Vancouver Canucks star goalie Roberto Luongo says he'd look great on Canada's 2010 Olympic team, stopping Russian, American and Czech pucks in his home NHL rink.

But he'd quit the NHL if the league introduced larger nets.

Canucks star goalie Roberto Luongo says he'd love to represent Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
(Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

"If that day comes, I don't think you'd see me in the NHL," he said. He'd rather retire, he added, than play if nets were larger than the current size of six feet by four feet.

There was talk of widening the nets — or maybe making them taller or adding curved posts — a few years ago during symposiums looking at ways to enhance offence in the league but there are no plans to actually do so.

Luongo appeared in a franchise-record 76 games and posted a 47-22-6 record with a 2.29 goals-against average and five shutouts last season.

He was second in the league in victories, falling one short of the NHL record posted by Martin Brodeur.

Luongo was so good that he finished second to Sidney Crosby in MVP voting.

Fans expecting more from goalie

He's well aware that expectations of the fans rise with success.

"We want to take it to the next level," Luongo said. "We were proud of what we accomplished last season.

"Not a lot of people put us (atop the division in pre-season predictions). There's a lot of hard work to be done. We're in a tough division, but we have the character and talent to do it again."

Luongo helped the Canucks, who hadn't qualified for the playoffs the season before his arrival, take first place in the tough Northwest Division.

They knocked off Dallas in a first-round playoff series that went the seven-game max and were eliminated in five games by eventual champion Anaheim.

Wants to take team further this season

"I see us starting a step ahead of last year," he said. "We've made a few key acquisitions up front as far as depth goes with a couple of guys who can put the puck in the net."

As for himself, getting into playoff games for the first time since 2000 with the New York Islanders' farm team in Lowell, Mass., was a thrill.

"The excitement you have when you're in the playoffs, it gets you more revved up to have a good year and make sure you're part of it again," he said.

The heavy workload he carries might wear him down later in his career but, at age 28, he's just approaching his prime. He stuck to a rigid conditioning program throughout the summer.

"The workouts have got more intense the last few years so I can be in the best possible shape when training camp rolls around," he said.

His return to a hockey-mad Canadian market from south Florida has been a boon to Luongo's career. He said he loves the game-to-game challenges.

"Hockey-wise, the main thing is to learn about the shooters in the West, guys I didn't get to see too often."