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Patrice Potvin Martin Riopel Biography & Facts

Roberto Luongo (, Italian: [ˈlwɔŋɡo], Neapolitan: [ˈlwoŋɡə]; born April 4, 1979) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, and the Vancouver Canucks. In 2022, Luongo was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Luongo is a two-time NHL All-Star (2004 and 2007) and a winner of the William M. Jennings Trophy for backstopping his team to the lowest goals against average in the league (2011, with backup Cory Schneider). He was a finalist for several awards, including the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender (2004, 2007, and 2011), the Lester B. Pearson Award as the top player voted by his peers (2004 and 2007), and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player (2007). Luongo is second all time in games played as an NHL goaltender (1,044) and fourth all time in wins (489). He employed the butterfly style of goaltending. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Luongo is of Italian and Irish ancestry. Prior to his NHL career, he played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) for the Val-d'Or Foreurs and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, winning back-to-back President's Cups and establishing the league's all-time play-off records in games played and wins. Following his second QMJHL season, Luongo was selected fourth overall by the Islanders in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. After splitting his professional rookie season between the Islanders and their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Lowell Lock Monsters in 1999–2000, he was traded to the Panthers. In five seasons with Florida, Luongo established team records for most games played, wins and shutouts; despite several strong seasons, however, the Panthers remained a weak team and were unable to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs during Luongo's initial stint with the team. During the 2006 off-season, he was traded to the Canucks after failed contract negotiations with the Panthers. In his first season in Vancouver, Luongo won 47 games, and was runner-up in voting for both the Hart Memorial Trophy (league MVP) and Vezina Trophy (best goaltender). Following his second year with the Canucks, he became the first NHL goaltender to serve as a team captain since Bill Durnan in the 1947–48 season. Luongo served in that capacity for two seasons before resigning from the position in September 2010. In the subsequent 2010–11 season, he helped the Canucks to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals but lost to the Boston Bruins. During his eight-year tenure with Vancouver, Luongo became the team's all-time leader in wins and shutouts. He returned to the Panthers during the 2013–14 season, where he spent the remainder of his career, qualifying for the playoffs with the Panthers only once during that time. He was the last active goaltender to have played in the NHL in the 1990s. Internationally, Luongo has competed for Team Canada in numerous tournaments. As a junior, he won a silver medal at the 1999 World Junior Championships, while being named Best Goaltender in his second tournament appearance. Luongo won two gold medals at the 2003 and 2004 World Championships and a silver in the 2005 World Championships. He also won the 2004 World Cup championship and appeared in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin as a backup to Martin Brodeur in both instances. He succeeded Brodeur as Canada's starting goaltender during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, winning a gold medal. On January 7, 2014, he was named to the 2014 Canadian Olympic hockey team, where he won his second Olympic gold medal in a largely backup role to Carey Price. Early life Luongo was born to Pasqualina and Antonio Luongo in Montreal, Quebec. His father is an Italian immigrant, born in Santa Paolina, Avellino. He worked in the construction and delivery of furniture, while Luongo's mother, an Irish-Canadian, worked in marketing with Air Canada. Antonio and Pasqualina married in Montreal after Antonio immigrated there in 1976. Luongo has two younger brothers, Leo and Fabio, who also aspired to be goaltenders. Fabio progressed the further of the two, playing Junior A in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) with the Williams Lake Timberwolves in 2004–05 before injuries ended his career. He has since become a Junior AAA coach, while Leo is a goaltending coach with HC Lugano. Luongo and his family lived in Saint-Leonard, Quebec, a borough north of Montreal with a strong Italian community, just four blocks away from Martin Brodeur, who became the goaltender for the New Jersey Devils six years before Luongo entered the NHL. Luongo is fluent in English, French and Italian. His father spoke Italian and his mother spoke English with a little French at home. Luongo graduated from Montreal Francophone high school Antoine de St-Exupéry in 1996. He began playing organized hockey at the age of eight as a forward. His father taught all his sons soccer and Luongo played until he was 14, at which point he decided to concentrate on hockey. Although he initially had the desire to play in net, his parents wanted him to develop his skating first. Several years later, after 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 Luongo playing the position, he went in net and posted a shutout. In August 2009, the arena in which Luongo played his minor hockey in St. Leonard was named after him as the Roberto Luongo Arena. It is the second arena in the community to be named after an NHL goaltender after the Martin Brodeur Arena was renamed as such in 2000. By 15, Luongo was playing midget with Montreal-Bourassa, the same team that produced NHL Quebecer goaltenders Brodeur and Félix Potvin. Luongo has credited Hall of Fame goaltender Grant Fuhr as his inspiration growing up, citing an admiration for his "spectacular glove saves". He had the opportunity to first meet Fuhr before a game against the Calgary Flames during his rookie season with the Islanders. Playing career Junior career (1995–1999) The Val-d'Or Foreurs made Luongo the highest-drafted goaltender in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) history, at second overall, in 1995. He began his junior career in the 1995–96 season with Val-d'Or and posted six wins in 23 games played. As the team's starting goaltender the following season in 1996–97, he improved to a team-record 32 wins, and was awarded the Mike Bossy Trophy as the league's best professional prospect. After his performance at the 1997 CHL Top Prospects Game, opposing coach Don Cherry likened Luongo to Montreal Canadiens' Hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden, while NHL Central Scouting Bureau director Frank Bonello heralded him as a "franchise goaltender". At the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, Luongo was selected in the first round, fourth overall, by the New York Islanders. The pick originally belonged to the Toronto Maple Leafs but w.... Discover the Patrice Potvin Martin Riopel popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Patrice Potvin Martin Riopel books.