“...A hero. Not the hero we deserved – the hero we needed.” That’s Commissioner Gordon standing at the podium of Harvey Dent’s funeral in “The Dark Knight”. The start of an epic speech and a way to look at Roberto Luongo’s time in Vancouver.
For the Canucks the off-season has been about how they will handle the goalie situation. The battle between Cory Schneider and Luongo seems to be coming to an end with the man we’ve yelled “LOUUUUUU” to on so many occasions being moved out. Amidst rampant trade speculation, we’re left to look back on Luongo’s time with no cause for celebration and a feeling of remorse of what could have and maybe should have been. And the truth is with Luongo there is somehow both a certain attachment and detachment towards him. An attachment in the sense that, upon his arrival he was used as a measuring stick to the Martin Brochus, Kevin Weekes, Dan Cloutiers of the world.... so we loved and revered him for that.
For the Canucks the off-season has been about how they will handle the goalie situation. The battle between Cory Schneider and Luongo seems to be coming to an end with the man we’ve yelled “LOUUUUUU” to on so many occasions being moved out. Amidst rampant trade speculation, we’re left to look back on Luongo’s time with no cause for celebration and a feeling of remorse of what could have and maybe should have been. And the truth is with Luongo there is somehow both a certain attachment and detachment towards him. An attachment in the sense that, upon his arrival he was used as a measuring stick to the Martin Brochus, Kevin Weekes, Dan Cloutiers of the world.... so we loved and revered him for that.
Finally it could no longer be said “Well only if we had a good goalie.” We finally understood what it meant to have a goalie carry our team, put a whole city on his back and give us confidence that any night, no matter what happened in front of him... you had a chance to win. We hadn't had that feeling since Kirk McLean and even that wasn't a prolonged period. Those first years with him in the crease, it gave us irrational belief that maybe, JUUUST MAYBE, we would see our first cup. Fact is, the teams in-front of him were pretty bad. And it took 4-6 years for the recipe to be perfected, but finally the team came together, and ultimately, we were let down. He shouldered his share of the blame, fair or not (I mean the team did only score 8 goals in 7 games vs. Boston.... to put that into perspective, Boston scored 8 in game 3 and 9 in games 6-7 combined). Those expectations, led to the detachment.
We've been let down by him perhaps as a result from that attachment. And at the end of the day, we still landed Luongo.... as in - he was never really "OURS.” We never drafted him; he fell into our laps via trade. So by the 6th year, those goals that made us cringe when they went in, we didn’t ask ourselves if moments like that were still worth supporting him. We started looking for the greener grass. And we knew the hero we wanted was in the same city.
“...he’s the hero Gotham deserves.” More Commissioner Gordon in “The Dark Knight” and also, what Cory Schneider has become in the eyes of Canuck Fans.
Cory Schneider was given more responsibility and more pressure this year and handled it well. The Canucks staff has signed him up and signalled their intention of who is playing in goal. Cory Schneider, is our guy.... we drafted him 8 YEARS AGO! But even now, we don't really know anything about him. We SHOULD, but we don't have that same connection to him like Montreal fans have with Carey Price, or Penguins fans have with Marc-Andre Fleury or Carolina fans with Cam Ward.... And we so badly want to rally behind him; we just haven’t been given that chance because Cory Schneider has all of 68 games under his belt.
And that's what makes trading Luongo so weird. We don't know what sort of unchartered waters we're going towards. We know we can get to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals with Roberto Luongo, we haven’t seen anything like that from Schneider. Of course the hope is that his current potential trajectory stays on course, but we’ve convinced ourselves that the net isn’t big enough for these two goalies. Both are sublime talents and despite what irrational bandwagon Canuck Fan is gonna say about Luongo (“Worst. Goalie. Ever”) he’s still an elite talent in goal. But once he’s moved, if we're left with positive acquisitions creating new memories from Luongo... somehow that'll make it all ok. Luongo has become the bridge between what we needed and what we deserve. We’ve tasted what good goaltending is like, and now we have a chance to do it with our own player who has been brought up inside our organization.
“You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”
We've been let down by him perhaps as a result from that attachment. And at the end of the day, we still landed Luongo.... as in - he was never really "OURS.” We never drafted him; he fell into our laps via trade. So by the 6th year, those goals that made us cringe when they went in, we didn’t ask ourselves if moments like that were still worth supporting him. We started looking for the greener grass. And we knew the hero we wanted was in the same city.
“...he’s the hero Gotham deserves.” More Commissioner Gordon in “The Dark Knight” and also, what Cory Schneider has become in the eyes of Canuck Fans.
Cory Schneider was given more responsibility and more pressure this year and handled it well. The Canucks staff has signed him up and signalled their intention of who is playing in goal. Cory Schneider, is our guy.... we drafted him 8 YEARS AGO! But even now, we don't really know anything about him. We SHOULD, but we don't have that same connection to him like Montreal fans have with Carey Price, or Penguins fans have with Marc-Andre Fleury or Carolina fans with Cam Ward.... And we so badly want to rally behind him; we just haven’t been given that chance because Cory Schneider has all of 68 games under his belt.
And that's what makes trading Luongo so weird. We don't know what sort of unchartered waters we're going towards. We know we can get to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals with Roberto Luongo, we haven’t seen anything like that from Schneider. Of course the hope is that his current potential trajectory stays on course, but we’ve convinced ourselves that the net isn’t big enough for these two goalies. Both are sublime talents and despite what irrational bandwagon Canuck Fan is gonna say about Luongo (“Worst. Goalie. Ever”) he’s still an elite talent in goal. But once he’s moved, if we're left with positive acquisitions creating new memories from Luongo... somehow that'll make it all ok. Luongo has become the bridge between what we needed and what we deserve. We’ve tasted what good goaltending is like, and now we have a chance to do it with our own player who has been brought up inside our organization.
“You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”
For Canuck Fan, Roberto Luongo has overstayed his time in Vancouver. With the albatross of his contract and the weight of expectation that comes with it, he’s seen himself become the villain. If a Stanley Cup is on the horizon with Cory Schneider in goal, it goes without saying he’ll be a hero forever and a day amongst ‘Nucks fans.
If it’s for “The Dark Knight Rises” or for Game 1 of the 2012 NHL Season (if there is a season *gulp*).... Either way, get your popcorn ready.
No comments:
Post a Comment