Vancouver Canucks: Roberto Luongo reflects on 2011 Stanley Cup loss
Former Vancouver Canucks goalie did an interview with Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star. As it turns out, ‘Bobby Lou’ isn’t sure he’s gotten over the gut-wrenching 2011 Stanley Cup Final defeat.
Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final remains the most gut-wrenching on ice moment in Vancouver Canucks history.
In what was supposed to be the cherry on top of the franchise’s most successful season ever, the Canucks instead saw Zdeno Chara and the Boston Bruins hoist the Stanley Cup over their heads. The Canucks never stood a chance, losing 4-0 to the bigger, badder and hungrier Bruins.
Vancouver hasn’t been back to the Final since. Not only that, but they haven’t won a playoff series since. They were oh-so-close to finally capturing that championship that eluded them for 40 years, but it wasn’t meant to be.
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World class goalie Roberto Luongo – who won 38 games that season – received much of the blame for the loss. He did give up 20 goals in the best-of-seven series, and his .891 save percentage left a lot to be desired.
But let’s not forget Vancouver was shut out twice in that series, and the defencemen couldn’t hold their ground.
The forwards were simply not tough enough to withstand punishing bumps and bruises from the Beantown Bullies.
Luongo is the greatest goalie in franchise history, and it’s hard to envision the Canucks reaching the Stanley Cup Final without him.
Blame him or not, the team simply failed to get the job done. And in a recent interview with Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star, Luongo admitted that he’s unsure if he’s fully gotten over the tough Game 7 loss.
“I don’t know if I’m really over it still. Not the result itself, because listen, somebody’s got to win, somebody’s got to lose, whatever. But just the way I reacted to certain things, and the way I let it bother me in a situation where I was in the Stanley Cup final and I was not enjoying it as much as I should have.I was living out a dream playing for the Cup, and I was not enjoying the moment because I was worried about outside stuff that was not important, and that’s the stuff that was hard to deal with for me. Obviously, losing is the worst. One game away from the Stanley Cup, which would have been unbelievable.”
Luongo would lead the Canucks to consecutive Northwest Division titles in 2012 and 2013, but the Canucks were ousted in the first round both years.
After being benched in favour of Eddie Lack for the 2014 Heritage Classic game, Luongo had enough and got traded back to the Florida Panthers near the deadline. And with that, a bittersweet seven-year tenure in Vancouver came to an end.
It’s unfortunate that ‘Bobby Lou’ never won a Stanley Cup in Vancouver, and he received far too much of the blame and criticism for the team’s playoff shortcomings. But Luongo will also be remembered as the netminder who backstopped Team Canada to Olympic gold at the 2010 games in Vancouver.
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The soon-to-be 39-year-old is still playing at an elite level for Florida, and there is time for him to win a championship in the Sunshine State. And if there’s one player in the league who deserves the Stanley Cup more than anybody else at this stage, it’s undoubtedly Luongo.