St. Albert saluted its hometown hero with an Olympic-sized celebration.
The special guest was overwhelmed by the City of St. Albert's tribute to its gold-medal winning Olympian at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.
"It's a pretty neat feeling and definitely a huge honour and humbling at the same time," said a visibly excited Jarome Iginla, his eyes twinkling and a big smile etched across his face. "To see so many people come out and celebrate being part of the Olympics and being part of Team Canada and winning a gold medal is pretty cool."
Mayor Nolan Crouse presented Iginla with a framed collage of pictures commemorating his Olympic achievement.
"He's been a great ambassador for the sport of hockey, a great ambassador for Canada and a great ambassador for St. Albert. He is also just an absolute gem of a human being," Crouse said to thunderous applause. "God bless everything you've ever done."
The event was part of the city's efforts in recognizing local Olympians and an appreciative Iginla was very thankful.
"It means a ton to my family and I," he said. "This is definitely a special occasion. It's neat to have our kids here. My wife [Kara] is from here too. Both our families live here so to share it with them is special."
Iginla, who turned 33 years old on Canada Day, was over the moon by the vast turnout of fans, friends and Team Canada supporters.
"To grow up playing minor hockey and minor baseball here, you never dreamed of having a day where people come out like this. It's hard to believe," said the Calgary Flames captain. "When Mayor Crouse approached me about this day, I was excited and very honoured. I wasn't sure if there would be five people or if it would just be my relatives, so it's neat to see so many people come out, especially the kids with their Canadian flags and their jerseys.
"It's great to see so many Flames' jerseys too."
Career highlight
Iginla's third Olympics and second gold medal were memories to last a lifetime.
"I definitely feel blessed I got to be a part of it. It was the highlight so far of my hockey career. It's something I will never forget, especially to be a part of it in Canada," said Iginla, an Olympic gold medallist in 2002. "It was truly an amazing experience. It's what you dream of when you're on the St. Albert rinks here, like Braeside [where Iginla grew up]; you're playing and imagining winning in overtime and you're at home and the fans are going crazy."
Iginla assisted on the dramatic overtime goal by Sidney Crosby, as Canada beat the United States 3-2 for the gold, but never saw the puck go. He literally made the pass while facing the boards during four-on-four hockey in the extra frame.
"He was yelling for it and I'm thinking, 'Oh, man, I hope I didn't miss him. He's open,' so I just threw it and then I saw him jumping in the air," Iginla said of his seventh point at the tournament. "To be part of a team where you go into sudden death and one goal wins it, and for it to go the right way, is something that I definitely will never forget."
A late goal by the United States with seconds remaining temporarily put a halt to the party from coast to coast.
"We were probably fortunate that we did have a chance to go into the dressing room and regroup. It was very quiet for probably five minutes, then after that you start realizing we still have a great opportunity here. Someone is going to get to be a hero and put that puck in and it happened to be Crosby," said Iginla, who led all scorers with five goals in seven games.
"It was pretty neat to go into overtime and have fans sitting on the edge of their seats. We were sitting on the edge of our seats too. There was a ton of pressure, there is no question, but that is what you want as an athlete and there is nothing better when you're able to come through and people can enjoy it with you. To see the crowd going nuts and knowing that's our crowd, and knowing everybody across Canada is going nuts too with national pride, it was incredible."
Homegrown star
Seven Hills was the backdrop for Saturday's post-Olympic celebration and the afternoon festivities were staged at the Mission diamond.
"This brings back a ton of memories. I tobogganed right here on the hill and I've played on this baseball diamond," Iginla said. "It's so great to see a lot of familiar faces; my old coaches and the people that I've played with and they brought their kids out. It's been a blast.
"I don't feel that old but time sure flies by."
Iginla attended elementary school at Sir Alexander Mackenzie, junior high at Lorne Akins and high school at Paul Kane.
"My mom brought me here to St. Albert at age seven and I was so fortunate my grandparents lived here. I got to go there after school. I spent a lot of time with them."
Iginla maintains his St. Albert roots with a house in the city and is a frequent visitor in the offseason.
"This really is my home. My wife and I met in junior high here. St. Albert is a big, big part of our lives. It's a great community with lots of opportunities and it's not like that everywhere. As you get older you definitely feel so fortunate for those opportunities. There was an outdoor rink in every neighbourhood and one that was always taken care of and flooded. All the different ball diamonds were also ready for us to play on," he said. "St. Albert has been an amazing place to live and a lot of things still look great here."
Iginla's biggest fan growing up was his grandfather, Rick Schuchard, who died May 21 at the age of 88. Schuchard followed Iginla's progress every step of the way throughout his St. Albert sports career. He watched the second-year bantam tear up the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League with the 1992/93 Eagle Raiders as the top scorer in the province with 87 points in 36 games on 34 goals and 53 assists before joining the Western Hockey League's Kamloops Blazers. Schuchard also saw his grandson excel in baseball and was honoured as the all-star catcher at the 1992 bantam AAA nationals with the host Cardinals.
"He would be having a great time right now. He made a lot of friends through music, baseball, hockey and teaching and he would've seen them here. Obviously I wish he was here but I feel extremely blessed to have him as a grandfather and I got to spend so much time with him," Iginla said. "He is definitely a big part of this day."
