Luongo Drops the "C" and gets a New Goalie Coach

It was truly an offseason of change for Roberto Luongo.

Let's start with the obvious: the all-star netminder is no longer the captain of the Vancouver Canucks. Luongo separated himself from the title a week ago, as well as the extra distractions that came with being the outright leader of a team with huge expectations in a market starved for success.

As much as Luongo enjoyed being the captain, the main man in the room, he showcased a great deal of maturity and selflessness in returning the captaincy. Nothing has actually changed with Luongo, though, who is approaching training camp and his game the way he always has.

"I'm the same guy, I'm not going to change the way I was whether I'm captain or not," Luongo said Saturday. "I'm going to be vocal when I feel I need to be and I'm just going to go about my business the same way. At the end of the day, really it's just a letter and a title and it doesn't really change much for me."

The true change for Luongo comes on the ice, as for the first time in his tenure with the Canucks, and dating back to his second year in Florida in 2001-02, he won't be working with goalie coach Ian Clark.
Clark was unable to the commit to the Canucks on a full-time basis and the team was convinced having someone around for Luongo every practice would benefit the 31-year-old goalie, so former Montreal Canadiens assistant coach Roland Melanson was brought in.

Melanson, the first goaltender born in New Brunswick to play in the NHL, spent 12 years in the League playing for five teams, winning three Stanley Cups with the Islanders from 1981-1983. His resume is impressive, but he and Luongo still need to establish a strong bond for their relationship to flourish. They put in some time this summer to get ahead of the game.

"I had a chance to work with him this summer when he came down to Florida for a week -- we had a chance to get a good ground and develop a relationship and work on some things," Luongo said.
"It's good to have that happen in August, because then once I get to camp I'm already familiar with certain things that he wants me to bring to my game."

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Roberto Luongo ready to drop the "C"

For weeks after the season, Roberto Luongo grappled with whether he wanted to remain the Vancouver Canucks captain.

He's expected to announce his decision in September when he arrives in Vancouver and meets with GM Mike Gillis for the first time since the spring.

"We decided to wait until I see him in September," said Gillis, who scrapped his original plan to meet with Luongo in July. "We're going to have a discussion about it and see where he's at. It's going to be a combination of input."

The most likely scenario is Luongo will give up his 'C.' Recent speculation has Henrik Sedin, the Hart Trophy winner, replacing him based on logic, if not sources.

The question then is why would Luongo choose to step down? He is the one who had a 'C' painted on his goalie mask when the league told him a goalie couldn't wear one on his jersey. He's the first Vancouver Canucks captain in 16 years to lead the team to the second round in consecutive seasons. And he told the Canucks in last season's exit meeting he "loves being captain."

But, at the same time, Luongo expressed frustration at the end of the year with "the other stuff." The distractions. He already vowed he will no longer talk to the media the morning of games.

Luongo said in May: "You want to be focused on the game and stopping the puck."

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Roberto Luongo Has Strong Game 1

The last time Roberto Luongo was on the United Center ice in the postseason, he had to deal with a case of whiplash from looking back into his net as the Blackhawks scored seven goals to eliminate the Vancouver Canucks from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2009.

One year later, Luongo erased any of those bad vibes with a 36-save performance in Vancouver's 5-1 win on Saturday night against the Blackhawks while recieving the first star of the game. He faced a barrage of shots in the first period -- 17 in all -- and stopped them all, allowing his teammates time to find their legs and score twice before the first intermission.

Luongo's best save came against the Patrick Kane, who was stoned on a breakaway with just under seven minutes to go in the first period and the score still just 1-0 in favor of the Canucks.

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Luongo Exited To get the Start Against Germany

Team Canada goalie Roberto Luongo is said to be playing in tonight's game against Germany. Luongo has already played one game so far and has posted a shutout stopping 15 shots. Martin Brodeur played the next game against the US where they lost 5-3 facing 22 shots and letting in 4 goals. Head Coach Mike Babcock wasn't very impressed with Brodeur. Luongo claims to be pumped up and exited to be playing in such a big game.

The rumor had it that the only game Luongo would play in would be the first one against Norway because it's his home rink but now it's very possible that luongo will be filling the net for the rest of the Olympics. Luongo has always been just behind Brodeur for the Olympics and now he is stepping up and above him.

Roberto Luongo Sharp for Team Canada

Team Canadas head coach Mike Babcock decided that he would give Roberto Luongo the first start in goal for the 2010 Olympics versus team Norway. Canada Won 8-0 with Luongo taking a shutout. This home town hero only faced 15 shots on goal but made some great saves on his home ice surface. "I think obviously there was much more electricity in the air" said Canucks captain Roberto Luongo.

Coming into the game I'm sure that Luongo was feeling confident because just on February 11th he played the Florida Panthers and won 3-0, facing 31 shots and taking home his fourth shutout of the season. We are currently unsure of the next appearance Luongo will be making in the Olympics.

