I'm sure I've shared my Iginla story before, but here goes.
It was his rookie year, and I was eating dinner with my family at Japanese Village, sitting at the same table as Sandy McCarthy and his family. I was fanboying like crazy, even though you could tell Sandy just wanted to have dinner in peace with his family (granted, I was 11 years old). As I can barely contain myself for sitting at the same table as Sandy, the rest of the team walks in, surprised to see Sandy, and greet him happily. Again, you could tell Sandy wanted to crawl into a hole.
So at this point, I'm even more amped up, and excitable. My dad and John (owner of Japanese Village) are good friends, so John comes over to me and asks if I want to meet the team. I don't recall exactly what I said, but the next thing I know, my sister and I are in with the rest of the team like a dirty shirt. My eyes are big as saucers and I'm sure I was sputtering meeting everyone. I remember most being very pleasant, but 2 stood out for entirely different reasons. Fleury and Iginla. This isn't about Fleury, but I remember him being really obnoxious, arrogant, and dismissive. Iginla couldn't have been more gracious. He was so kind and nice, and patient as I sputtered talking to him. He took the time to talk to me more so than any of the others, and I remember his smile and laugh like it was yesterday. He just seemed so genuinely happy to be talking to me.
He made a life long fan that night, and I'm so happy I got to watch him grow up and play with the Flames. He's the reason my kid wears number 12, although that's changing next year, as he has found his own idol of Gaudreau. Lol
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