PATRIC HORNQVIST MY LOVE! I WILL NEVER FORGET!

[Slaaapshuter]

pre-retirement retirement party

This man gets it. I dream the same for my own career.

 

[Trade]

It won’t feel right seeing another 72 on the ice

 

[Pancakes]

I just really think he changed the culture here. He embodied what Mike Sullivan hockey was supposed to be all about: playing hard between the whistles and letting everyone else worry about the stories and the distractions.
Let's be honest here for a minute. Before Hornqvist arrived this team had had numerous playoff disappointments. They'd gotten in their own way a lot. That Philly series they had was a disgrace. They let their emotions get in the way and they paid for it big time. And nobody was more representative of the easily tilted mentality that the Pens used to have than James Neal.

Then along comes Hornqvist who never stops coming at the other team and who draws lots of penalties and who most importantly keeps it between the whistles. He plays so hard, but he doesn't let bullshit distract him from trying to win. And that attitude (along with Sullivan's leadership) rubbed off on the Pens. They started to play like Hornqvist. Hard. Fierce. Between the whistles. Teams would still try to get under their skin, but it no longer worked. They'd shake it off and keep winning. Niskanen cheapshots Crosby and in the past maybe that derails an entire series for the Pens. Yet this time Hornqvist scores the first goal of the next game and the Pens stay on track in that series.

It's funny but I'll always remember the 4-1 series loss to the Rangers shortly after Horny joined the team. It was a crappy loss, and the team was overmatched and clearly needed an injection of youth. Yet what I remember about the series was Hornqvist absolutely battling his ass off in that series and relentlessly driving the net. I remember thinking at the time that if we could just find some more energy like that, we could get this team back on track. And JR did it. But it all started with Hornqvist.

 

[Gurglesons]

I just really think he changed the culture here. He embodied what Mike Sullivan hockey was supposed to be all about: playing hard between the whistles and letting everyone else worry about the stories and the distractions.
Let's be honest here for a minute. Before Hornqvist arrived this team had had numerous playoff disappointments. They'd gotten in their own way a lot. That Philly series they had was a disgrace. They let their emotions get in the way and they paid for it big time. And nobody was more representative of the easily tilted mentality that the Pens used to have than James Neal.

Then along comes Hornqvist who never stops coming at the other team and who draws lots of penalties and who most importantly keeps it between the whistles. He plays so hard, but he doesn't let bullshit distract him from trying to win. And that attitude (along with Sullivan's leadership) rubbed off on the Pens. They started to play like Hornqvist. Hard. Fierce. Between the whistles. Teams would still try to get under their skin, but it no longer worked. They'd shake it off and keep winning. Niskanen cheapshots Crosby and in the past maybe that derails an entire series for the Pens. Yet this time Hornqvist scores the first goal of the next game and the Pens stay on track in that series.

It's funny but I'll always remember the 4-1 series loss to the Rangers shortly after Horny joined the team. It was a crappy loss, and the team was overmatched and clearly needed an injection of youth. Yet what I remember about the series was Hornqvist absolutely battling his ass off in that series and relentlessly driving the net. I remember thinking at the time that if we could just find some more energy like that, we could get this team back on track. And JR did it. But it all started with Hornqvist.

100%. Him and Hagelin were the 15-16 / 16-17's version of Kunitz and Guerin.

 

[66-30-33]

Man it really f***in sucks seeing Horny go!!! Still feel weird seeing him on another team. WTF JR??????? Can you go too?

 

[HandshakeLine]

I just really think he changed the culture here. He embodied what Mike Sullivan hockey was supposed to be all about: playing hard between the whistles and letting everyone else worry about the stories and the distractions.
Let's be honest here for a minute. Before Hornqvist arrived this team had had numerous playoff disappointments. They'd gotten in their own way a lot. That Philly series they had was a disgrace. They let their emotions get in the way and they paid for it big time. And nobody was more representative of the easily tilted mentality that the Pens used to have than James Neal.

Then along comes Hornqvist who never stops coming at the other team and who draws lots of penalties and who most importantly keeps it between the whistles. He plays so hard, but he doesn't let bullshit distract him from trying to win. And that attitude (along with Sullivan's leadership) rubbed off on the Pens. They started to play like Hornqvist. Hard. Fierce. Between the whistles. Teams would still try to get under their skin, but it no longer worked. They'd shake it off and keep winning. Niskanen cheapshots Crosby and in the past maybe that derails an entire series for the Pens. Yet this time Hornqvist scores the first goal of the next game and the Pens stay on track in that series.

It's funny but I'll always remember the 4-1 series loss to the Rangers shortly after Horny joined the team. It was a crappy loss, and the team was overmatched and clearly needed an injection of youth. Yet what I remember about the series was Hornqvist absolutely battling his ass off in that series and relentlessly driving the net. I remember thinking at the time that if we could just find some more energy like that, we could get this team back on track. And JR did it. But it all started with Hornqvist.

I feel like this has been the best summary and testimony of Hornqvist's legacy here that's been posted.

