"Two things stand out from the first time I ever sat down with Roberto Luongo.

One, was the way he said he "burned" to win a Stanley Cup. For whatever reason, it's always resonated. Two, was the song he told me he listened to at the time when he wanted to pump himself up, U2's City of Blinding Lights . I just found it an odd, well, soft choice.

Nearly five years later, and after the 770 stories I've written with him included since, his desire to win is no less obvious. Saw it echoing in Rogers Arena when he authoritatively thwacked his stick on the ice after Game 5's shutout win.

But so much else has changed. Even the way I view that U2 track. It's not bad live, and being about loss of innocence, it seems to suit Luongo and his career in Vancouver. The opening lyric works too:

"The more you see, the less you know. The less you find out as you go."

Because just when you think you have Luongo figured out, his game evaporates in Boston. And just when you're ready to kiss him off, he has a moment — Game 5 — which you could reasonably call the game of his life.

"He put his best game on the ice and we followed him," Ryan Kesler said.

There is nothing finite about Luongo and usually lots left to ponder.

In Vancouver, he has gone from saviour to goat, and back again; from overrated to overly criticized and from a media darling to an actual underdog who some hope can prove everyone else wrong.

It's been a fascinating saga and I can't help but see some of the Anakin Skywalker hero-villain-hero plot line in this. In five years, Luongo has been part poorly cast Hayden Christensen, part withdrawn sith lord and part Jedi knight.

It's the latter I conjure now when I think about Luongo's pre-game walk along the Seawall during Friday's lunch hour."