IGINLA WENT FROM GOOD TO GREAT IN AUTUMN 2000
23 at the time, Flames legend made 40 goals his target — and then kept rising in stature
Jarome Iginla’s breakout season of 2001-02 is widely viewed as the turning point in his hall-offame career.
That theory is understandable. The Calgary Flames star dominated the league with a 52-goal, 96-point campaign despite leading a club that finished nowhere near making the Stanley Cup playoffs.
However, I believe a bigger step toward Iginla’s naming to the Hockey Hall of Fame on Wednesday was taken in the fall of 2000.
On the eve of the 2000-01 season, under the new regime of general manager Craig Button and head coach Don Hay, Iginla made a rare public statement.
While we were talking in the Flames dressing room at the start of training camp — my first year on the beat — Iginla proclaimed he was on a quest to score 40 goals in the coming season.
It was bold, especially from someone who rarely made public proclamations, but spoken with a quiet confidence. The 23-yearold, who netted 29 goals the previous season and 28 in 199899, wasn’t content that 30 goals meant reaching the next level.
Just as important was the realization there was more to Iginla’s motives than lighting 40 lamps. It was obvious the power forward knew it was incumbent on him to become the Flames’ leader in more ways than one.
You could see in his eyes it wasn’t just about individual stats. Iginla had believed he could achieve more and would push himself to pull the Flames from their moribund situation.
Iginla fell short of his expectations, finishing the season with 31 goals and 71 points in 77 games before missing the final two weeks due to a broken hand, but the stage was set.
Bigger things for Iggy were just around the corner, and it was both a pleasure and an honour to witness first-hand Iginla’s evolution to superstar both on and off the ice.
On the ice, who can forget the 2001-02 campaign in which Iginla scored 11 goals more than any other player in the NHL, yet was denied the Hart Trophy? Even his 50th tally was one for the memory banks — a rocket of a slapshot over Jocelyn Thibault’s glove in Chicago.
Of course, the run to the 2004 Stanley Cup Final is worthy of its own chapter, highlighted by his play in the Game 7 win over the Vancouver Canucks in the opening round, the memorable fight with Detroit Red Wings defenceman Derian Hatcher, and the string of outstanding play in the final round against the Tampa Bay Lightning before the club simply ran out of gas (although a video review with today’s technology might have meant a different result).
Over the years came so many memorable performances and milestone moments that were a treat to witness.
The big milestones — 400 goals, 500 goals, 1,000 points and 1,000 games — were all part of a journey worth recording.
Not to be forgotten is the pair of Olympic golds, which Iginla won in dramatic fashion both times: scoring twice in a three-point game in 2002 and then setting up Sidney Crosby’s game-winning golden goal in Vancouver eight years later.
Then came the off-ice encounters, especially all of those beyond the countless interviews, which are at least as valuable.
The gracious smile and humility that made Calgary — and the rest of the hockey world — fall in love with him wasn’t only there when the cameras were rolling.
Iginla was one of those players who treated everyone around him with respect, genuinely asking how members of media were doing and even wondering how their families were, in my case knowing the names of my children.
Two stories stand out for me. The first hearkens back to the spring of 2002. After the all-star game in Los Angeles, Iginla’s first trip to the showcase event, my family joined me for a midseason Disneyland vacation. Iginla’s first words to me the first time we saw each other after the Olympic break were, “Hey, did your kids have fun at Disneyland?” The fact someone who in the interim won a gold medal and flourished on the world stage would take the time to ask is a testament to his sense of humanity.
The other stems back to the 2004 playoffs during the Detroit series. After the Game 2 loss, the clash in which he fought Hatcher, a poorly worded question on the part of yours truly set off a slightly contentious encounter. As much as his celebrated scrap was a positive, in the first two games of that series, Iginla had not collected a point. In fact, he hadn’t even registered a shot on goal, and I asked whether the fight was a sign Iginla felt he wasn’t doing enough. His response was along the lines of a “what do you think?!” attitude. My thought was it was a fair response from someone who was frustrated, especially knowing my delivery of the query was far from perfect. A few minutes after the scrum, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and Iginla was there.
He said: “Hey, I’m sorry I embarrassed you in front of everyone.” After a brief conversation, all was smoothed over for a dozen more years of regular encounters.
Already with his No. 12 hanging in the rafters and an arena named after him in his hometown, a first-ballot selection to the hall of fame is well-deserved for Iginla.
Bearing witness to many of the biggest steps he took to reach the destination is a career highlight for myself.