Rangers winger Mats Zuccarello cooled off by chatting with Post columnist Steve Serby before Wednesday’s Stanley Cup opener.
Q: Tell me what it’s like right now being a New York Ranger.
A: It’s pretty amazing. It’s just like a special feeling right now. … It’s a group of friends in there. To be able to do this with 20 of your best friends is pretty amazing.
Q: How many times in your life growing up have you been told you’re too small?
A: How much time do you have here (laugh)?
Q: Well, how did you feel about that?
A: I would say it’s just like nice for me and my family who’ve been told this since I was 10, and it’s nice to see that [it] doesn’t matter [your] size, it’s hard work and dedication. Like I said in the Norwegian media, none of those guys who told me that I was too little are sitting here in this locker room today, so that’s pretty special. Everyone can achieve everything if they want to.
Q: Compared to Marty St. Louis, you’re a giant.
A: Yup, I am. You said it right (laugh).
Q: Do you tease him about that?
A: Yeah, it was a funny story, I was talking to his wife in the green room, I met her for the first time [after Game 6 against Montreal] and Marty comes in and joking said, “Are you hitting on my wife?” and I said, “No, I’m too tall for her.”
Q: What’s your mentality on the ice?
A: When I really want to win it’s almost like when I was younger I could cry. I got so mad during games and stuff like that. … Obviously I’m a little older, so I don’t do that anymore, but I think I just have a mentality that I want to do my best every night and I want to help the team win.
Q: Why do you think you’re a fan favorite?
A: I don’t know … because I’m small, I guess. I’m really bad talking about myself. I like to be in the middle and be a part of everything, but comes to media, I’m a little shy.
Q: OK, then let’s talk about your teammates: Hank?
A: Like I said 100 times, for me he’s the best goalie in the world by far. I remember my second day here, my first year of camp, I got a call from guys at the office and [they] said, “Do you want to come in and shoot at Hank, because he’s been at the NHL meetings” or whatever downtown so he didn’t come to that first practice that was here. And after that practice the day after, I got a phone call, I was in my hotel up in Tarrytown there: “Do you want to come and shoot at Henrik Lundqvist?” And I was like, “Whoa! This is gonna be pretty cool.” And then he drove me home in his Lamborghini after. Called all my buddies and said, “Just me and Hank rolling around here in New York.” He’s just a great guy — that I love to pick on. He gets really mad at me sometimes, but I think that’s just fun. I used to tell him that before I got here, he hadn’t won a Vezina Trophy, and after I got here he did (laugh). I keep bugging him about that sometimes.
Q: Marty?
A: He gets along with everyone. You always smile when he’s around you. He just lights up everyone around him. He’s for sure something special. He stepped up for us big, and I think everyone just wanted to go to that funeral and show our support to him.
Q: Brad Richards?
A: Great guy. Leader. He’s always got some smart comments on him. He’s sarcastic. I think deep in his heart, he cares about everyone, he cares about this organization, he cares about his teammates. He’s been really good to me since I got here. I got scratched in the beginning of the year, he took me out for dinner, we talked, he’s been really supportive. He likes to help other people, he likes to be involved in everything. I don’t always get all the messages, and he always helps make sure, “Do you know that?” Or if there’s something obvious that I don’t know, he always makes sure everyone knows that I didn’t know that (smile). He’s a funny guy too, he’s a joker.
Q: Chris Kreider?
A: He’s a funny guy, too. He’s a different bird, I would say. He’s a smart guy, and funny. He’s a weirdo in a great way, like a funny way. He’s always got a smile on his face. You can talk with him about everything, he’s understanding. He’s just a specimen, I would say.
Q: Ryan McDonagh?
A: He was probably my first and best friend here. We played in Hartford together. He’s also a specimen, he’s so strong.
Q: Carl Hagelin?
A: From Day One, we just clicked. He’s me, just a Swedish version I would say. We drive together every day to practice, we have the same taste in music. We go to vacations in the summer together.
Q: Dan Girardi?
A: I would say there’s not a lot of guys who block more shots than him the four years I’ve been here I would say in the league. … You can put like one phrase about all the guys. No one treats anyone any different. Everyone’s the same worth, like no one’s bigger, no one’s lower. Everyone feels that they’re home, and that there’s a big family.
Q: Are you recognized around Manhattan?
A: Not that much. Sometimes, but so many stars around New York City, so I’m pretty sure I’m not up there with any one of them. We have stars on our team, Hankie and those guys, they take most of the heat, so that’s nice (smile).
Q: You’ll be Norway’s first player to play in a the Stanley Cup final. Is that a source of pride?
A: Yeah, of course. Coming from a small hockey country like Norway with probably 20 rinks in the whole country, it’s something maybe not right now, but when I retire and look back on my career, it’s something I’m going to be really proud of.
Q: Describe Rangers fans.
A: Passionate.
Q: Early in your Rangers career, you wondered if this was the right place for you.
A: When you go up and down, and you feel like this certain style of hockey, if that was right for me. I think that’s natural to just think like that.
Q: Was that frustrating, being sent down to Hartford before your second season?
