I was at Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The team just lost in the overtime. You can hear a pin drop in the Saddledome after the St. Louis goal.
A bunch of fans went out and waited for the players to exit at the East Players Parking lot hoping to get an autographed, kids and adults, after the game.
The bus carrying the Tampa team whizzed past the fans. Multiple Flames players came after and NO ONE stopped! The last car that came out was Iggy and his wife. He stopped, rolled down his windows, said hi to fans and got out of his car! He did not stopped signing autographs until everyone had one and had the patented Iggy smile the whole time!
He became my favorite Flame from that day on!
Very classy, very accommodating and very much deserving his jersey retired forever!
Last edited by DylanScores; 02-28-2019 at 02:44 PM.
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I was at Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The team just lost in the overtime. You can hear a pin drop in the Saddledome after the St. Louis goal.
A bunch of fans went out and waited for the players to exit at the East Players Parking lot hoping to get an autographed, kids and adults, after the game.
The bus carrying the Tampa team whizzed past the fans. Multiple Flames players came after and NO ONE stopped! The last car that came out was Iggy and his wife. He stopped, rolled down his windows, said hi to fans and got out of his car! He did not stopped signing autographs until everyone had one and had the patented Iggy smile the whole time!
He became my favorite Flame from that day on!
Very classy, very accommodating and very much deserving his jersey retired forever!
Yup!!
Was out there a multiple nights after games between 2003-2007 and lots of players never stopped or were rude/short with people but every single time Iginla would stop, chat with people, park and hop out for photos and announce to everyone to make sure they got a signature before leaving. He would thanks the fans for waiting for him!
Sorry if this was already asked (I'm sure it has been). Is Sportsnet airing the ceremony? I hope they can have one of their channels to pull away from the Leafs game to show us Iggy's jersey retirement
Sorry if this was already asked (I'm sure it has been). Is Sportsnet airing the ceremony? I hope they can have one of their channels to pull away from the Leafs game to show us Iggy's jersey retirement
Yes, it will be on the Sportsnet West feed without any region blocking.
__________________
Turn up the good, turn down the suck!
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Sorry if this was already asked (I'm sure it has been). Is Sportsnet airing the ceremony? I hope they can have one of their channels to pull away from the Leafs game to show us Iggy's jersey retirement
This is what it is showing on the SportsnetW channel. It doesn't look like it is on any of the other sportsnet channels.
I honestly have no idea what to expect, but I was invited to a private luncheon at the Saddledome tomorrow at 1130 hosted by Sportsnet. Doors at 1130, lunch and program from 12-130. Either way I'm super excited, Iggy is a legend. Will report back tomorrow!
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I will always remember Iginla's career for personal reasons, surrounding my late wife. Meeting her when Iginla was coming into his own and introducing her to hockey, she fell in love with the Flames and Iginla. We were together for 15 years, coincidentally Iginla was the face of the Flames for 14 of those 15 years.
I love this story about Iginla from his wiki page.
"Iginla is well known for his kind-hearted nature. Former Flames General manager Craig Button described Iginla as being grounded: "He doesn't carry himself with any attitude or arrogance. He's confident in his abilities. He's self-assured. He's genuine. He's a better person than he is a player, and we all know what kind of player he is."In 2002, while in Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympic Games, Iginla struck up a conversation with four Calgarians sitting next to his table, and found out they were sleeping in their car outside of the hotel. He excused himself from the conversation, and booked them accommodations at his own expense at the hotel his family was staying in."
Aww man, I am sorry to hear that part.
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My girlfriend tells me last night she wants me free for Saturday night (my birthday is next week), and I tell her that Im busy because I have to watch a really important game game. Then she tells me has tickets to the game and that we're going and sitting right beside the flames bench in row 2... I asked her how the hell she got tickets and how much she paid, and if she knew what was going on at this game. She was totally clueless (not a sports person in the least). She tells me she gotta the tickets back in November because it was my birthday.
So she originally just got me tickets to Minnesota wild game, which is probably one of the most blah games to see at the dome, just because it was my birthday. And then a couple months later they announce the iggy retirement ceremony and she still had no idea. So now, through this brilliant stroke of luck, she lucked into the best tickets of the year! I'm not gonna tell her how much she can sell those tickets for...
