Roberto Luongo teams up with Vancouver’s ‘Shap Crew’ for award ceremony, speech (VIDEO)

Here's your quick primer on the "Shap Crew". It's a group of about 20 or so Vancouver sports fans on Twitter that use the word shap the way the Smurfs use the word smurf. An example conversation: "Hey, what's shapping?" One might ask. "Just shapping", might be the response. "Good shap," the first guy could then say. "Nice shapping with you," could be the conclusion.

That's all there is. It's very silly.

It pains me a little to have to give these guys any digital ink, especially since they aren't very nice to me. (If they don't like you or if you spurn their invitation to "shap", they call you a "milt", and I went full-milt some time ago.) But kudos is in order, as the Shap Crew has some high-profile boosters in Vancouver. Roberto Luongo, for instance, has recently given himself over to the shap via his unverified Twitter account, @strombone1.

And on Saturday night, Luongo lent the Shap Crew his celebrity, and with it, some serious credibility, by making an appearance at their annual awards show, the Shapys [sic].

Why yes, that is Luongo introducing the 2012 Shapys.

The Shapys is a strange little Shap Crew awards ceremony that honour the "shappers of the year". It features categories such as male shapper of the year, female shapper of the year, milt of the year, and celebrity shapper of the year.

Seriously. They sent out an official ballot and everything. I've seen it. It is, like everything else associated with these guys, patently ridiculous. But you have to admire their commitment in some sense.

But introducing the Shapys wasn't Luongo's only appearance during the Twitter event.

When he won celebrity shapper of the year -- a category that was pretty much just made up for him, although I guess an awards show about a made-up word can make up awards whenever it wants -- Luongo accepted his prize live over Youtube.

Now, Luongo says he promised himself he wasn't gonna cry, but he should know as well as anyone that this doesn't always work out for him.

It's worth noting that Luongo accepted the award after it was announced that @Strombone1 had won it, so if you're still on the fence about whether or not it's actually the Canucks' netminder behind the account, there's your official proof. The Shap Crew has cracked the case. Now all they need is a Shap Crew van and a dog that eats shappy snacks.

Obviously, Luongo doesn't have much to do these days as he waits for his trade to Toronto the lockout to end, but this is still a pretty impressive get by the Shap Crew, especially since other, much more high-profile organizations have had to settle for the likes of Jay Mohr as their celebrity representation.

Getting Luongo to participate in your made-up event for your made-up club based around a made-up word: I guess that's good shap, or whatever.

Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney