96 Facts About Roberto Luongo

Roberto Luongo is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender.

Roberto Luongo played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers and the Vancouver Canucks.

Roberto Luongo was a finalist for several awards, including the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender, the Lester B Pearson Award as the top player voted by his peers, and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player.

In five seasons with Florida, Roberto Luongo established team records for most games played, wins and shutouts; despite several strong seasons the Panthers remained a weak team and were unable to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs during Roberto Luongo's initial stint with the team.

Roberto Luongo served in that capacity for two seasons before resigning from the position in September 2010.

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Internationally, Roberto Luongo has competed for Team Canada in numerous tournaments.

Roberto Luongo won two gold medals at the 2003 and 2004 World Championships and a silver in the 2005 World Championships.

Roberto Luongo won the 2004 World Cup championship and appeared in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin as a backup to Martin Brodeur in both instances.

Roberto Luongo succeeded Brodeur as Canada's starting goaltender during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, winning a gold medal.

Roberto Luongo was born to Pasqualina and Antonio Roberto Luongo in Montreal, Quebec.

Roberto Luongo's father is an Italian immigrant, born in Santa Paolina, Avellino.

Roberto Luongo worked in the construction and delivery of furniture, while Luongo's mother, an Irish-Canadian, worked in marketing with Air Canada.

Roberto Luongo has two younger brothers, Leo and Fabio, who aspired to be goaltenders.

Roberto Luongo's father spoke Italian and his mother spoke English with a little French at home.

Roberto Luongo graduated from Montreal Francophone high school Antoine de St-Exupery in 1996.

Roberto Luongo began playing organized hockey at the age of eight as a forward.

Roberto Luongo's father taught all his sons soccer and Luongo played until he was 14, at which point he decided to concentrate on hockey.

Several years later, after Roberto Luongo was cut from a peewee team, he made the switch to goaltender.

At 11 years old, his team's usual goaltender did not show up and after begging his mother, still hesitant about Roberto Luongo playing the position, he went in net and posted a shutout.

Roberto Luongo has credited Hall of Fame goaltender Grant Fuhr as his inspiration growing up, citing an admiration for his "spectacular glove saves".

Roberto Luongo had the opportunity to first meet Fuhr before a game against the Calgary Flames during his rookie season with the Islanders.

At the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, Roberto Luongo was selected in the first round, fourth overall, by the New York Islanders.

At the time of the draft, Roberto Luongo was the highest-picked goaltender in NHL history, surpassing Tom Barrasso, John Davidson, and Ray Martynuik's fifth overall selections in 1983,1973, and 1970.

Roberto Luongo went on to lead the Titan to his second consecutive President's Cup championship with a 2.

Roberto Luongo finished his QMJHL playoff career with the all-time league record in games played, minutes played, wins and shots faced.

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Early in the season, Roberto Luongo was called up to the Islanders on November 22,1999, after a shoulder injury to backup Wade Flaherty.

In January 2000, Roberto Luongo was publicly criticized by Islanders general manager Mike Milbury for having gone looking for an apartment in New York on a game day before letting in seven goals to the Boston Bruins.

Later in his career, Roberto Luongo expressed surprise at the trade, saying that before the Islanders drafted DiPietro, he had believed the team was preparing to make him its starting goaltender for the upcoming season.

When splitting the goaltending duties, Roberto Luongo went on to appear in 43 games, in comparison to Kidd's 42.

Roberto Luongo had a franchise record-setting shutout streak that lasted 144:51 minutes; it was snapped on January 20,2003, against the Montreal Canadiens.

Roberto Luongo was packaged with defenceman Lukas Krajicek and a sixth round draft pick in exchange for forward Todd Bertuzzi, defenceman Bryan Allen and goaltender Alex Auld.

Roberto Luongo expressed surprise, claiming that he and the Panthers were very close to a deal the day before the trade.

On January 9,2007, Roberto Luongo was voted in as a starting goaltender for the first time in his career for the Western Conference All-Stars.

Roberto Luongo spent the night in the intensive care unit for fears his windpipe would swell and become blocked.

Roberto Luongo went on to finish with a career-high 47 wins, one shy of league-leader Martin Brodeur, who broke Bernie Parent's thirty-three-year-old NHL record of wins in a season.

Roberto Luongo won three team awards – the Cyclone Taylor Trophy as MVP, the Molson Cup as the player with the most three-star selections, and the Most Exciting Player Award.

Roberto Luongo led the Canucks to a Northwest Division title and what was then a franchise record of 105 points, The team was seeded third in the Western Conference.

Roberto Luongo went on to win his first playoff series as the Canucks eliminated the Stars in seven games.

Roberto Luongo put forth a losing 56-save performance in the deciding fifth game against the Ducks.

However, Roberto Luongo finished second in the voting for all three awards, behind Brodeur for the Vezina and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Hart and Pearson.

Roberto Luongo was voted in as the 2008 NHL All-Star Game's Western Conference starting goalie for the second consecutive season, although he did not attend in order to be with his pregnant wife in Florida.

Many in the Vancouver media were quick to suggest trading Roberto Luongo, arguing that his large salary could be better spent, while pointing to several successful teams with relatively low-salary goalies.

Nevertheless, Roberto Luongo was presented at the year-end awards ceremony with the Scotiabank Fan Fav Award, a fan-voted award in its inaugural year for the league's favourite player.

The contract contains two additional clauses to circumvent the no-trade clause that allow Roberto Luongo to facilitate a trade after the fifth year and for the Canucks to facilitate a trade after the seventh year.

Roberto Luongo had been a personal friend of Clark's and publicly stated being surprised and disappointed with the switch.

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Midway through the campaign, Roberto Luongo was named the NHL's Second Star of the Month for December 2010.