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Not quite as great a story, but my brother wanted to buy tickets for a late season game two years ago. He debated which game to get - but ended up with the LA Kings game. After Iggy was traded to the kings, that became the final game Iggy ever played at the dome, in which Iggy had a Geordie Howe Hat Trick.
I honestly have no idea what to expect, but I was invited to a private luncheon at the Saddledome tomorrow at 1130 hosted by Sportsnet. Doors at 1130, lunch and program from 12-130. Either way I'm super excited, Iggy is a legend. Will report back tomorrow!
If your +1 cancels... I know someone that's available to go with you.. Asking for a friend.
Kiprusoff is 13th on the Flames overall all-time games played list (576), only one game behind Joe Nieuwendyk. He played 84 more games for the Flames than Lanny and 49 more than Vernon.
The only real argument against retiring #34 is that he didn't win the Cup.
The other thing would be convincing him to participate.
Which he might. Hard to know though. Odd dude.
Grab a drink for this post it's a doozy as I give my personal thoughts on this Flame legend.
Jarome was the first hockey player of my age, I saw in a bar. Fox and Firkin in fall 1996, a couple Saturdays in a row. Came in with Tabaracci, Bouchard and Dave Gagner, at least one of the times. As a result, you feel like you grow up with the guy because he's your age and of your era at the still impressionable early 20s. Sounds sappy but true, with him around for as many years, the one constant on the Flames for those nearly 20 years, it's quite remarkable.
You'll see all the highlights that us Flames fans remember or have seen before, and or is on AC's monumental video, on Saturday.
So my memories outside of those.
His fight against Guerin introduced him to the league. His commercial with Naslund also pushed it further.
This blast from the past. Not sure if any other team in the NHL had three black guys on it at the same time yet.
His robbery of the Hart was enraging and borderline criminal by that Montreal writer, who was the only one that didn't have Iginla in top 3, and is why he lost. And, the NHL Top 100 farce.
His 52st and last goal in his breakout season, into an empty net, kicked the Oilers out of the playoffs. Seen at 3:34 here.
I was at a game in Northlands when he got a hat trick and a boot and Cowboy hat went on the ice also in about 2001. Just glorious watching the Oilers and their fans get owned by him, and won't forget that Oilers announcer announcing that hat trick, just like I won't forget that same guy announcing the Steve Smith goal. These were the days when the Flames fans up there numbered in double digits, not nearly the numbers that show up now.
In 2002 gold medal game, some angles show in my opinion, that he tipped the slapper from Sakic who got credit, and it would've been a hat trick for Iginla. A slight tip and without Hd back then, hard to tell. 8 years later, he's at it again, being the unsung hero for the country.
A treasure trove of memories of the 2004 run.
When Iggy's helmet came off, he or a linemate usually scored. Happened in Detroit series twice, once vs SJ, and happened on The Shift game 5 Tampa.
Sure the two goals vs Vancouver Game 7. On the first one, the ultra rare celebration, meant it was a big goal. The second one was amazing. And the OT winner, the pick off the boards and to the net in one motion? Sick.
And then after the OT winner, banging the glass with his stick to Canuck fans.
Fighting Hatcher in Game 2 vs Det.
His pass to Montodor Game 1 SJ, breakaway goals vs SJ game 5 and Game 1 Tampa.
Him giving it to the Tampa bench and Lecavalier for drawing the hit from behind major on Neimnen.
But there is one picture, of the many many thet I have from the 2004 run, gets me every time. As the Flames file off after Game 7 loss in Tampa,there he is, waiting for all his teammates to leave before he goes off, and he stares down the ice.
It should've been them, it should've been him. At home. In game 6. The captain. Our captain....
From then, the constant search to find him a center. And 2009 with the addition of Jokinen, and the first game post deadline vs the Flyers, you thought the Flames had thier trigger man.
Him racking up points after points, goals after goals. The 50th goal vs Vancouver not for the goal, not for the Linden thing, but my memory was for him getting voted as a third star in Vancouver and actually coming out for the third star to applause. And this was in a game when besides Linden retiring, so was Naslund. But Nystrom was third star, Iginla 2, and Linden 1. Compare this to Edmonton last year when the Sedins were 2nd and third star in their game, when McDavid was the first star7:45 mark:
His 1000 point on the road. Him becoming Flames leading scorer at home vs Tampa, and was at that game, as I was hundred or so of others of his games as we have had tickets since 2002. Beating the crap out of Souray and others.
