From the sounds of it, not everyone wants the Vancouver Canucks to “Free the Skate.”
Of course, it was Roberto Luongo who dropped that particular slogan — coined by none other than CanucksArmy‘s Wyatt Arndt — during his induction ceremony into the team’s Ring of Honour earlier this season.
While the Canucks never actually wore the Flying Skate jersey in its current alternate capacity during Luongo’s tenure in Vancouver, the now-immortalized goaltender clearly developed an attachment to it nonetheless.
But while that particular look is very popular with many Canucks fans, it’s reach isn’t universal. One fan sent Luongo an extremely long, hand-written letter in the wake of his speech to express their disappointment with his use of the “Free the Skate” phrase.
The letter, which has to be seen in its entirety to be believed, begins as follows:
“Dear Mr. Luongo: I was so very disappointed in your ‘Free the Skate comment in Vancouver on December 14th. Why would you do that? You don’t live here, you don’t work or play here. It made no sense at all.”
Sheesh! It continued on:
“You’re younger than me so you wouldn’t know but there was a time when that black and yellow skate sweater was the joke of the league. I recall watching a game out of Buffalo in the early 90s. The TV camera showed a banner hung by a fan that said, ‘Canucks — game misconduct for the ugly uniforms.’ They were ridiculed and now, for whatever reason, they are, supposedly, beloved and iconic.”
Luongo’s new pen pal went on to praise the team’s current blue and green colour scheme and stylized orca logo, adding that the goaltender’s praise for the retro logo was “certainly a kick in the teeth to the Vancouver Canucks team and to your former team mates that wore the blue and green.”
Talk about a passionate fan! Although we don’t expect to see Luongo issue the apology that the writer asked for, the recently-retired goaltender did hint that he might frame the letter and put it on his nightstand.
Good call, Roberto. We’d do the same.
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