Roberto Luongo - Early Life

Early Life

Luongo was born to Pasqualina and Antonio Luongo in Montreal, Quebec. His father an Italian immigrant, born in Santa Paolina, Avellino. He worked in the construction and delivery of furniture, while Luongo's mother, an Irish-Canadian worked in marketing with Air Canada. Antonio and Pasqualina married in Montreal after Antonio emigrated there in 1976.

Luongo has two younger brothers, Leo and Fabio, who were also aspiring goaltenders. Fabio made it the further out of the two, playing Junior A in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) with the Williams Lake Timberwolves in 2004–05 before succumbing to injuries. He has since become a Junior AAA coach, while Leo is a goaltending coach in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Luongo and his family lived in St. Leonard, Quebec, a borough north of Montreal with a strong Italian community, just four blocks away from Martin Brodeur, who became the goaltender for the New Jersey Devils six years before Luongo entered the NHL. Luongo is fluent in English, French and Italian. His father spoke Italian and his mother spoke English with a little French at home.

Luongo graduated from Antoine de St-Exupéry in Montreal, a Francophone high school, in 1996. He began playing organized hockey at the age of eight as a forward. His father taught all his sons soccer and Luongo played until he was 14, at which point he decided to concentrate on hockey. Although he initially had the desire to play in net, his parents wanted him to develop his skating first. Several years later, after Luongo was cut from a peewee team, he made the switch to goaltender. At 11 years old, his team's usual goaltender did not show up and after begging his mother, still hesitant about Luongo playing the position, he went in net and posted a shutout. In August 2009, the arena in which Luongo played his minor hockey in St. Leonard was named after him as the Roberto Luongo Arena. It is the second arena in the community to be named after an NHL goalie after the Martin Brodeur Arena was renamed as such in 2000.

By 15, Luongo was playing midget with Montreal-Bourassa, the same team that produced NHL Quebecer goalies Brodeur and Félix Potvin. Luongo has credited Hall of Fame goaltender Grant Fuhr as his inspiration growing up, citing an admiration for his "spectacular glove saves". He had the opportunity to first meet Fuhr before a game against the Calgary Flames during his rookie season with the Islanders.