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Canucks fan chastises Luongo in hilarious handwritten letter

Rob Williams
Rob Williams
|
Jan 8 2024, 11:48 pm
Canucks fan chastises Luongo in hilarious handwritten letter
@strombone1/X | @Sportsnet/X

Roberto Luongo is in hot water with a Vancouver Canucks jersey aficionado.

Luongo received a handwritten letter from a 64-year-old Canucks fan with excellent penmanship but questionable taste in style.

The fan chastised Luongo for a comment he made at the end of his Ring of Honour speech last month, in which he called for a Canucks uniform change by saying “free the skate jersey.” Never mind the rest of Luongo’s speech, which was emotional and heartfelt, this fan is stuck on his jersey take.

#FreeTheSkate was a rallying cry on social media, started by Wyatt Arndt, and years later adopted by the Canucks’ marketing team, prior to the return of the black, yellow, and red jersey that regained popularity in recent years.

Luongo’s call for the retro jersey, which the Canucks currently use as an alternate uniform, was largely forgotten about.

Well, until now.

Luongo posted an image of the letter he received, in which the fan actually demands an apology from the Hall of Famer.

“I was so very disappointed with your ‘Free The Skate’ comment in Vancouver on December 14th,” the fan wrote. “Why would you do that?”

Was it a bit much? Sure. But you have to love the passion.

This fan is team blue and green, all the way.

“They were ridiculed,” the fan said of the flying skate uniform. “The current blue and green, bold colours, with the clever and creative orca crest are absolutely beautiful.”

“By putting your support before the black and yellow you criticized the very colours that you wore and your name is up on the Ring of Honour wearing that same sweater… That’s certainly a kick in the teeth to the Vancouver Canucks team and to your former teammates that wore the blue and green.

“You never even wore the black and yellow so your comment was nothing but bizarre and worthy of an apology.”

Luongo played eight seasons in Vancouver, wearing the original orca uniform, the blue and green orca, and throwback stick-in-rink and Vancouver Millionaires looks. But he never wore the ’90s-era flying skate uniform.

But somehow, I don’t think an apology is coming.

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