King of Sweden and New York

[text_output]Hey Rangers fans, thanks to Hank (and IKEA) I´m sure most of you know about Sweden, my native country. I´ve lived here all my life, and to say that hockey and the Rangers are a big part of my life would be a huge understatement.

Since I live on the other side of the world, it is natural to wonder why the Rangers are the hockey team in my life. The answer is simple: Henrik Lundqvist. To really understand why, you have to go back to the 26th of February 2006, the day of the Olympics 2006 hockey final between Sweden and Finland. I was only 5 years old at the time, and this very tournament was the start of my love affair with the great sport of hockey.

When it was time for the final, Sweden vs my country’s biggest rival, Finland, 5-year-old me was buzzing. I can remember being very nervous during the game, but that was nothing for what I would experience in that last minute. Sweden were up 3-2 but the Finns were pressing hard to tie it up. With about 30 seconds left they threw the puck towards the goal, Hank makes the initial save but then Oli Jokinen was able to quickly control the puck and put it back on the net, which seemed basically empty from my viewpoint. For half a second I was sure they had just scored. But guess what happened. Hank somehow got across and saved it with the side of his stick. 5-year-old me couldn´t believe the save, and neither could the Finns! Moments later we had won the biggest national tournament in the world, and my family and I began to celebrate![/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”1076″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]This is where everything changed, Henrik Lundqvist, who was only 23 and had not even played a full NHL season yet, became Sweden´s hero and my hero as well. It was at that moment that Hank became my favourite hockey player and the King here in Sweden. From that moment on, I´ve been a Ranger fan and will continue with that for the rest of my life.

We all know what happened with Hank after that. He became the King of New York, he carried the Rangers for more than a decade, won the Vezina, became the winningest European goalie in NHL history, shattered nearly every significant Rangers goalie record and reached the Stanley Cup final.

What about Sweden then? He´s since added an Olympics silver medal, and just earlier this year he backstopped Sweden to the gold in the World Championships. When he announced that he was coming to play for Sweden after the Rangers went out vs Ottawa, the Swedish media went crazy with excitement over the team having a realistic shot at the gold with Henrik joining the squad. Henrik lived up to the hopes of the media and the citizens, he saved every penalty shot in the shootout against Canada in the final and once again became a hero in Sweden!

Ever since Hank led Sweden to Olympic hockey glory, the Rangers have been the biggest and most supported NHL team in Sweden. Only thing left for Hank to win now is the Cup. Trust me when I say this, him and the Rangers have got the whole country of Sweden behind them.

Let´s go Rangers!

Wilhelm Holmberg (@WilleNYR)[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”1078″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””]