Beer League Team Got Ultimate Ringer In Net With Hall Of Famer Roberto Luongo

One of the interesting things about playing beer league hockey is that your team's lineup can change from week to week. Sometime your star center's kid might have a thing at the same time as your game so you have to figure out a way to get a sub.

That's what one team in South Florida had to do when they found themselves without a goalie, but they happened to luck out and get Hockey Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo to sub in.

According to The Hockey News, the team needed goalie for a playoff game against the league's defending champions.

Five-time defending champs.

Anyone who has played in a league like this knows goalies are at a premium, so with all options exhausted they posted to a local Facebook group. Lo and behold they got a reply from Roberto Luongo — who now serves as a special advisor to the Florida Panthers — but they weren't sure if he'd show.

Turns out he did and was more than ready to play, backstopping the team to a 4-2 win over the five-time champs.

This is so cool… maybe not so much for the other team.

Hockey Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo helped a beer league team win a playoff game against the league's defending champs. (Getty Images)

Would It Suck Or Be Cool To Lose A Beer League Game To A Hall Of Famer?

I wish I could find a LiveBarn stream of warmups to pinpoint the exact moment the other team realized that the tall guy with the Panthers practice sweater was Luongo. I'm sure you can see their shoulders slump a bit.

That's because, while I haven't played beer league puck in a few years (I know, it's wrong of me to deprive the people of some of the crispest break-out passes the Central Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League has ever seen; I'm sorry) I distinctly remember hearing before games that another team had a goalie who had played club hockey in college and thinking, "Well, we're screwed."

If I was taping my shin pads up and someone said to me, "Yo, Reigs — looking and handsome as hell by the way; new haircut? looks good — anyway, just heard the other team had Roberto Luongo in net tonight," there's a good chance I'd just go home and get some sleep since every beer league game starts at like 10 pm.

But, on the flip side, it would be cool to say you got stone-walled by a Hall of Famer just for the sake of the story. I was in high school during the NHL's partial season lockout in 2012-13, which meant NHL referee Paul Devorski had some time on his hands and reffed one of my games (he even wore an NHL officiating sweater to do it. Hell of a flex).

He called me for tripping a kid and when I was in the box I remember thinking, "Paul Devorski called a penalty on me… cool."

I'd feel the same way if Bobby Lu robbed me on a breakaway (or let's be honest, a lazy wristshot from the top of the circle).

However the other team is feeling, it's an awesome story from a guy who has had one heck of a summer after finally hoisting a well-deserved Stanley Cup.