A: That’s probably the most disappointed I’ve ever been, when you feel like you’re a part of the team and then you get sent down. I spent almost a whole year down there. For me, it was a good year. I enjoyed myself playing hockey.
Q: You knew you’d be back in the NHL?
A: No. I didn’t know that. Other people went up, stayed there, other people went up and down. I got called up at the end and I played I think seven games and I broke my arm, and after that was when I made a decision to OK, maybe I should go to Russia.
Q: And that changed things for you, right?
A: Yeah. When I got back here, I felt like, “You know what? I signed for 15 games. Go out and just play your game for those 15 games. At the bottom line, that’s why they got you in the first place, because you play your game, and don’t be nervous, don’t worry about anything, just go out, have fun, play games, do it your way, and worst-case scenario it doesn’t work out and you go back to play in Europe.” So I was just, “It’s now or never, might as well try and do my best.” Torts [John Tortorella] was great, he gave me a lot of playing time when I came back here in the playoffs last year.
But then A. V. [Alain Vigneault] came in, and then you come in and you don’t have any points in seven games and nothing really happens and you start like, “Whoa.” You start questioning yourself, you know, for sure. About going back to [Richards], that’s a lot of stuff that he said, “Don’t question yourself, you’re here for a reason.” I was thinking like, “Maybe I’m not good enough to play here. Maybe last year was a fluke, and maybe I’m not good enough.” I’m really down on myself when I don’t play my best, and that’s something I think you learn when you get older to get rid of.
Q: A.V.?
A: Obviously, it’s been my best season ever maybe. The confidence that he’s given me this year, even though I got scratches, I still played a lot of minutes, and always felt like I was a big part of the team. My game is I’m going to do mistakes sometimes, and instead of maybe getting benched, or instead of getting … maybe a little bit more room for error, I would say, than maybe Torts. If something happens, you have a chance to redeem yourself. Playing those big minutes too, you want to earn those minutes, you want to show that he can trust you, and it’s been huge for me this year. It’s been the funnest year of my career. … I played the Olympics, NHL, and now I’m going to go play the Stanley Cup final. When I was dreaming when I was younger about this, it’s bigger than that. He’s a big part of it, giving me a great chance this year from Day One.
Q: What’s it like being single in New York City?
A: You don’t really get to experience so much of the single life in New York when you play hockey. Obviously a little bit like everyone else, but it’s nothing crazy.
Q: Do you cook for yourself?
A: Is this an ad, like a dating ad? Because then I want to say yes (laugh). But if not — no, I don’t (laugh).
Q: Describe your ideal girl.
A: Wife material, I like to call it that cooks and cleans but at the same time, not too worried about what other people think, and doesn’t have to be in the spotlight, living a normal, boring life in a house somewhere with kids.
Q: Superstitions?
A: I have to walk the same route that I walk to the game if we win that game. Wear the same suit, wear the same shirt, wear the same tie, everything. We won five games in a row there, from Pittsburgh to Montreal. It was almost like when we lost that one game, “I can wash this shirt now.” (laugh)
Q: You walk to the Garden games?
A: I live that close, like five-minute walk. And if I walk one way, I have to walk that way, if we lose, maybe I change it up a little bit. It’s just stupid, but it helps you get your mind-set.
Q: And you walk home, right?
A: No, I cab home. I’m really lazy after games, so … but it’s almost like it takes longer to cab than walk.
Q: Favorite New York City things?
A: I love to take the city bike and go on the West Side Highway. Sometimes [Derick] Brassard and Hags is with me, and sometimes I like to walk there. I’m a really boring guy, and I sit a lot on the couch watching TV— HBO, great, no commercials. This is probably the best city in the world to people watch, too.
Q: Three dinner guests.
A: David Beckham; Kate Beckinsale when she was single — we need another girl here, because probably Beckham’s going to choose whoever, and I got to take the other one, so (laugh) — put Rihanna in there, she’ll sing for us a little bit.
Q: Favorite movie.
A: Ever since I was little, I’ve always been so mesmerized by killer whales, it’s been an obsession almost like from when I was young, so I got to say “Free Willy”.
Q: Favorite actor.
A: Leonardo DiCaprio.
Q: Favorite actress.
A: Kate Beckinsale.
Q: Favorite meal.
A: Meat loaf Norwegian-style.
Q: Favorite entertainer/singer.
A: Eminem.
Q: You were an Avalanche fan?
A: When a team wins the Stanley Cup, you get that DVD out, and I probably watched, I would say a thousand times. And Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg were my favorite players. And so I’ve seen the Cup 1,000 times.
Q: Have you dreamed about holding the Cup?
A: I’ve hoisted the Cup 100 times when I was younger — by myself in my living room. It was a little smaller than hopefully the one that we’re going to hoist this year. But even just doing that, it’s never been a realistic dream for me. When I came to Sweden, that was my goal, to play professional hockey in Sweden.
Q: Message to Rangers fans?
A: As much as they’re on our side, we are on their side, we want to win the Cup, and we’re going to try and do everything that’s in our power and compete as hard as we can to bring the Cup back to New York.