St. Albert threw a party for Sunday’s guest of honour at the Jarome Iginla Arena ceremony
Fans arrived en masse at the rink to form the city’s family friendly version of the Red Mile that was made famous when Iginla, as team captain, led the Calgary Flames to the seventh and deciding game in the 2004 Stanley Cup final against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The first of 625 to #PackTheIggy for the ceremony was a season-ticket holder of the Calgary Flames from Red Deer who arrived several hours before the doors officially opened at 12:30 p.m.
At the autograph table, Noah Haney made sure he was at the head of the line and waited close to two hours with family members for Iginla to emerge from the rink following the on-ice ceremony and media scrum. “We arrived here at 12 o’clock hoping to get a couple of autographs and meet him because after the 2010 Olympics we met him and it was really special,” said the Grade 9 Ecole Secondaire Marguerite d’Youville student.
Haney, 14, is excited to skate in the arena that bears Iginla’s name.
“He’s a pretty good role model and it’s nice to come to our home rink and see it named after him. It’s pretty cool,” said the forward with the bantam AA Bears last season who is trying out with bantam AAA Sabres.
Standing not too far behind Haney was Luke Wasylkiewicz decked out in an Iginla No. 12 Flames’ jersey.
“I’ve been watching him for a while and I haven’t had the chance to meet him and get an autograph so it’s been a long time coming,” said the Edmontonian with Calgary roots.
Wasylkiewicz, 29, shared his ultimate Iginla memory.
“It was definitely the 2004 Stanley Cup run when he pretty much carried the team on his back and almost brought the Cup back to Calgary.”
Jon Bonnett made the trek from Sherwood Park because of “Jarome’s history with hockey and with Canada, and what he’s done for us in the Olympics and all the other world championships," he said. "I have his Olympic jersey that I’ve always wanted to get signed and it’s a perfect opportunity.”
Bonnett, 65, was impressed with the ceremony inside the Iggy Dome.
“It was a really nice presentation that St. Albert put on. It didn’t go on and on and on like some of these presentations. It was perfect.”
Travis Ulliac of Edmonton holds Iginla in high regard as a player and a person.
“I’ve always been a huge fan of Jarome in the way he carries himself on and off the ice. I’ve witnessed him score a lot of goals in a lot of iconic hockey moments for not only the Flames but Canada. He’s just a great ambassador for the game and obviously St. Albert,” Ulliac said. “I’ve been wanting to get him on my autograph list so it will be great to meet him.”
Ulliac, 29, gave the ceremony two thumbs up.
“It was awesome. I actually had no idea he was good buddies with (Jason) Strudwick and it was great to hear that history they had together,” said Ulliac of the guest speaker and former Kamloops Blazer and NHL defenceman who shared tales of Iginla as teammates and opponents. “Everything was really well done. It was really classy just like the way he would have it. It just speaks of the way he is.”
Larry Mitchell, St. Albert's hockey historian, surveyed the outdoor gathering with a smile as big as the rink itself.
“I was very happy for Jarome. He’s a local kid and what a better way than naming an arena after him, especially with the Akins (family member) that was here and agreeing with it,” said Mitchell, 84. “This is what St. Albert is all about: sports and hockey.”
The last word goes to Ed Stoyke, who was Iginla’s former coach with the St. Albert atom AAA and peewee AAA provincial championship teams back in the day.
“We were playing in the Crowchild tournament in Calgary (and) we’re in the finals and it was like a 2-2 score and before the third period I’m in the dressing room and I said, ‘OK guys, nobody gets any penalties. No penalties. Let’s just stay out there and beat these guys,'" Stoyke recalled. “We come out in the third period and Jarome is out in the starting lineup and he’s at centre taking he draw, and hits the referee’s shin pad or something like that and the guy gives him two minutes. He comes in the penalty box, and the box was in between us, so I put my foot on top of the box and said, ‘Jarome, what the hell did I just tell you. No penalties,’ that kind of thing.
“He’s got tears streaming down his eyes and you can just see his nose was up, but geez he went out there and scored two goals right after that. Boom! Boom! And we won that tournament"
Stoyke, 75, shared another tale of the youthful Iginla: “In the dressing room everyone had to be dressed 15 minutes before we went out on the ice. Jarome would come in and drop his pants, take his shirt off and drop them down on the floor right there and then he would get dressed and do up his skates. When you come in after the first period you know how your skates are full of ice, well he’s standing right on top of his clothes and he takes off his skates between periods so my assistant coach, Fred Miller, he started picking up his clothes and I said, ‘Freddy, forget it. If he can’t pick those clothes up just leave them like they are.’ He was like that.”
The storytelling Stoyke wasn’t done yet.
“We were playing a game against South Edmonton somewhere and his grandpa (Rick Schuchard) used to bring him all the time so he gets into his bag and is getting dressed and he’s to the point where he’s got to get his skates on when he goes, ‘Where are my skates?’ He forgot his skates at home so he blames his grandpa, ‘Oh, grandpa didn’t put the skates in the bag,’ but we knew otherwise.”
Stoyke was popping buttons reminiscencing about Iginla.
“Jarome, I tell you what, he is just like what Strudwick said (at the ceremony). The guy didn’t like to lose. He would do almost anything to win," he said. “Jarome was just a good kid. Geez, he would give you the shirt off his back. He’s unbelievable.”