 

[Tom Hanks]

I miss your face

Keep getting into goalies heads

“He just turned to me and started screaming in Swedish,” Kuhnhackl recalled. “I was like, ‘Is this normal? What’s happening here?’ I honestly started to get scared. I wasn’t used to it. Now, I love it.”

“If you look at our other European guys like Olli Maatta [Finland] or Evgeni Malkin [Russia], there’s intensity,” Kuhnhackl said. “But with Horny, it’s on another level.”

“He brings an intensity to everything,” Bryan Rust said.

“Intensity is the only way to describe him,” Justin Schultz added.

“Nonstop,” was how Conor Sheary put it.
“I can tell you this, when he was injured, pregame soccer was much quieter when he was injured [Hornqvist has had two concussions]. It felt awkward.
“He just brings the energy wherever he is. I don’t know where he gets it all, but it’s pretty impressive.”

He’s definitely the most intense guy I’ve ever played with,” said Matt Cullen, who has played 1,469 NHL games when you combine regular season and playoffs. “Everybody understands how bad he wants to win. It’s all about that. It’s not about personal stuff as far as wanting goals or wanting assists. I think we all know how much he wants to win and how much he cares about the guys.
“He brings our intensity level up as a group. There’s been quite a few games where his level of intensity has either gotten the crowd going on gotten us going. That’s pretty unique for a guy to be able to spark a team that way.”

“It doesn’t matter how tired he is, whether we won the night before or we lost the night before, he’s in there. ‘Hey, hey, hey, hey. How’s everybody doing?’ ” Rutherford said. “It’s not dragging into the rink. It’s always very positive, very positive attitude, upbeat. That rubs off on the other guys.”

EDIT: @Slaaapshuter posted a lot of those quotes already.......ooops

 

[Pancakes]

I feel like this has been the best summary and testimony of Hornqvist's legacy here that's been posted.

Thanks. I tried to put some thought into what he meant to this team and to me. One of those guys that the stats alone really don't do justice to all he did for this franchise.

 

[ColePens]

I've had Coldplay Fix You and a bunch of Celine Dion songs on repeat over the last 48 hours. I'm 1 day from drowning in white wine.

 

[Ugene Magic]

I've had Coldplay Fix You and a bunch of Celine Dion songs on repeat over the last 48 hours. I'm 1 day from drowning in white wine.

I gotta fix this....

Lynch Mob: Tribute.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

I've had Coldplay Fix You and a bunch of Celine Dion songs on repeat over the last 48 hours. I'm 1 day from drowning in white wine.

You do you, I'll do me.

 

[Tom Hanks]

This needs to go up on my wall

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Guess I'll just re-post an article and outtakes which always makes me smile

Patric Hornqvist's intensity is 'on another level'

Inside the team’s dressing room, Kuhnhackl sat with his head down, quiet and nervous, before his next-door neighbor, Patric Hornqvist, broke the silence with a few inspirational words.
“He just turned to me and started screaming in Swedish,” Kuhnhackl recalled. “I was like, ‘Is this normal? What’s happening here?’ I honestly started to get scared. I wasn’t used to it. Now, I love it.”​

Kuhnhackl said Hornqvist has developed a new pregame routine, in that he couples the yelling with a few body punches before they head out onto the ice.​

“It’s sometimes too much yelling,” Evgeni Malkin kidded on Saturday. “But I know he brings energy. … He loves to play, he loves to be here.”​

“He’s definitely the most intense guy I’ve ever played with,” said Matt Cullen, who has played 1,469 NHL games when you combine regular season and playoffs. “Everybody understands how bad he wants to win. It’s all about that. It’s not about personal stuff as far as wanting goals or wanting assists. I think we all know how much he wants to win and how much he cares about the guys.​

After games, the necks of Hornqvist’s undershirts are routinely shredded. They don’t come like this. Hornqvist usually Hulk Hogan’s them in fits of intensity.​

It’s actually impossible to talk to one of Hornqvist’s teammates without their faces lighting up with excitement.​

I'm gonna miss cheering him as a Penguin. I still hate this.

 

[EightyOne]

I'm gonna miss cheering him as a Penguin. I still hate this.

It is a bit surreal.

Again, I am OKAY with Horny being traded...but...for this? In this way? Brutally sad return and a shitty way to do it. It is business, yeah...but...dude...

I can tell you one thing, if I were a Free Agent, would I run to this dead-end city? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

 

[Ugene Magic]

At the end of the day, Hornqvist wasn't all that was said by Pancakes, or TH. My last memories were of Hornqvist, While still intense and that guy, he grew into what you say he came here and helped fix. Every battle for him was extended around the net and he complained and was that guy extending past the whistle instead of walking away. Maybe you just jump on the wagon and dismiss it, but it stuck out loud and clear to me.

That is not the Hornqvist from years ago. His frustration got the best of even him, and that's part of the reason he's gone, to go along with contract, age and so on. Go back and watch this years Hornqvist with an open eye and and not your heart.

Edit: If you feel this doesn't belong here and it's supposed to be the all hail Horny thread having this moved into the the confirmed trade thread wouldn't bother me one bit.

I was a fan just the same.

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]