Roberto Luongo

Roberto Luongo is a National Hockey League goaltender. He currently plays for the Vancouver Canucks. Born in Montreal, Canada, Luongo grew up playing hockey in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), where he excelled, earning him a comparisong to legendary goaltender Ken Dryden by Don Cherry after the CHL Prospects Gamehttp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1010324/2/index.htm.. In August of 2009, his hometown of St. Leonard honoured him by renaming the local arena the Roberto Luongo Arena. Growing up, he idolized NHL goaltender Grant Fuhr.

Luongo is the son of Pasqualina (Lina) and Antonio (Toni) Luongo. He has two brothers, Leo and Fabio, who are both hockey coaches in Quebec. He married his wife, Gina Cerbone, in Florida, in 2004. He has one child, a daughter, named Gabriella.

Roberto Luongo was drafted fourth overall by the New York Islanders in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. He was the highest drafted goalie in NHL League history until the Islanders drafted Rick DiPietro in 2000. After a season with the Islanders' American Hockey League affiliate, Luongo made his NHL debut on November 28, 1999, against the Boston Bruins when he stopped 43 out of 44 shots to earn his team the win. He became the starting goalie for the Islanders when Felix Potvin was traded to the Vancouver Canucks]] on December 19, 1999.

After only one season with the Islanders, Luongo was traded to the Florida Panthers along with Olli Jokinen in exchange for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha, on June 24, 2000. It was a trade that would haunt the Islanders for years to come, and is widely considered to be one of the worst trades in historyhttp://www.fiveminutesforfighting.com/2010/01/mad-mike-milbury.html. Luongo would appear in 43 games in his official rookie season (due to games played with NYI), and posted a .920 save percentage, second best ever for a rookies goaltenderhttp://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php?ci_id=11737&la_id=1&ss_id=61000&player_id=12373. During the 2003-2004 season he broke the NHL record for facing the most shots during a single season and making the most saves in one season and was nominated for the first time for both the Vezina Trophy and Lester B. Pearson Award. He also set a franchise record with seven shutouts, and solidified himself as a top tier NHL goaltender. On April 13, 2006, Luongo 107th win made him the franchise leader in wins by a goalie. He posted 35 wins in 2006-07, the most wins ever by a Panthers goalie.

Unable to reach an agreement on a new contract, Panthers GM Mike Keenan traded Luongo to the Vancouver Canucks on June 23, 2006. The trade was another candidate for worst trade in NHL history, and sent Lukáš Krajíček a sixth round draft pick (Sergei Shirokov) and Luongo to Vancouver for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen and Alex Auld. Bertuzzi would play 7 games for Florida, and Auld left after on disappointing year. With Vancouver, Luongo would set career records for wins (47) and shutouts (9), as well as appear in the NHL playoff for the first time. On September 30, 2008, Roberto Luongo was named captain of the Vancouver Canucks, replacing the departed Marcus Naslund. Although forbidden by NHL rules to wear the "C" on his sweater, Luongo had a "C" painted on to his facemask. On September 2, 2009, Luongo signed a 12-year contract extension worth $64 million with Vancouver, ensuring his place as the Vancouver Canucks starting goaltender for years to come.

In addition to a successful NHL career, Luongo has represented Canada in various international competitions throughout is career.

World Junior Championships: Luongo represented Canada twice at the World Junior Championships. He won a silver medal in 1999, and was named top goalie of the tournament.

World Championships: Roberto Luongo's inability to make the NHL playoffs during his years with the Florida Panthers was a benefit for Team Canada. Luongo represented Team Canada four times at the World Championships between 2001-2005, winning gold in both 2003 and 2004.

Olympics: Team Canada named Luongo to the Olympic team twice, in 2006 and 2010. In 2006, Luogo played backup to Team Canada started (and 2002 Gold Medalist) Martin Brodeur. He appeared in two games, winning one, before Canada was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Russia.

In 2010, Luongo played the opening game (an 8-0 win over Norway) before settling in as the backup to Brodeur. However, when Brodeur lost a crucial round-robin game to the United States, Luongo was called to be the starter. After a relatively easy 8-2 victory over Germany, Luongo and Team Canada faced a much tougher test in a re-match against Russia and NHL superstar Alex Ovechkin in the quarter-finals. Luongo would make 25 saves in a 7-3 victory. The semi-finals pit Canada against the surprising Slovakia who had advanced by beating the defending gold medalists, Sweden. Canada would win in a nail-biter, 3-2, after Luongo made an amazing last second glove save on Canucks teamate Pavol Demitra. The Gold Medal game was a rematch of the 2002 Olympics, Canada vs. USA. Luongo made 34 saves, including a crucial, spectacular, save in overtime just seconds before the winning goal was scored by Sidney Crosby.