This is how the icon Leif “Honken” Holmqvist got his nickname – has nothing to do with the name: “I loved to…”

The former ice hockey goalie Leif “Honken” Holmqvist has played 202 international games in the blue and yellow jersey, something that no other Swedish goalie has managed.
In 1969, he was also named the world’s best goalkeeper.
But where does the nickname “Honken” actually come from?

The newly 80-year-old Leif “Honken” Holmqvist is a legend in Swedish ice hockey. The goalkeeper from Gävle is – in addition to the goalkeeper who has made the most international appearances for Tre Kronor – inducted into the Swedish hockey Hall of Fame and has a total of seven WC medals on his track record.

In addition to clubs such as AIK and HV71, he has also been a foreign professional in the British London Lions and the Indianapolis Racers in the USA.

Classic expression

After the World Cup at home in 1969, “Honken” was named the world’s best goalkeeper, and the accolades were not long in coming.

Close to 10,000 letters steamed into the mailbox at Holmqvist’s home from people who wanted to express their admiration after he helped Tre Kronor to salvage a WC silver.

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It was also at that championship that “Honken” coined the expression “The posts are my best friends”, which has since become something of a classic.

Nickname “Honken”

But where does the nickname “Honken” – as he is remembered – really come from? To get an answer to that question, we need to go back about 80 years, more precisely to the 1940s.
– It comes after my father, Erik. He had a trucking company and I loved going with him after school. When we arrived, the people in Gävle said that there will be “Big Honken” and “Little Honken”, so I was therefore “Little Honken” from the beginning, says Holmqvist in an interview with Hockeysverige.se.

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In recent years, the nickname has also belonged to Johan Holmqvist, former goalkeeper in, among others, Brynäs and Frölunda. But Leif Holmqvist was a bit earlier.
– Dad had gotten the name since his time as a winger in Brynä’s football team when he “hanked” or “honked” his way to the edge.

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