Henrik Lundqvist Has a Grade 1 MCL Sprain

Henrik Lundqvist is acclaimed superstar in the New York Rangers and recently become a world champion.
But his life after the World Cup gold is still quiet.

- A ligament in the knee was damaged (Grade 1 MCL sprain) I start the summer with rehab for four to six weeks, when I really cannot do anything. But that price is worth paying to win World Cup Gold with my brother.

Charlise Lundqvist is "only" four and a half years, but has inherited some of his father's insistence. When Henrik after a long NHL season and two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs also came home and said he was going to go play hockey at World Cup in Germany, his oldest daughter was not so excited.

"She's almost five years old and I think more and more I'm gone a lot from her. That my job takes time from her, Henrik admits.

She simply thinks that you should be home more?
- Yes, she thinks. So I had to put it very smart when I told her I would suddenly go to the World Championships for ten days after the fast season really ended for me.

We laugh both happy and this is something all parents who travel a lot on business can relate to.
For children, it does not matter if the father or mother is a salesman, journalist or hockey goalie.
If you are not at home, you are missing - and that requires "negotiations".

Did Charlise get back at you when you went to the World Cup?
-Yes, haha, you can say that. We talk a lot about what we will find when we are together again. What to play for games and what to do. Especially in summer, when we have very much time together. Summer is a big plus for us hockey players, then we have very much free time as we can be with family and friends. Very few people live like that. I know that.

Henrik and his wife Therese met in 1998 before becoming an NHL player, and married 2011. They have two children: Charlise and Little sister Juli, two years.
The Lundqvist family lives on an entire floor of a house in the star-studded Tribeca neighborhood of lower Manhattan.

Other life as daddy

The children and family life have changed father Henrik.

- You do not realize how much you are away from home until you have children. The children get sad when I'm gone too much. Even home games, I'm not home so much and I load and prepares me on my way. Before I had children, I was not thinking at all of how much I will be gone.

And as much as the children do not have dad, Henrik misses the family there at home.

- Yes, it is different to be gone now and so the summers even more important. We go back to Sweden soon and I like the contrasts in life. From the hectic life in New York City to the tranquility of Sweden.Summer is an important time to gather energy at home in Sweden and being with family and friends.

Where is home for you, it is not back to Åre where you grew up?
- No, it was a long time since I was in Åre. Home for us is Gothenburg. We have an apartment in Gothenburg and a summer residence on the west coast and that is where we will be mostly. Then there will be some sandwiches too.

How long will you remain in Sweden?
- To the end of August. I start training on ice in early August and I'm doing it in Gothenburg. But now I'll be good at my knees and just calm down.

Henrik Lundqvist has been the first goalkeeper in the New York Rangers in twelve seasons, he has three years left on a seven-year contract worth SEK 385 million and  his will to win the Stanley Cup with the Rangers is still as strong.
Henrik Lundqvist do not care if he's 35 years old and there are those who doubt both the Rangers and Henrik's ability to become champion.
He is still one of the world's best hockey goalies - and he knows it.
He also knows how much work it takes to be the best.

It showed Henrik Lundqvist in Cologne and Paris during the hockey World Cup, when he led the Tre Kronor to the World Championships, including by saving all four Canadian shootout in the final.
Or as another golden heroes - Washington Capitals Nicklas Bäckström - put it:
- We knew Henke would play. He's such a damn Win, that is. When we most needed him, he took out the black eyes and took all four penalties. It was magical,

Henrik Lundqvist himself claims that he was hesitant to play at lunch on the final day.
- At eleven o'clock on Sunday I did not think I could play, we did several treatments and I was in pain. Then we tested a syringe to see if the pain would disappear.

Nothing had probably stopped you from playing the final?
- No, haha, so it was well. And now, it was, when it was only one game. Otherwise it would have been difficult. Without syringe made it very painful.

Henke felt therefore not completely comfortable when it was sudden death and punishes.
- First half of the game went well, but then it got worse when the effect of the syringe began to disappear. But I was just happy that I could play. I knew I did not do anything that would aggravate the knee. So it was about to brave the pain. When we tested the day I felt that this will we solve.

How much did your teammates know?
- The other players on the team saw me limping around, but I did not say anything until we knew. It had required a great deal because I had not been able to play ...

Lundqvist landed in Cologne with great expectations.
Especially from himself.
That's how he works.

- I put a lot of pressure on myself to reach my level to help the team. It was very special just being there and it was fun from day one. But there was a lot to take in the first few days to adjust to and everything, mentally and technically and large rink. The first few days I felt it was important to collect my thoughts and be in the right place mentally. It was the biggest challenge in the beginning. To go from playoff intensity in New York and reload the World Cup, it took really focusing.

