VANCOUVER -- As he usually does both before and after games, Henrik Sedin stood in front of his locker stall inside the Canucks' dressing room and answered every question tossed his way Wednesday morning.
Except, this time the line of questioning was so different than anything even he had experienced.
Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final doesn't come along too often. The Canucks' captain is going through all the emotions associated with preparing for the ultimate match. Here is some of what he had to say:
Q: How did you sleep last night?
Sedin: Really good. Like a baby.
Q: Did you wake up this morning extra early with a funny feeling in your stomach?
Sedin: No, not extra early, but of course you can tell it's a big game. We've played big games before, but this is something that is extra.
Q: Did you talk to Trevor Linden at all about going into the seventh game?
Sedin: Yeah, I did. Not in the last couple of days, but I did before. He had a lot of butterflies as well.
Q: How important is it to seize this moment because you know it may never come along again?
Sedin: Yeah, that's huge for us. Raffi (Torres) has been through this before and he knows how hard it is to lose one of these games. You never know if you're going to get another chance. We have to try to enjoy it even though it's going to be nerve-wracking throughout the game.
Q: How hard is it to think about what can potentially come after this?
Sedin: I don't think it's anything you put in your mind. We've been through a lot of battles this playoffs, and we've stuck to our game plan and our system. That's what we have to do tonight. If we get too far ahead, we've seen what can happen.
Q: How long have you been wondering what Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final would like?
Sedin: Since I came over here. That's the first time as Europeans you really realize how big of a deal this is.
Q: So you've heard all these stories about what guys would compete for when they played street hockey or pond hockey, what did you play for in Sweden?
Sedin: The Swedish championship, or maybe the World Championships. This has gotten a lot bigger back in Sweden the last 10-15 years. We've got a lot of media here that follows us throughout the playoffs. This gets a lot of recognition back home.
Q: Have you been getting a lot of calls and texts from back home, and have you been able to block that out or do you embrace it?
Sedin: You embrace it. You can't really answer all the emails and texts, but you read them and you feel the support that you get from players around the League that you played with and from back home.
Q: At what point today do you put Game 7 out of your mind and just focus on the game plan? Or can you even do that?
Sedin: It's tough to do, but there comes a time, the closer you get to the game, when you have to start focusing on what you need to do when you get out there. There are a lot of thoughts that go through your mind leading up to this game, but the closer you get you have to start focusing.
Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl
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