Huge New Roberto Luongo Piece of History Joins the Collection!

**IrbeFan4Life** · 06-25-2022, 05:33 PM

The newest piece of history into the archives of my company, "Heroes of the Crease", is here and it is of one of the greatest goalies in the entire history of the NHL.

Born on April 4, 1979, in Montreal, Quebec, Roberto Luongo was drafted 4th overall by the New York Islanders in 1997. A two-time QMJHL Champion and World Junior Championship silver medalist and best goalie thereafter, Luongo made his NHL debut on November 28, 1999 vs Boston. Luongo stopped 43 of 44 shots in a 2-1 win. Despite his early NHL potential showing over 24 games with the Isles, he was traded to the Panthers on Draft Day 2000 as the Isles had drafted Rick DiPietro 1st overall that day.

In Florida, Luongo established himself as a solid goalie who could perform while facing an unholy amount of shots while carrying a 70+ game workload. He appeared in 318 games in his first stint with the Panthers from 2000-2006, and in that time, he was also an NHL All-Star (2004), a two-time IIHF Worlds Gold Medalist (2003, 2004), an IIHF Worlds Silver Medalist (2005), as well as a World Cup of Hockey Gold Medalist (2005).

In a landmark trade in 2006, Luongo was traded by the Panthers to the Canucks, where he had some of the most successful years of his NHL career. He appeared in 4 NHL All-Star games in that time, won two Olympic Gold Medals with Team Canada, and he also led the NHL with wins and the lowest goals against average in 2011. Over 448 games with Canucks from 2006 to 2014, Luongo also led Vancouver to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins where they fell in seven games to Boston. In 2014, Luongo was traded back to the Florida Panthers and he played the final six seasons of his NHL career there.

Luongo is one of only three NHL goalies in NHL history to play over 1000 career games and as it currently stands, he is: 2nd all time in games played (1044), 4th all time in wins (489), 2nd all time in losses (392), 9th all time in shutouts (77), and 2nd all time for shots faced in his career (30924).

In his NHL career, Roberto Luongo appeared in 1044 regular season NHL games, recording a 489-392-33-91 record with 77 shutouts, 23 assists, a 2.52GAA, and a 0.919% save average. In 70 playoff games, he went 34-35, with five shutouts, a 2.49GAA and a 0.918% save average.

What you are looking at right now is a game worn Reebok blocker used by Luongo in the 2008-09 NHL season and is definitively photomatched from April 4, 2009 up to May 11, 2009 which saw the Canucks eliminated in game six of the second round of the playoffs against Chicago. It saw action in two consecutive shutouts to close out the regular season and it was also worn when he recorded his first career playoff shutout on April 17, 2009 against St. Louis.

Dates of Game Use:
April 4, 2009 vs Edmonton (20-24, 5-3L)
April 5, 2009 vs Colorado (22-26, 4-1L)
April 7, 2009 vs Calgary (46-47, 4-1W)
April 9, 2009 vs Los Angeles (20-20, 1-0W)
April 11, 2009 vs Colorado (22-22, 1-0W)
April 15, 2009 vs St. Louis (25-26, 2-1W)
April 17, 2009 vs St. Louis (30-30, 3-0W)
April 19, 2009 vs St. Louis (24-26, 3-2W)
April 21, 2009 vs St. Louis (47-49, 3-2W)
April 30, 2009 vs Chicago (28-31, 5-3W)
May 2, 2009 vs Chicago (26-31, 6-3L)
May 5, 2009 vs Chicago (23-24, 3-1W)
May 7, 2009 vs Chicago (26-28, 2-1OTL)
May 9, 2009 vs Chicago (26-29, 4-2L)
May 11, 2009 vs Chicago (23-30, 7-5L)

Photomatched: Yes

**pwskelly** · 06-25-2022, 05:41 PM

Very nice piece. Luongo is definitely a legend and will probably soon be in the HHOF. This could be a centrepiece for any goalie or Luongo collection.