And you got no long takeoff directly?
- No, it was right into it just, you could not cuddle in time. It was bang on the right, with all that implies.

You had a team that was really hard to win the gold and nothing else.
- Yes, it was. And it was clear that they knew of the press. We had good players and they all knew that the goal was clear and sunny. But much will be meeting on the road, you just have to deal with that objective and to perform correctly. And we did.

Victory against Switzerland in the quarter-finals was followed by victory against Finland in the semifinals and was crowned with final victory on penalties against Canada.
- It felt good throughout the tournament. We had good focus. It was a great group to be with. Good players and good people and very good people around the team,
I tell Lundqvist me after our meeting straight after the final, when he limped off with the World Cup in the mixed zone, was struck by the thought that maybe we had just experienced his last international.
He is surprised when he hears it. So he was not thinking at all.
- I do not know. It is very difficult to predict. Much about timing, how the season with the Rangers goes. My goal is obviously to go as far as possible in the playoffs with the Rangers each year, and then I can not be in the World Cup.
- Then it's about how you feel in your body and head. If you have the energy and strength to reload. It's not just snap your fingers, you have to be able to deliver as well, there is always the big question. But I can say, I think it's pretty damn fun to come to the national team, I want to believe that there will be more international matches.

All Swedes of course hope to see you in the national team again.
- I hope I get more chances. Was the last international was a nice finish, but I want to play more in the Three Crowns.

It is the warmth in his voice as Henry describes the feeling to pull on the blue and yellow sweater and feeling to stand on the Sergel Square and hailed by thousands of Swedish fans.
- It's always fun when people show such appreciation. It is one thing to win with the club teams, but there is something very special to win with the national team, it's a different sort of pride that comes. It's a very wonderful feeling. And just to come home and meet people for the gold ...
He is silent for a moment.
- The entire journey there will be a special memory. And half the thing with the national team is to come up with the player normally does battle against and to get to know new young players, as William Nylander I had played hockey with him when he was a kid and I played together with his dad Michael on the Rangers. It's fun to see all these players up close and get to know them.

Then maybe they do not have squeezed so hard?
- No, haha. Williams hug after the final, it took a little bit hard. But it's no problem to take in such a situation.
- And then that my brother was with. Getting win World Championship gold medals along with Joel. It was amazing!
Ideally Rangers Swedish superstar took time off from hockey for a couple of weeks in February next year to once again represent Sweden in the Olympics. He was having won gold in Turin in 2006, lost in the quarterfinals in Vancouver four years later and lost the final in Sochi in 2014. But the NHL boss Gary Bettman, despite protests from players and fans clearly said that the league snobs next Olympics in South Korea.
- Bettman said recently that it is cross closed for NHL players in the Olympics in South Korea. It's very, very sad - although I still hope that can be changed, says a visibly annoyed Lundqvist and continues:
- Now I have the good fortune to be in three Olympics and it has been fantastic in different ways. But it is a terrible shame if the NHL is not the next time. I think it is very sad for the younger guys in the league who did not participate in the Olympics, and now do not get a chance to be with.

It's a shame for the sport of ice hockey?
- Yes I think so. OS is the best platform for building hockey for a bigger sport.Right now hockey is a very small sport compared to, for example, football. Hockey need the Olympics to create more interest.

While others may wonder what Henrik Lundqvist will do after his career is he totally focused on several years at the highest level and he ponders not at all what he will find when playing career is over.
Then he makes a little "moonlighting" at times, as the high-profile commercial for the shampoo Head and Shoulders and the acclaimed film with him and his brother Joel.

Will there be more movies with you together?
- We shall see. You may return it, ha ha. I have worked with them for years and it's been fun.
You are decent actors both you and your brother?
- Well, there we leave unsaid, Henke says, and laughs again.

HENRIK LUNDQVIST
Born: March 2, 1982 in Åre.
Clubs in career: Järpen IF, Rogle, Mölndal, Frölunda, the New York Rangers.
Family: Married to Therese, the couple have two daughters: Charlise, four years, Juli, one year.
Lives: Apartment in Tribeca in Manhattan and apartment in Gothenburg.
Merits: World Championship gold medals, two national championships, Olympic gold medals, two World Championship silver Stanley Cup finalist, guldpucken, Vezina Trophy (NHL's Best Goalkeeper Prize)  he has the most wins and most shutouts through the ages in New York Rangers club history.





http://www.expressen.se/sport/hockey/tre-kronor/barnen-blir-ledsna-nar-jag-ar-borta-for-mycket/