That first year of tickets, I recall a game against the Caps where he was run into the boards from behind, an no response by the gang of losers Button had put together. And they lost 7 to 1 at home
A month or so later, Sutter was brought on and elevated Iginla and the team to the next level.
Iginla's departure, we all knew was coming at some point, but handled in the worst way by the worst GM this organization has seen, a blow hard who was a clueless used car salesman. Capping on Iginla as he left to try and gain some sympathy for his lack of being able to manage a team properly.
The first game post Iginla, and standing ovation from the crowd and all in the press box except Wisebrod and said GM are clapping at 50 seconds....apparently getting dinner out of your teeth is more important. Prick.
And lots of little things over the years as you get to know and follow a player, man, and star of your favourite team, and in the new media era, being part of that. The various hair styles. The magazine articles. The "thanks for having me" line to finish each and every interview, which likely was genuine but also likelynturned it into a running gag with Conroy. The intelligence of never joining Twitter.
So yeah, it's been a unique privilege to have had a guy of my age, become a star for my team, and be a constant on that team as we go through the stages and through life for 17 years. Who knows how many players will play 17 years for the same team, so that other teenagers can experience what myself and my friends did in paralleling his time in Calgary. I never met him personally, but my friends and I all felt like we knew him, given the similar age and similar stages in life, and, becuase he was always there as the star of the Flames show for 7 months of every year from when I was 20 until I was 37. Remarkable.
In that regard, reminds me of another thing that I grew up and parelled with my time line as the show went through junior high and ended the year before done high school, and felt nostalgic about when it ended, and that being the TV show the Wonder Years. His time with the Flames were Wonder Years.
Jarome Iginla is the best Calgary Flame there has ever been and maybe ever will be. Good players on and off the ice have come and gone. Good players are on the team now and who knows, may reach that team step that Jarome never could, but got within inches of, at some point. But they won't be Jarome Iginla.
Jarome Iginla had the skills, had the toughness, and the durability to be a superstar. He had the commitment to this city and Flames fans. But as importantly, he was the face and the model payer to usher this entire league into a new era, and he was ours, with humility and class every step of the way and made you proud to be.a Flames fan, no matter the results on the ice.
It will be a long ceremony Saturday and probably a bit drawn out. But he deserves every second of attention for what he's done for the organization, city and fans over 17 years as a Calgary and Flames ambassador of the highest regard as there will never be another.
Last edited by browna; 02-28-2019 at 10:10 PM.
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Conroy on 960 this morning sharing some "behind the scenes" stories about Iggy. One of the funniest segments I've heard in a long time. I'm sure they'll upload it -- a must listen IMO.
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Conroy on 960 this morning sharing some "behind the scenes" stories about Iggy. One of the funniest segments I've heard in a long time. I'm sure they'll upload it -- a must listen IMO.
Yea it was a good one, love when they get candid interviews with Connie.
I’m just going to shamelessly copy over my personal Iggy story from another thread:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers
Now that I figured out how to post pictures I want to share my own 'Iginla is awesome' story like so many others have.
After the Flames were knocked out by the Ducks in 2006, I waited around for the players. There were so many people waiting at the parking lot, all cheering. Most players were stopping, until Iginla got there. He put his car right in park and got out and a few players behind him followed suit and did the same. They just were eliminated and he stuck around to walk and talk with the fans. It was awesome. Anyways, I had parked really close myself as my vehicle was all decked out in Flames attire, and I had an idea.
Back in my youth and looking to improve my terrible vehicle, I had done what most people my age did and got a subwoofer & amp. SoundsAround built this custom Calgary Flames sub box, and the sub is back behind glass, the inside carpet is all red, it was amazing. I just happened to be there after they made it and I purchased it instantly. I had thought of taking the front face off if Iginla had a scheduled autograph session or something but I ended up doing one better.
I ask him: "Hey, sorry but I have something in my vehicle and it would be awesome if you could sign it, its right there" (how messed up does that sound? I would have said 'no thanks'. But in fairness it was closer than 50 feet away)
Iginla chuckles "Uhhh alright?"
I open my trunk and Iginla laughed and was genuinely pumped. He asked where I wanted him to sign it and I said "as big as you can because it'll be the only one on there".
And that's how I obtained the coolest thing I own:
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