NHL News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Newsletter

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

Roberto Luongo Is Finally A Stanley Cup Champion

Originally posted on Florida Hockey Now
By George Richards, FHN Publisher | Last updated Jun 27, 2024 8:26 AM ET

It is no surprise that Roberto Luongo is having fun with the Stanley Cup.

After 19 seasons in a Hall of Fame career in which he was unable to win this most cherished prize, Luongo officially became a Stanley Cup champion on Monday night when the Panthers won Game 7 of the Final against the Edmonton Oilers.

He threw that Cup up in the air like he had been waiting to do so his entire life.

Which he had been.

“It felt like it weighed two pounds,’’ Luongo said with a grin. “It was not heavy at all. I would lift it up all night if I could.’’

Luongo has been part of the team’s front office since Dale Tallon brought him in not long after his retirement in 2019.

He is currently an advisor to Bill Zito and heads up Florida’s goaltending department.

On Wednesday night, he and Zito took the Stanley Cup to dinner, sharing it with patrons of Heritage in Fort Lauderdale not far from the team’s new practice facility at Holiday Park.

Not only was a pizza served on the Cup, but Luongo made sure to eat some pasta out of it as well.

Earlier in the day, he was photographed with the Cup at the IcePlex where, we can assume, he was gearing up for the NHL Draft.

Or playing Minesweeper. Or Tweeting.

Carbo loading pic.twitter.com/BuOwl0KB1e

— Strombone (@strombone1) June 27, 2024

Luongo is certainly living the good life with his Panthers these days.

Prior to Game 7, the Panthers had him slip a jersey over his shirt-and-tie and beat the hell out of a bass drum to get the building going.

Luongo looked ready for anything with that mallet in his hand.

After the Panthers lost three straight games in the Final, he was wired.

“I had a lot of pent-up emotion from the past week,” Luongo said “I had a lot of emotion I had to let out. The closest thing I can compare this to, the joy and having the weight lifted off your shoulders, would be the 2010 Gold Medal Game. You are happy to win, but it is as much relief as anything.”

Luongo, of course, had been on the wrong end of a Game 7 as a player.

Now it feels real. @StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/xEQDWgbzmC

— Panther Pourri: A Florida Hockey Now Podcast (@PantherPourri) June 27, 2024

In 2011, the Boston Bruins beat Luongo and the Canucks in Vancouver to win the Cup.

On Monday night, Luongo was on the ice in Sunrise celebrating this Florida win with two members of the 2011 Bruins in Shawn Thornton and Gregory Campbell.

”It’s pretty amazing,’’ Luongo said. “Man, what a crazy few weeks. We have so much confidence in this group. Even though things didn’t look too great, but we knew coming into tonight they would give us their best game. They executed the plan to perfection.

“Going into the third up 2-1 I was feeling pretty good about it. You never know with McDavid and Draisaitl on the other side, but our boys looked like they were dialed in tonight.”