Roberto Luongo on Canada Defeating Norway 8-0

by Kevin Woodley

Kevin Woodley is a rec-league target and former contributing editor of the Goalie News. He has written about the Vancouver Canucks and NHL for The Associated Press, USA Today, Sports Illustrated and The Hockey News for the last decade, and is currently at the Olympics for AP.Last night after the game Luongo spoke with the Media about the game:

Although Luongo is obviously very familiar with playing in GM Place, last night was a different experience as he described the great atmosphere in the building and the support of the home crowd:

”The fans were great and I was really pumped up to play in front of them and obviously they were very supportive the whole game,” smiled Luongo after a 15-save performance that forced him to be Luongo-eske twice at most.

“There was much more electricity in the air, this is big for Canada and for Vancouver, you definitely felt the electricity, kind of felt like a playoff game.”

There obviously wasn’t as much action for him last night against a team that didn’t have any NHL players in the lineup:

“There’s not a lot of action, but I think I was more tired skating to the bench for penalties and skating out to the corners to play the puck than anything else,” joked Luongo, who is now 2-1-0 in Olympic play dating back to the 2006 Games in Torino.

Martin Brodeur will be in the net on Thursday at 4:30 PST vs. Jonas Hiller and Switzerland. Luongo was asked what his expectations are after that and if coach Mike Babcock has let them know what his plan is:

“I spoke to Babs a few weeks ago and he told me we’d be splitting the first few games and he said after that we’ll see,” said Luongo. “For me, I’m just focused on doing my job and if I get the tap, I’ll be ready to go.

“I’m not here to prove anything, I’m here to help the team and the country the best way I can, for me it was special to play in front of the fans tonight and I was really happy with the way things went.”