By Eric Messinger

If this were a quiz, and I said that I was thinking of a top New York athlete—one of the best in his sport and at his position—who, as competitive as he is when playing, is also a class-act, thoughtful, friendly, and notably charitable, would you be able to guess who I’m thinking of, or would you need another hint?

What if I also told you that he not only lives in the city, but that he also really enjoys the city—with its overstuffed menu of fashion, music, and food? And that his non-athletic interests have not gone unnoticed: That GQ magazine has chatted with him about his fashion sense; that, for fun, he’s a part-owner of a restaurant and bar in Tribeca (Tiny’s & the Bar Upstairs); and that he once came on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” just to play his guitar, jamming out to the Guns N’ Roses rock classic “Sweet Child of Mine”?

Oh, and speaking of children, here’s one final hint: He’s also a family guy. At 33, he’s married to the woman he first started dating when he was 20, and he’s the father to two young daughters (a 3-year-old, Charlise, and a new baby, Juli, born this past March).

Of course, this quiz is not all that difficult since, in all likelihood, you’ve already read the headlines and seen the accompanying photos (not to mention the cover of this magazine), but if you didn’t have this helpful context, would you have guessed that I was talking about the New York Rangers’ superstar goaltender Henrik Lundqvist?

Lundqvist’s storied hockey career includes an array of hard-earned accolades that range from leading his native Sweden to a gold medal at the 2006 winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, to winning the NHL’s prestigious Vezina Trophy (given to the league’s top goaltender) in 2012. And for the past 10 years that he’s been the Rangers’ goalie, Lundqvist has been so wonderful, and so consistently wonderful, that Rangers’ fans long ago anointed him “King Henrik.” But in our interview, he wore his royalty lightly, if at all. He alluded a few times to being a really intense guy, but, in fact, he couldn’t have been more welcoming and gracious.

Where is the joy and the fun at this point in your career?

I love the competition and the intensity of being out there. Even for practice, it’s fun to compete against the guys. Being part of a team, just sitting in the locker room, and traveling together—after a couple months off in the summer, you miss that. It’s so much fun to come back and be part of that group and accomplish something together. That feeling is really special—I’m turning 34 and I still love the game and everything about it.

What’s the hardest part about being a goaltender?

The hardest part about being a goalie is to be in the right place mentally because you’re under so much pressure. Technically, you work on things every day in practice, but it all comes down to how you see and think in the game and how you react under pressure.

Do you get nervous? How do you handle the pressure?

I enjoy that feeling of being on your edge. You can feel you are really nervous, but you understand it’s part of it. You don’t see it as a problem, you see it as a great thing. You feel alive. When you step out there and there are 18,000 people and there’s a lot of pressure, it’s in that moment when you succeed—it’s a great thing… You also get a positive feeling. You embrace it and it becomes a positive thing instead of putting too much pressure and “what ifs” [and] a negative spin [on the situation]… You always have to push yourself before you step out and get that confidence.

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