Roberto Luongo announced his retirement from professional hockey Tuesday via an open letter to the fans.
However, fitting to his personality, the longtime Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks netminder also did so with a pitch-perfect tweet.
The 40-year-old, whose infamous online moniker is @Strombone1, channelled 2010 LeBron while informing the public of his decision as he sent the best sports retirement tweet since Marshawn Lynch threw up a peace sign emoji and an image of green cleats hanging from a wire.
I’ve decided to take my talents to a South Beach retirement home pic.twitter.com/BTuZIo8XT8
— Strombone (@strombone1) June 26, 2019
Luongo’s retirement message was heartfelt and at times poignant, but adding that bit of levity in the form of the tweet was the cherry on top.
His roughly 800,000 followers aren’t quite as plentiful as P.K. Subban’s 1.1 million or Alex Ovechkin’s 2.69 million, but if you ask anyone who the king of hockey twitter is, Luongo wins in a landslide.
With that in mind, here’s a look back at a random collection of Luongo’s more memorable tweets from over the years.
Scrolling through the @Strombone1 page, you’re witness to a master class of self-deprecating humour.
You know the boys have confidence in your goaltending skills when 3 guys line up to block a shot….. pic.twitter.com/Q5QfxrDnsm
— Strombone (@strombone1) September 18, 2017
One night after his Panthers blew a 2-0 lead and lost 3-2 in overtime to his former Canucks squad, Luongo posted a well-timed Jordan crying face photoshop job at the height of that Hall of Fame meme’s popularity.
T.J. Oshie has made plenty of goalies look and feel silly over the years, especially in shootouts. So back in 2014 when Oshie became “T.J. Sochi” after scoring four shootout goals in a game against Russia, Luongo remembered.
Luongo often made fun of himself getting lit up or deked silly, so he gave his son a taste of what he sometimes went through.
On the eight-year anniversary of Sidney Crosby’s Golden Goal, Luongo took the time to quote-tweet Tim and Sid to remind people he was in the crease for Canada while it happened. He never managed to win a Stanley Cup, but he’ll always have his Olympic gold medal… and this tweet.
And speaking of never winning the Cup…
And you thought Kim Kardashian broke the internet…
Luongo said in his letter that he can see himself one day getting involved in hockey once again, but for now he’ll focus on healing his body, spending time with family and reflecting on his terrific career.
It’s unclear what his immediate plans are, but since he’s finally got some free time we can think of a project he can resume…
Thanks for the memories, Roberto. And thanks for the tweets.
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