Admittedly, it became a World Cup Gold with Brother Joel - but the Stanley Cup dream stopped again at a dream. In an interview with hockeysverige.se, Henrik Lundqvist tells us about the trip to a Stanley Cup title and the difficult moments.
"It will be a bit of anxiety," said the goalkeeper icon.
Again Sweden's world goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist has made a fantastic season. A season he won with a World Cup gold. The 35-year-old can now titulate double Swedish champion, Olympic champion and now also world champion.
It has been a very long season for Henrik Lundqvist who started playing in the World Cup where Sweden joined the semi-final. In spite of that and excluded from the Stanley Cup final play and despite his extreme disappointment, which lies in an incredible win skull when Rangers did not go all the way he chose to thank the World Cup.
- I took the decision after two, three days. Then I began to set myself on what lay before me. I took a small break from all the analysis of the past season and Rangers to then jump it back when I got home from the World Cup, Henrik Lundqvist says to hockeysverige.se and continues:
- As soon as I made the decision, I felt that the pulse went up and that I had to raise my head and get my max level right away. I also took training in New York before I left, but before I landed in that decision, I started mentally looking back at the playoffs and it was for a few days I was in a deep valley. Then I had to lift myself up again.
Do you get into any kind of bubble or how do you get out of a Stanley Cup playoff?
"It feels very empty and it becomes a weird feeling. It's so extremely intense, the most intense throughout the season, and then it's just over. When you wake up the next day, it's almost so you get stuck in the car to go to the rink, but it goes without saying that it's over.
"It's a disappointment when it does not go as you please, but you go from an intense situation to shrugging your shoulders, obviously, because you've been on for quite some time. Many thoughts will be.
Has this changed over the years with you?
"No, I think it feels like now that I went out of play with Frölunda. Until it's over, you think you'll do it. That is also why we play. You do not go out, play matches and play, and have the setting that you can not win.
"The goal is obviously to win. Then it is clear that you go out in different ways each year. There are different things that happen and different conditions. Some years you are more disappointed than others.
- Always when you have the opportunity to play, whether it's a World Cup or a playoff, you want to do the best you can, so afterwards, if you do not go all the way, you accept a better team as long as you do what you do Can be mentally and physically in your preparation.
You are Daddy today, unlike at the beginning of your career, has it given you another perspective on hockey?
- (Lundqvist thinks after a while before the answer comes) Both yes and no. I think there are times when it's easier to get away from hockey when you need a break because you have other things in life that mean a lot. I've got a perspective on things, definitely.
"When I come to match, I still have the same feeling and it's alike. It still hurts to lose and it is extremely nice to win. Those contrasts and that feeling have not changed or how I prepare for a match.
"Well, when I'm available one day, I need a break and get away from it all. Maybe it's easier now to let go because you do not have time to go and love things, which I think is good.
Henrik Lundqvist has not won the Stanley Cup yet, despite twelve seasons in the NHL, but this is nothing that stresses the former Frölunda goalkeeper.
"I'm taking it year by year and it's no stress. Winning the Stanley Cup is a big goal, of course, and what drives me most of all. I want to get better and I want to win. The thought of it makes me want to invest more and more all the time.
- Then do not forget to leave your trip there either. I mean to go into every new season and think of winning the Stanley Cup, that's the focus all the time, you lose some of the pleasure on the way, these little things along the way that one has to appreciate and to be fun. It's something I think I've been doing well over the years, learning to appreciate all things about playing away and not just the playoffs or the games that means incredible much. There are also things in the "lukewarm" that I enjoy and appreciate today.
When you say enjoy, Börje Salming played 17 seasons in NHL, how long can you enjoy the world's best and toughest league?
- Good question ... It depends entirely on how the body and mind feel. Clearly, when it's fine, there's not much that strikes it. On the other hand, there are times when one is eating and eating on one. Those moments are not fun. It's getting a bit of anxiety disorder, I think so many athletes feel, but maybe I'm a little bit more extreme in some cases with how much I feel in both and with.
- It hurts when it does not work as I want and does not play at the level I want. At the same time, I am one who enjoys a lot when things go well.
Now, the construction of next season's New York Rangers has started, but what was the last season for you to go all the way?
"I think the body feels very good. Now we have made some changes. Some guys who have been with us for a long time and have meant a lot for the team have left. Instead, new guys will be taking big roles.
"It's always exciting to step into a new season and it will always change regardless of whether it's going well or bad. Now the change is larger than previous seasons.
"Then it's amazingly even among the teams. Looking at the team that has been successful in the past seven, eight, nine years, it's the team that has had a team of players where the team's best players are the league's best players, so it's only. We will need this season and especially in a playoff.
When you say the best player of the league, is Sidney Crosby the hardest player to face goalkeeper?
- It's about how the team is playing. Pittsburgh is a very good team that plays with very much speed while at the same time having very much skill on their two top teams. But even their third and fourth fifths play a lot of speed and exist. That's why they have had good results in recent seasons.
"Many teams have begun to play a bit like Pittsburgh with quick and easy play, that it's more important than it's perfect. It will go fast all the time with a lot of ice skating.
- Sidney is one of the best players, no snack on that matter. (Connor) McDavid I do not meet so often but he along with Sidney may be the two best in the league.
Now you get Ondrej Pavelec as goalkeeper next season instead of Antti Raanta, how do you look at that change?
"I have played quite a lot over the years and he is a seasoned NHL goalkeeper. He has won many matches and played the role of both first and second goalkeeper. I am looking forward to get to know him. Every time I play with a new guy there are things I can learn, see how he is practicing or preparing. The important thing is that we find each other fairly early and find a good feeling because you spend a lot of time with the other goalkeeper and the goalkeeper.
"Then I got along extremely well with Antti Raanta and had two fun seasons with him. It's sad to see him go, but on the other hand, I hope he knocks the first spade there (Arizona). He is worth it as he plays and puts down his soul in hockey.
How are you going to work this summer to get even better prepared for as long a season as you have had?
"I do not change anything right and the last twelve years have looked the same. I'm on ice at the end of July or in early August. It is getting more and more intense in August and September when it begins to approach camp.
"Right now, I mix training with vacation, but when you enter August, I start feeling that it is approaching. Then there will be more and more focus on ice training and details so you are prepared when the camp begins.
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