Written by Cameron Healey
Luongo was born on April 4, 1979 in Montreal. His father was originally from Italy, while his grandparents on his mothers side were also from Italy. He started playing goalie when he was 12-years-old and he would have started playing goalie earlier if it weren’t for his mother’s concerns. He played junior hockey in the QMJHL and he was drafted to the NHL by the New York Islanders, who selected him 4th overall in the 1997 draft. He was traded to the Florida Panthers in 2000, after just one year with the Islanders. In 2006, he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks where he established himself as one of the best goalies in the league. In 2014, he was traded back to the Florida Panthers where he would play out the remainder of his career. During the peak of his NHL career, which spanned from around 2004 to 2013, he was regarded as one of the best goalies in the NHL. Even when he was out of his prime, he still put up solid numbers, whereas other goalies in the league at his age would have declined and had stat lines that aren’t nearly as impressive.
Playing in the NHL was already an amazing feat for Luongo, but his actions off the ice truly made him the person he is and have cemented his legacy as one of the best to ever play. In 2011, the Vancouver Canucks, led by Roberto Luongo, lost game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in heartbreaking fashion, losing 4-0. The wounds from that loss are still deep and for many players on that 2011 Canucks team, including Luongo, even bringing up the loss is like pouring salt and lemon juice into the wound. In 2020, the Florida Panthers held a virtual five kilometre charity run, in which Luongo participated in. Before the run however, he tweeted this: “I’d rather sit down and watch the 2011 Stanley Cup Final with@ThorntonFDN than run 5K but It’s a great cause so I’m in! I’d like to nominate@KevinWeekes and @jamiemclennan29 #territorytrot #virtual5k.” This shows Luongo’s passion for the community, displaying that he hates running so much, yet still going out for the charity run. In 2018, a school shooting rocked the town of Parkland, which is where Luongo lives with his wife and kids. Luongo was on a road trip at the time, in Vancouver for a game. When the team played their first game back home after the trip, there was a ceremony for the victims. When the ceremony was ending Luongo took the microphone and delivered an extremely emotional speech, which was unplanned. Luongo acknowledged the teachers that died trying to save the students calling them heroes: “Just to the teachers of the school, you guys are heroes protecting your children. Some of them didn’t make it, trying to protect children. That is truly what a hero is.” Luongo’s actions in the community prove that he is better off the ice, as opposed to on the ice, truly making him a legend within the hockey community.
Throughout Luongos career, he represented team Canada several times at international tournaments. His first time playing in a team Canada jersey was at the 1998 world junior ice hockey championships, where he only played three games. At the 1999 world juniors, he played all seven games but fell short of the gold medal, when they lost 3-2 to Russia in overtime, on home soil in Winnipeg. During the tournament, Luongo had a .942 save percentage and a 1.92 goals against average. In 2001, Luongo competed in the world championships, where he only played two games but still put up incredibly impressive numbers.
He continued to represent Canada at various world events up until 2006, where he finally got his first big break on the international stage. He backed up Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur and played only two games as Canada lost in the quarterfinal to Russia. In 2010, Luongo would seek revenge. The winter olympics were held in Vancouver, which just happened to be where he was currently playing for the Vancouver Canucks. Despite being one of the best goalies in the NHL at the time, it was expected that he would once again backup Martin Broduer, if he made the team. Luckily, Luongo made the team and got the nod to start the first game, where he got a shutout against Norway. The next two games had head coach, Mike Babcock, start Broduer, who barely held on against Switzerland as Canada won 3-2 in a shootout, and then lost to the USA 5-3. After two mediocre games from Broduer, Luongo was once again given the nod where he did not disappoint. He led Canada to the gold medal game, which went into overtime, tied at 2-2. A turnover by Canada in their own zone led an American player with an easy shot and lots of open net to shoot at. It was supposed to be a goal, it should have been a goal. But Luongo made an insane point blank save with his glove before quickly dropping the puck and passing it to a teammate. Twenty seconds later, the game was over, as Crosby scored the winner in what may be the best Canadian sporting moment of all time. Luongo also won gold in 2014 with team Canada although he was backing up
Luongo may have one of the best goalie careers of all time. He is ranked 2nd among all goalies for regular season NHL games played with 1044 and 2nd for most saves made with 28,409. Among NHL goalies with at least 200 regular season games played he ranks 10th all time in save percentage, at .919. His best season in terms of save percentage was in 2004, where he put up an astonishing .931, and his best season in terms of goals against average was in 2011 with a 2.11 That same year, he also won the William M Jennings trophy as the goaltender who played at least 25 games that year while their team allowed the least amount of goals among the rest of the teams all season. Luongo also had 77 career shutouts in NHL regular season games ranking him 9th of all time. After Luongo’s retirement, the Florida Panthers retired his jersey number, meaning that no Florida Panther will ever wear his number 1 again. Luongo is also being inducted into the hockey hall of fame as part of the 2022 class, along with former Canuck teammates Henrik Sedin, and Daniel Sedin.
It goes without saying that through his career achievements and community work, Roberto Luongo is one of the best and most influential Canadian goalies of all time. His career achievements highlighted by incredible statistics as well as honours from the NHL only inflate his legendary status as one of the best to ever lace em up.
Bibliography
“Roberto Luongo.” Wikipedia, 4 Oct. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Luongo.
“Roberto Luongo at Eliteprospects.com.” Www.eliteprospects.com, www.eliteprospects.com/player/8546/roberto-luongo.
“Roberto Luongo Stats and News.” NHL.com, www.nhl.com/player/roberto-luongo-8466141.
“Strombone1.” Twitter, 19 Apr. 2020, twitter.com/strombone1/status/1251909208880156672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1251909208880156672%7Ctwgr%5Ea061dbbf5588c3746a1e96a1cc7b08924c6e7064%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bardown.com%2Froberto-luongo-would-rather-do-just-about-anything-than-rewatch-the-2011-scf-1.1467911.
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Centurione, Tori. “Italian-Canadian Professional Female Ice Hockey: Laura Fortino.” In Archival Research of Italian-Canadian Immigration and Culture, supvr. T. Russo, issue 4: Sports in Italian-Canadian Communities, Brock University, December 2022, St. Catherines (Sports in Italian-Canadian Communities – Italian-Canadian Narratives Showcase (italianheritage.ca)). Italian-Canadian Narratives Showcase (ICNS), Sandra Parmegiani and Nivashinee Ponambalum.