It was no coincidence that Henrik Lundqvist became the world’s best goalkeeper.
His routines had fellow goalkeepers banging their heads against the wall in frustration.
– I just thought: “What an ass!”, says Stephen Valiquette.
There are many reasons why Henrik Lundqvist was so immensely popular with the New York Rangers. The obvious was that he was one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and not in one season. Lundqvist’s lowest level was sky high, and he topped the statistical tables year after year in the world’s best hockey league.
The tribute to Henke
Lundqvist was also a teammate of rank, who always did everything to get better and to win. Everyone who played with Lundqvist in the Rangers testifies to the same thing: There has hardly been a better role model, with higher training morale and a winning skull. And that is just one of the reasons behind Lundqvist’s enormous greatness.
Stephen Valiquette knows more than most about what made Henke so unique. He was a goalkeeper behind Lundqvist in the Rangers, and now works together with Lundqvist in MSG Networks, as a TV expert.
– He has a super-high hockey IQ. And he really thought everything through. He didn’t just throw himself out there and improvise. He had a plan, for everything, he tells The Athletic.
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“What an ass!”
Lundqvist left nothing to chance, not even in training. And it didn’t matter if the team had a late game the night before. Valiquette remembers that he could be tired the morning after – even though he hadn’t even played. But Lundqvist was exactly as usual.
– He had played the match and stood and received shot after shot after training. It was just freewheeling, on freewheeling, on freewheeling, and I just thought, “What an ass! Just get off the ice, practice is over. I have nothing left to give, please get off!”. But I was not allowed to leave, the reserve cannot leave before the first goalkeeper, especially if he had played the day before, he says.
But it was just one such thing that Lundqvist did to set a good example.
– He wanted everyone to see that there is a difference between wanting to win, and being willing to work every day in order to win, says former goalkeeper Martin Biron.
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