FUN WHILE IT LASTED
Former Flames captain Jarome Iginla, with his wife, Kara, and sons Joe and Tij, officially retires at Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday after 20 years.
She’s Jarome Iginla’s No. 1 fan, her encyclopedic knowledge of his career stats and highlights handily backing up her claim.
When I bump into his mom, Susan Schuchard, on Monday morning, she has snagged a front-row seat at the Scotiabank Saddledome for Iggy’s official retirement celebration.
“With Jarome, what you see is what you get ,” she says with a wide smile, her No. 12 earrings glistening against the bright camera lights. “He’s very humble, not a ‘look-at-me’ type of guy at all.”
Schuchard, of course, isn’t a party-crasher but one of the most VIP of the VIPs gathered to fete the Calgary Flames’ former No. 12 and team captain who, despite leaving the city five years ago, has returned this week to make his NHL retirement official.
I recognize the gregarious Calgary substitute teacher immediately. In 2004, I spoke to the proud mom on several occasions as Iginla led the Flames on their Cinderella Stanley Cup run.
If you want to know how Iginla got to be the stellar human being a steady flow of speakers talk of on this day, Schuchard is your first clue.
“My parents had a lot to do with how he turned out,” says Schuchard, deflecting attention away from herself so she can talk proudly of the late Frances and Richard Schuchard, who helped the single mom out by driving their young grandson to early morning hockey practice in St. Albert. “Someone asked my dad if he was proud of Jarome,” she says. “He said, ‘I’m proud of all my grandchildren, but I wish Jarome hadn’t quit choir.’”
Despite the millionaires and sports celebrities crowding the Saddledome’s Chrysler Club dining room, then, it should come as little surprise that the send-off to one of professional hockey’s greatest players is filled with much laughter, good-natured jabbing and, from the man of the hour, self-deprecating jokes.
Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla, it can be said without any doubt, is one of the most beloved celebrities to have ever graced this city and its pro hockey arena.
From Flames president Ken King, who starts his speech by telling Iginla, “Welcome back, kid,” and then offers a laundry list of the personal and athletic virtues of his former player, to former teammates like Martin Gelinas, all have nothing but words of admiration and appreciation for the now 41-year-old retiring sports star.
According to Gelinas, Iginla has long been “the classiest person on and off the ice,” a sentiment echoed by another former teammate, Craig Conroy.
“For one of the greatest players of all time,” says Conroy with a mischievous smile, “he can’t skate backwards.”
After listening to his old friends and colleagues tease and compliment him and watching a highlight reel of his career, Iginla gets up and immediately — well, after being greeted with a standing ovation — admits to feeling overwhelmed about giving a retirement speech.
“This has been the hardest to prepare for than any other speech I’ve ever done,” he says.
He talks about the thrill of the first NHL game he suited up for, one that was so surreal “it was almost like a video game.”
The man still loved by so many Calgarians hits it out of the ballpark on every note, from the selfdeprecating jokes to the heartfelt thanks, his last reserved for his wife, Kara, their three kids, his parents ( both in attendance with their spouses) and other family members.
“I would do it all again in a heartbeat,” he says of his 2004 Stanley Cup run, which ended in a heartbreaking loss in Game 7 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
At his speech’s end, Iginla receives another standing ovation, then he heads into the crowd to accept handshakes and hugs from Saddledome staff, owners, friends and other supporters. His mom, looking on with overwhelming pride, knows she raised him right. “It’s bittersweet,” she says, her eyes brimming with tears.
“My goal was for Jarome to enjoy his childhood and have balance in life,” says the gal who gave Iggy his first, great start. “He’s succeeded on all fronts.”