Henrik Lundqvist thinks the toughest hockey he played was in his native country Sweden
Henrik Lundqvist, a professional ice hockey player from Sweden, who plays as a goaltender for New York Rangers shared his playing experience and told that, playing hockey back home in his native country was probably the biggest challenge that he faced throughout
his career.
Last season was probably one of the toughest for the 30-year-old goalie as he made his team qualify for the playoffs as the top seeds by finishing on the top of the table in Eastern Conference and played most of the regular season games.
Things got even tougher and close ahead as his team faced Ottawa Senators in the Quarter-finals, a tie that went to the distance and Rangers won it 4-3 eventually. The semi-final against Washington Capitals again went to the wire and New York side was again
able to go through by winning 4-3.
The fatigue and exhaustion naturally came into play in the conference finals as they faced New Jersey Devils. The game went to the sixth game where Rangers were undone by Devils.
This type of season would definitely be declared toughest by any player in his career but Rangers’ goalie thinks that he has experienced even tougher circumstances in his home country Sweden’s Elitserien Hockey League (SEL).
Last season was Are, Sweden born player’s seventh in the league and before it he had played five seasons for Frölunda HC in SEL. Something that was very special for him because it was his dream and naturally extracted his best out of him.
The 6-foot-1, 195 pounder, talked about what it meant to him as he said,
"You know, growing up, that was the club I wanted to play for. It was my dream to play there, I won two championships there. And so many people helped me there, too, to reach my next level. And obviously, to have my brother there and my family there, it
was a great moment in my career."
He also talked about his parent’s presence there as he added,
"And to have my parents there and all our friends, it was just a great start to the year, and from then on there were so many great things happening."
Overall Lundqvist played 144 games in Sweden and has played 468 in NHL until now, winning 255 of them.
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