Date Posted: June 13, 2011
Print Edition: June 10, 2011
By Joel Smart (The Cascade) – Email
Roberto Luongo AKA Luuuuu entered the NHL on November 28, 1999 recording a win against, you guessed it, the Boston Bruins. He faced 44 shots in his first game and made 43 saves. “I found out about my call-up after a practice in the AHL. I got called into the coaches’ office. After getting the news, I was very excited and nervous. The day of the game I had lots of butterflies but was overcome with joy and happiness,” he reflected in the Forty Years Canucks guide. “After my first game ended I was proud that I had finally realized my dream and couldn’t wait for the next one.” His first ever shutout came just under a month later… again defeating the Bruins!
Luongo has always had a knack for making history. In fact, picked fourth overall in the first round of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, he was the highest drafted goalie in NHL history at the time. He is also currently tied for second place in NHL history for recording 47 wins in a season, which he accomplished in his first season with the Canucks. He was also the first NHL goaltender to be named captain since Bill Durnan in 1947-48. He has since relinquished the title, but remains an emotional leader for the team.
At 6-foot-3, 217 pounds, and 32 years-of-age, Luongo has only one goal, and that’s to be the number on the back of his jersey. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, though neither of his parents are French Canadian. His father, Antonio, is an Italian immigrant, while his mother is Irish-Canadian. As a result, Luongo speaks fluent English, French, and Italian. Growing up, Luongo lived just four blocks away from superstar Canadian goaltender Martin Brodeur. In the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Luongo ended up carrying the team to a gold medal win when Brodeur was pulled after a bad loss to the United States. In order to do so, he had to win four elimination games in a row, against Germany, Russia, Slovakia, and the United States. He has also won Gold medals twice at the World Championships in 2003 and 2004 and also at the World Cup in 2004.
It was at age eight that Luongo began to play hockey. He played as a forward, despite wanting to play in net. His parents wanted him to work on his skating abilities, but at age 11 he finally got the chance when the regular goaltender did not show up to the game. Luongo recorded a shutout in that game. He has never looked back since.
Though drafted by the New York Islanders, he only played with the team for a single season, getting 24 starts and finishing with a .904 save percentage. It was a respectable save percentage, but also one that he has bested in each season since that time. Luongo was traded to the Florida Panthers, where he stayed from 2000-06. The only season he had more wins than losses was 05-06, when he recorded 35 wins and 30 losses. He was traded to Vancouver in a deal that sent Todd Bertuzzi and Alex Auld to Florida.
In 1994, Luongo was playing for the Montreal Bourassa of the Quebec Amateur Athletic Association. He then spent five years in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, four of them with the Val-D’or Foreurs and then with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan just before his NHL debut. He only played 29 games in the AHL, 26 of which were with the Islander’s farm team, the Lowell Lock Monsters (and three with the Louisville Panthers).
After crushing second-round defeats in the two seasons leading up to the 2011 playoffs against the Chicago Blackhawks, many were willing to throw Luongo under the bus. What he has done for the team this year has proven to everyone that we are truly lucky to have him in Vancouver. Go, Canucks, Go!
