Roberto Luongo could also be retired from the NHL, however he by no means mentioned something about beer league hockey. The Corridor of Fame goaltender volunteered as an alternative choice to one males’s league staff and led them to a giant playoff win.

One males’s league staff wanted a goaltender on brief discover, so that they posted a “goalie wanted” advert on Fb. That may be considerably of a crapshoot. Generally, you get a netminder who simply popped the tags off his tools final week. Different occasions, you get an Olympic gold medalist with 489 profession wins within the NHL.

Luongo gave one fortunate staff the latter, and to nobody’s shock, they gained the sport. Luongo scored yet another clutch playoff victory, 4-2, and helped his short-term staff defeat the five-time reigning champs.

One can solely think about the appears on the faces of Luongo’s opponents, slowly realizing in warmups {that a} Corridor of Famer is between the pipes on the different finish. Regardless of the loss, whoever managed to get these two targets previous him will bear in mind these eternally.

Luongo was the No. 4 general decide by the New York Islanders within the 1997 NHL Draft and went on to play 19 seasons on the NHL stage. In 1,044 profession video games between the Isles, Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks, Luongo posted a GAA of two.52 and a save share of .919 to associate with 77 shutouts.

In 2010, Luongo was the beginning goaltender for Staff Canada after they defeated the US to win the gold medal on the Vancouver Olympics.

Luongo now works as a entrance workplace govt for the Panthers, and he received to carry the Stanley Cup with the staff after its first championship in June.