[sureLoss]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/j...s-career-ends/

“In Round 1, we were on the bus from the Vancouver rink to the airport to go back to Calgary after splitting the first two games,” said Denis Gauthier, a defenceman on that Flames team. “Everyone in the back of the bus was talking about how we lost Game 1 and how things were going to get tough for us when Jarome caught everyone’s attention by saying, ‘Hey guys, nobody gave us a chance, but we won Game 2, and [Flames goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff] is better than their goalie [Dan Cloutier], this guy is better than that guy, and we can do this. And once we do it, we can go through whoever comes next.’

“He was going into detail about how we’d make our run, and he had such a convincing tone that we kinda forgot that we had no chance of winning against Vancouver. He was so positive. I don’t think we believed in how good we could be, we didn’t have a lot of skill that year. But his sense of belief carried over for all of us and we beat Vancouver in [seven] games, we beat Detroit in six, we beat San Jose in six and lost to Tampa in seven.”

And the way Iginla led on the ice over the course of that run is the stuff of legends.

“He fought Mattias Ohlund in the first round, fought Derian Hatcher in Detroit, he had a war with San Jose’s Scott Hannan, and he fought Vinny Lecavalier in Tampa,” said Conroy. “It was always a game where we were losing by a goal or two or the game was out of reach or we were down in the series; he did it just to give us a spark. It wasn’t calculated, but he figured it was his chance and he was going to take it right at that moment. He wouldn’t say anything, but he’d be on the bench and you’d know he wasn’t happy and next thing you know he’d just jump someone.

“He was going after the hardest guy. And they played him physical, they were hooking at the time, they were holding, and I think fighting actually gave him more room as the series rolled along, and other guys took notice too. He was like, ‘Are you next?’”