Iggy ‘carried’ Flames in 2004 Cup run
BACK IN TOWN: Fans, players reminisce with Iginla set to play in what might be his last game in Calgary
Over the course of his 17 years in Calgary, it was typical of Jarome Iginla to spend intermissions with a towel over his head, focusing on the next period.
A captain who led by example, not with words, he trusted every man in the room to come up with his own motivation — until 2004, when his Calgary Flames were heading into overtime in Game 7 of their firstround series with the Vancouver Canucks.
“They scored with three or four minutes to go and when we came into the dressing room before overtime of a tight game, guys were pretty down, pretty nervous,” recalled Martin Gelinas, a winger on that ’04 team. “Iggy was normally quiet, but he stepped up and said, ‘Guys, if someone would have told us before the series started we’re going to overtime in Game 7, we would have been excited.’ We had kind of lost track of the fact we should be excited, but he didn’t. He said, ‘You know what, we’re in a good spot here.’
“Guys started cheering up and that kind of changed the mood and the momentum and we went onto the ice and won that game. Everybody sees what happened on the ice in 2004, but to me, that moment was the turning point of our playoff run.”
Of all the things Iginla did with the Flames, nothing was more impressive or impactful than his play and leadership while carrying the team to the 2004 Stanley Cup final.
Leading the team with 22 points in 26 games, three of his 13 goals were game-winners. He fought someone in every round and was in on almost every big goal and significant moment.
And if Wednesday night marks his last skate at the Saddledome, you can bet most of those standing to salute No. 12 will chant his name.
“I would say that’s the best hockey I’ve ever seen him play,” his longtime centre and friend Craig Conroy said. “We had two stars, Kipper (goalie Miikka Kiprusoff ) and Iggy. The rest of us worked hard, but without those two guys, we wouldn’t have been there. He carried the team on his back at times, for sure. He was the prototypical power forward at the time: He’d fight, he’d score and he’d do it all. There were games I just thought he dominated. I’d walk out of there saying, ‘Wow.’ ”
One of those nights was Game 7 in Vancouver, when he scored twice, assisted on Gelinas’s overtime winner, had nine shots on goal and willed the Flames to their first of three series upsets.
Iginla had been named captain that year, prompting a 96-point effort that included 41 goals to earn him a share of his second Rocket Richard Trophy.
His play helped end a seven-year playoff drought, whipping the city into a frenzy.
Against Vancouver, he scored five times and fought Mattias Ohlund. People don’t remember his four points against the Red Wings as much as they do his fight with Derian Hatcher. Against San Jose, he fought Mike Rathje, had four more goals and maintained his playoff average of over four shots a game.
He had a game-winning goal in three of the four series, including the final in which he had five points and scrapped with Vincent Lecavalier in one of the biggest marquee bouts in Stanley Cup final history before his club fell agonizingly short in Game 7.
“One of the great playoff performances I’ve ever seen,” said Flames defenceman Mike Commodore, who won a Cup two years later with Carolina. “He was a lot to handle and he did it all. That’s what set him apart from other guys is, he was scoring and all that, but also fighting and running guys.
“Nicest of guys, but on the ice he was mean. He was great at everything. He was very intense and during that run he cranked it up and everybody followed.”
His status as one of the game’s best had been solidified two years earlier, when he scored twice in the Olympic gold medal game as part of his extensive resume with Team Canada. But that performance for Calgary made him a local icon eclipsed in popularity perhaps only by Lanny McDonald.
The big difference between the two: A Stanley Cup, which Iginla left Calgary four years ago to chase. That pursuit might see the 39-yearold traded from the struggling Avalanche before next month’s deadline.
With just five of his 616 goals scored this year, who knows if the 16th player in NHL history to play 1,500 games will play again next year? And if he doesn’t, Wednesday is one last chance for fans to pay their respects.
Acquired in a trade sending Joe Nieuwendyk out of town, the Edmonton native proved conclusively to be a man of endless class, pride and heart, which were all on brilliant display the spring of ’04.
“I’ve seen a lot of hockey, and every time you go the distance you need that one guy — it’s Mark Messier, it’s Ron Francis, it’s Rod Brind’Amour — that says, ‘I’m going to take charge,’” Gelinas said. “For us, that was Jarome. To me, that’s the best hockey I ever saw him play.
“It’s a team effort, but you need that one guy who is a difference-maker. Kipper was good, but you need a guy up front to take charge and he did that on and off the ice.”