Roberto Luongo calls on Canucks to 'Free the Skate'

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Former Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo gave a touch-perfect speech Thursday night time at Rogers Enviornment for the revealing of his spot within the crew’s ring of honour, and he closed together with his strongest take.

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He referred to as on the Canucks to “free the skate,” throwing his assist behind a marketing campaign that’s been going for just a few years now for the Canucks to revert full time again to the skate-themed jerseys, paying homage to their Nineties look, which they now have as their third jersey.

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It drew a loud roar from the group, who had already paid tribute to him with a number of “Luuuuuus” in celebration of their previous favorite goalie.

Luongo’s name to free the skate — a jersey he by no means wore — was the conclusion to a effective speech that rounded up his time in Vancouver.

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First, Luongo listed off a collection of reminiscences.

He famous the primary playoff recreation he performed in Vancouver, a quadruple-overtime thriller, was received on a Henrik Sedin purpose.

He talked about profitable gold on the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, having famous earlier within the day to the assembled media that every one he remembered from that recreation was the end, an additional time purpose by Sidney Crosby.

“I didn’t take a stride,” he mentioned of his glide down the ice to hitch the mad celebration together with his Workforce Canada teammates, arms prolonged to the sky in ecstasy.

He was thanking God, he advised the Rogers Enviornment crowd.

Then he talked about his previous good friend Alex Burrows’ series-winning purpose in opposition to the Chicago Blackhawks in Sport 7 of the primary spherical of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs.

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He referred to as the moments that adopted essentially the most thrilling in his hockey profession.

And he famous having an ideal view of Kevin Bieksa’s famed “stanchion” purpose to get rid of the San Jose Sharks within the Western Convention last just a few weeks later.

The most effective reminiscences of his lengthy profession all happened on the identical ice the place he was standing, he mentioned.

Then he thanked the followers.

“It wasn’t at all times rainbows and butterflies, there have been some more durable instances. However these instances made me who I’m immediately,” he mentioned.

To open the affair, the Canucks had the Sedins and Cory Schneider out on the carpet, with Schneider serving as MC. The Canucks performed a spotlight video of Luongo’s Vancouver profession, with a nook of the display screen reserved for a reside response video image of Luongo, who clearly had tears in his eyes seeing the clips of his youthful self.

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Earlier than the ceremony closed and the anthems started, Luongo was met at centre ice for a novel faceoff between Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko and Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

The becoming conclusion to all of it was to look down at Luongo and Schneider throughout the anthems and see the 2 Canucks goalie greats, suited up, each doing the shuffle all goalies do throughout the anthem, rocking backward and forward.

Some issues you’ll be able to by no means stop.

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