Athlete Bios
Hockey
Calgary's Iginla heads to 3rd Olympics
Last Updated: Monday, February 8, 2010 | 3:30 PM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
Jarome Iginla, captain of the Calgary Flames, will make his third Olympic appearance for Team Canada in Vancouver. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)Jarome Iginla is the captain of the Calgary Flames and the franchise’s career leader in goals, points and games played. A five-time NHL all-star, Iginla, 32, has played his entire 13-season career for Calgary. During the 2001-02 season, he became the first black player to lead the NH. in goals (52) and points (96) and won the Lester B. Pearson Award as the league’s most valuable player in a vote by his peers. A native of Edmonton, Iginla played for Canada at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics.
A rugged right-winger, Iginla, who has twice led the NHL in goals, uses his size (6-foot-1, 207 pounds) and strength to fend off or bull through defenders. Stationing himself near the net, his hard, accurate shot and superb scoring instincts pose problems for goaltenders. His gritty play, whether battling a defenceman for the puck along the boards — or trading punches — has earned Iginla a reputation as a premier power forward. But Iginla bristles at the label, believing it connotes an opportunistic mucker and grinder, rather than a complete player.
“The first time I used the term ‘power forward’ with him, he almost slugged me,” former Flames coach Greg Gilbert said.
The name Iginla means “big tree” in Yoruba, a language spoken in Nigeria, where Jarome’s father, Elvis, emigrated from as a teenager. While growing up in Edmonton, Jarome watched the hometown Oilers win four Stanley Cup titles in five years, backstopped by the Hall of Fame goaltender Grant Fuhr, one of the few black stars of the era. Fuhr’s example inspired Iginla.
“Sometimes kids would say there aren’t many black players in the NHL,” Iginla has said. “But Grant Fuhr was winning Stanley Cups. It meant a lot for me to say, ‘Maybe I can do it one day.’”
As a teenager, Iginla played three seasons of junior hockey for the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League, during which the Blazers won two Memorial Cup championships. In 1995, the Dallas Stars drafted Iginla 11th overall, but traded him to the Flames six months later before he played an NHL game.
The Flames made Iginla their captain for the 2003-04 season and he led Calgary to the Stanley Cup finals, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games. Two years earlier, at the 2002 Winter Olympics, Iginla played a pivotal role for Canada in the gold medal game with two goals and an assist in a 5-2 victory against the United States. It was the first Olympic gold medal for Canada in ice hockey in 50 years. And although Iginla was not a team captain, his performance embodied his emerging leadership style.
“I’m not a yelling kind of guy,” he once said. “I try to lead by example — go on the ice, compete hard, and enjoy the game.”
