your younger brother Jacob?
Yeah, we played a lot on the same team when we were younger, then we moved to Leksand and played there together.

Now that he’s in the NHL, how often do you speak to each other?
Maybe five times per week. We talk pretty often, play video games together, talk on FaceTime about the games and stuff like that.

Do you watch any of his games late at night?
I do if I have a day off the next day, or sometimes on weekends they play earlier games, but it’s hard to do during the week when we have early practice.

So how was your first practice with Sparta? Anything different as far as how the team plays?
Today wasn’t so much about tactics or set plays, but more about skating, puckhandling and battling around the net. I think we’re going to talk more about gameplans later in the week.

Have you ever played on the same team as any of the players? Or did you know any of them previously?
I met Lukáš Pech last year in Bratislava when we were on the same team at the all-star tournament, so I played a little bit with him but, otherwise no, it’s all new faces.

Now that you’re in your second season in the Czech Republic, have you learned to speak the language?
I know some short phrases, basic greetings, and of course, hockey phrases. But no, I can’t really speak Czech.

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