Team Canada 2010 Olympic Goalies

The top 5 Canadian goalies got a tryout for this years 2010 men's Olympic hockey team. They were: Martin Brodeur, Cam Ward, Steve Mason, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Roberto Luongo. On Wednesday they had to make their final choice and narrow it down to the top 3 netminders. They decided to go with Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, and Marc-Andre Fleury.

They all put on a great show at camp but those three goalies have been a little better this year than the others.

Martin Brodeur: 27 Wins, 2.14 GAA, 0.922 SV%, 5 Shutouts

Roberto Luongo: 22 Wins, 2.27 GAA, 0.920 SV%, 2 Shutouts

Marc-Andre Fleury: 22 Wins, 2.58 GAA, 0.905 SV%, 0 Shutouts

Roberto Luongo Playing Great Since Injury

At the start of this season a lot of people were scared and nervous about Vancouver Canucks Captain Robeto Luongo. He wasn't playing well like he usually did and he was letting in far more goals than needed. He had one of the worst GAA ans SV% in the league. Then he got injure to make things worse for the Canucks.

After his return from his injury something changed. He started playing like he used to and started making those saves that Vancouver fans live for. Luongo has returned to his old self. From being nearly dead last with his GAA and SV% he has bumped it up to 2.56 GAA and 0.910 SV%. If he can continue with this performance you can expect to be seeing him in the red and white team Canada uniform for the 2010 Olympics.

Goalies Battling For 2010 Olympic Spot

There is a lot of talk about which goalies will be picked for the 2010 Team Canada Olympic spot. It seems that they have narrowed it down to 5 goalies. These goalies are Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Steve Mason, Cam Ward, and Marc-Andre Fleury. All five of these goalies have their pros and cons.

Martin Brodeur- He has a lot of experience and has led Team Canada to a gold medal before. Some people say hes past his prime and getting washed up.

Roberto Luongo- He has a couple of gold medals from Team Canada Experiences and has always been playing great but this season he hasn't proved anything yet.

Steve Mason- He led his team to a gold medal at the World Juniors and won rookie of the year. He has proves himself to be one of the best in the NHL.

Cam Ward- He has one gold medal with Team Canada under his belt and has always been reliable but not so much this season.

Marc-Andre Fleury- Marc-Andre Fleury has always been great in goal, he has 2 silver medals with Team Canada and since winning the cup last year he has really been playing well.

All of these goalies are great goalies and it would be very hard to pick a specific one. I think that they all have an equal shot at making the team.

Andrew Raycroft Stepping up for the Canucks

Since Roberto Luongo has been out with a hairline fracture to his rib, Vancouver has looked to backup net minder Andrew Raycroft to stand tall between the pipes. That is exactly what he is doing. He is really making his mark in Vancouver with 4 wins and only 1 loss. He has posted an amazing 1.60 goals against average and a 0.936 save percentage. On November 1st he posted his first shutout of the season with 18 saves against his former team, the Avalanche. If he can keep up this kind of play, Robrto Luongo will be in competition of the starting job.

Luongo With Serious Injury

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo is out with a fractured rib. When the Canucks were playing the Leafs, Roberto Luongo took a puck in the ribs the wrong way. He ended up finishing the game and recording his first shutout this year with 35 saves. He says "It kind of hurt, but the adrenaline was going so I finished the game."

He played the next game against the Red Wings not knowing his rib was fractured. They were up on them going into the third and then just lost it. The final score was 5-4. It's too bad it had to happen at just the time when he was getting back into his groove. "It's frustrating because I was really starting to feel good about my game and how the team was playing."

Luongo, Starting to Pick Things Up

Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks was headed off to a rough start this season. He was 0-3 with a bad save percentage and a very high goals against average. His very own fans were even booing him after a bad goal or bad play. He has since then began to pick things up a a lot. He is now 6-5 with one shutout. His goals against average is now down to 2.57 and his save percentage is up to 0.905. It's a good thing that he is now starting to play good because he is still trying to make team Canada for this years Olympics. He is up against some very good goalies like Cam Ward, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Martin Brodeur. It looks like he still has a chance to represent Canada.

Roberto Luongo's $64 million dollar Contract

On September 2nd 2009, 30 year old Roberto Luongo signed a huge $64 million dollar contract extension for a 12 year term. There was a lot of talk about weather or not Luongo would stay with the team once his contract was up. Just because of his last bad game in the playoffs nobody liked him. Luongo has done way more good than harm to the Canucks and that's why I think it's great for the Canucks to have signed him for that long. I just hope that he can lead his team to the cup sometime soon.

Roberto Luongo, With a Rough Finish and a Tough Start

The last game that Roberto Luongo played in the playoffs was not a pretty one. Vancouver lost to the Chicago Blackhawks 7-5 in game six for the Blackhawks to move a head to the next round. He ended the season poorly. Expecting to start the 2009/10 season strong, it wasn't quite that. In the first period he allowed 3 goals on 7 shots, which wasn't a good start. Vancouver ended up loosing that game to the Calgary Flames 5-3. Near the end of the game Luongo looked like he was finding his groove. Lets just hope he has found it for next game so he can get his team back on track.