Roberto Luongo became the 6th-youngest goaltender to reach the milestone and the 25th overall.

Roberto Luongo finished the season with a league-leading 38 wins, along with 22 losses.

Roberto Luongo helped the Canucks to their first Presidents' Trophy in team history with an NHL-best and franchise-record 54 wins and 117 points.

Roberto Luongo made 12 saves in relief of Schneider before Blackhawks forward Ben Smith scored in overtime.

Roberto Luongo's efforts included a cross-ice save on a one-timer from forward Patrick Sharp during a Blackhawks powerplay early on in the extra period.

Roberto Luongo maintained his performance in the Conference Finals against the San Jose Sharks, allowing 13 goals over 5 contests, including 54 saves in the fifth and deciding match, a game that went to double overtime.

Roberto Luongo's efforts helped the Canucks reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 17 years.

Roberto Luongo had the chance of joining the Triple Gold Club as the first goaltender in this finals series.

Roberto Luongo accomplished the feat in 364 games, 152 less than McLean.

Vigneault opted to start Schneider for the rest of the series, in order to give the Canucks some momentum, and Roberto Luongo remained on the bench for the remainder of the series as the Kings won four games to one.

Roberto Luongo came off the bench in game three after Schneider was pulled in the third period.

Roberto Luongo was the backup in game four as the Canucks lost in overtime, ending his team's postseason in four straight games.

Roberto Luongo put his penthouse up for sale, as it was accepted that he had played his final game as a Canuck.

Tortorella's decision was unpopular with the crowd as they booed Lack, while Roberto Luongo was unhappy as he had been looking forward to that game all season.

On March 4,2014, a day before the NHL trade deadline, Roberto Luongo was traded back to the Florida Panthers along with prospect Steven Anthony in exchange for goaltender Jacob Markstrom and centre Shawn Matthias.

Roberto Luongo was seen as key to helping build the Panthers into a strong contender.

On February 10,2019, Roberto Luongo played in his 1030th career game, passing Roy for second all-time behind Brodeur, who played 1,266 games in his career.

The Panthers would then retire his number on March 7,2020, with Roberto Luongo becoming the first player to earn this honor with the franchise.

Roberto Luongo made his international debut at the 1995 World U-17 Hockey Challenge in Moncton, New Brunswick, with Team Quebec, winning bronze.

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Roberto Luongo played backup to Victoriaville Tigres goaltender Mathieu Garon, going winless in three appearances with a 3.

Roberto Luongo became the starting goaltender the following year at the 1999 World Junior Championships in Winnipeg, Manitoba, appearing in seven of Canada's eight games.

Roberto Luongo went on to help Team Canada to the gold medal game against Russia, but lost in overtime, surrendering a goal to Artem Chubarov.

Roberto Luongo first appeared with the Canadian men's team at the 2001 World Championships in Germany.

Roberto Luongo played backup to Fred Brathwaite of the Calgary Flames before injuring his finger during the first game of the qualification round against Switzerland on May 4,2001.

Roberto Luongo earned wins against Latvia in the preliminaries and Switzerland in the qualifying round.

Roberto Luongo made his third appearance at the World Championships in 2004 in the Czech Republic.

Roberto Luongo played in seven games as the starting goaltender, recording a 2.

Several months later, Roberto Luongo competed for Team Canada in the 2004 World Cup as backup to Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils.

Roberto Luongo had another opportunity to step in as the starting goalie when Brodeur pulled out prior to the semi-final game against the Czech Republic due to a sprained wrist.

Roberto Luongo appeared in two games, including a shutout win against Slovenia in the round-robin.

Roberto Luongo again played behind Brodeur and appeared in two games.

Roberto Luongo's second appearance of the tournament was a loss to Finland, in the round-robin.

On December 31,2009, Roberto Luongo was selected to Team Canada, along with Brodeur and Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins as the three goaltenders.

Roberto Luongo was given the start for the first game against Norway.

Roberto Luongo helped Canada to four consecutive single-elimination game wins against Germany, Russia, Slovakia and the United States to capture the gold medal.

Out of position, Roberto Luongo managed to get his glove on the puck, deflecting it away from the net and preserving the win.

Four years later, Roberto Luongo was selected to Team Canada for his third straight Olympics.

Roberto Luongo played in the butterfly style of goaltending, dropping to his knees with his skates pointing outwards and his pads meeting in the middle in order to cover the bottom portion of the net.

An athletic goaltender, Roberto Luongo was known for having quick reflexes, particularly with his glove.

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Roberto Luongo's style began to be directed during his midget years with Allaire and Montreal-Bourassa goaltending coach Mario Baril.

Roberto Luongo sent tapes of his play to Allaire during his rookie season in the QMJHL and his former goaltending coach advised him to be more aggressive and come out of the net more to cut off angles and challenge shooters.

Vancouver Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault said that Roberto Luongo played best with more playing time over the length of the season.

Roberto Luongo received the Mark Messier Leadership Award in his first season with the Canucks for the month of March 2007.

On February 3,2021 it was announced that Roberto Luongo would serve as Assistant GM for Hockey Canada to build a team for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

On June 28,2022, Roberto Luongo was announced as part of the 2022 class of inductees for the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Roberto Luongo proposed to Gina under the Bridge of Sighs in Venice in 2004.

Roberto Luongo had been chosen as a starting goaltender for the 2008 NHL All-Star Game, but he chose not to attend in order to be with Gina, who was pregnant at the time and had returned to Florida.

Roberto Luongo sponsored a spectator's box in Rogers Arena that was reserved for underprivileged children to attend Canucks games.

In September 2011, Roberto Luongo was inducted into the Italian Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario.

Roberto Luongo was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.