For 16 years, our world was Jarome’s world and we just shared it, vicariously. The goals, the fights, the odd slump, the high-beam smiles, the awards, the gold medal-euphoria, the seventh-game heartbreak. All of it. Every blessed bit.
“Well,” jokes Jarome Iginla, on a drizzly early December morning at the Bruins’ practice facility, the Ristuccia Memorial Arena, a half-hour’s drive outside Boston, “I don’t think I’ll cry.
“I’m not an extremely emotional person. Nostalgic? Well, my wife says I am. I’m not a hoarder, by any means. But I do like to look back on things. I really don’t . . . know how it’s going to feel. I know it’s coming up, fast. I know that as we get closer, get into Canada, I’ll start feeling it more. Going down the wrong tunnel to the ice. Visiting dressing room.
“So I’m not sure. It’s going to be all new to me. So I’m just not . . . sure.”
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“I want to go,” protests Iginla of his highly-anticipated competitive return to the Saddledome as the Bruins visit the Flames, “and just enjoy myself. Just play. See the guys. See the staff. See the people around the rink. I don’t want to build it up; turn it into a big deal.”
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A very big deal, indeed.
“Oh, I knew the date,” concedes Iginla. “It’s something I looked at right away, on the calendar. I know my family did, too. My friends. At first, you know, I thought ‘It’ll be really cool.’ And then I went back to Pitt, earlier in the year. I’d only been there for, oh, a couple months and it still felt really different. And then I thought ‘Oh my God, if this feels so weird, how weird is Calgary going to feel?’
“That was an eye-opener.”
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“When I made the decision (for Pittsburgh), I was trying to ride the hot hand. They’d won 15 or 16 in a row, Malkin was out for nine of them. I’d only heard great things about Boston from (Chuck) Kobasew and (Andrew) Ference. I know Mark Recchi pretty well.
“But the Penguins were HOT going into the playoffs. I wasn’t trying to think of the future, I was just trying to go for it.
“So, afterwards, I thought ‘Maybe I kinda burned that one.’ But I’m very thankful I’m here. And I haven’t taken too much ribbing about it. The odd one. A little bit. But not bad, considering.”
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“Going back,” Jarome Iginla is saying, a week away from the return of the prodigal, “makes me realize how fast the time does go. I remember older players telling me that when I was young and I was like ‘Yeah, whatever.’ Now I’m telling 26-year-olds the same thing! They’re telling me ‘Ah, I’ll only play until I’m 31 or 32.’ And I’m like ‘OK, we’ll see.’ Funny, the way your perspective shifts.
“I hope the reaction is positive. I mean, I did my best. As a team, we did our best. We didn’t win a Cup, but I played as hard as I could, we played as hard as we could.
“I enjoyed my time in Calgary. I can’t say that enough. It was awesome. This game coming up is probably one of those I’ll look back on later, one of the memories I’ll take from my career. My first NHL game was in Calgary. My first goal was there. It’s obviously a very, very special place to me. Always will be.
“So I don’t want to overthink it or over-build-it-up in my head. I want to relax. I just want to soak it all in.”
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The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true. Go Flames Go!
I expect lots of hype and ridiculousness but a generally mediocre and uneventful game from Iggy. Not sure I care about his personal success in the game all that much either way.
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All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity - Gordie Howe
Johnson - Iginla eagerly anticipating first return to the Saddledome
