Lundqvist: 'I've questioned why we're not more pissed off after a loss'
When Henrik Lundqvist finally decides to retire from professional hockey, he will likely go down as one of the greatest goalies to ever grace the crease for the New York Rangers. But Lundqvist is missing the one thing all hockey players desperately want out of their careers: a Stanley Cup championship.
In a recent interview with a Swedish outlet, Lundqvist gave fans a peek into how he prepares for each NHL season. The story is a study in perfectionism and determination, and according to a translation posted on Reddit of the story, Lundqvist questions everything he and his teammates do to see if they can improve. That questioning extends as far as anger after losses.
"I've questioned why we’re [the Rangers] not more pissed off after losses," Lundqvist told Expressen.se reporter Magnus Nystrom.
The comment seemed to be less about the Rangers' actual desire to win and more about Lundqvist striving to be a better player in every way. When asked who he thought was the best of the best in terms of bullheaded players, Lundqvist championed Hockey Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg.
"He was determined and wanted to win at any cost. You could tell on the ice, so clearly," Lundqvist said to Nystrom. "He just decided. This is going to happen. Not every player has that quality."
Lundqvist seems to also have the desire to win at any cost. He proved that during the 2014-15 season when he chose to play through a serious neck injury. On Jan. 31, Lundqvist was hit in the neck by a puck, causing his head to snap back so hard that he partially tore a blood vessel in the back of his neck. Lundqvist finished that game, however, and he played the following game as well before doctors determined the extent of the injury and shut him down. Had Lundqvist continued to play through the injury, he could have risked having a stroke.
The man New Yorkers call King Henrik recovered in time for the playoffs, however, and he helped the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Finals, where New York lost in seven games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
So with another failed Stanley Cup campaign behind him, Lundqvist has been preparing for the upcoming season by waking up at 7 a.m. to work out in a cold and empty rink in Sweden. When Nystrom suggested to Lundqvist that his game is near perfection and Lundqvist might not have to keep those hours, Lundqvist shut the suggestion down.
"The day you think you can’t get any better is the day you’ll see your competition ahead of you," Lundqvist said to Nystrom. "You can always get better, there are always things you can be better at."
Perhaps that's the exact quality which makes Lundqvist a King.
(h/t Reddit)
