“People say pressure’s a privilege,” he said, adding he’s heard just about every chirp in the book from opponents on the ice. “I just look at it like I’m grateful to be drafted to the Calgary Flames.
“That’s something to smile about.”
“There’s lots from things that from the outside you think ‘This could be good, this could be bad,’ but you really don’t know,” Jarome, the Flames’ all-time leading scorer, added. “From my point of view with Joe, there is pressure and there would be pressure, but there has been all the way, when you come up in the same sport when your Dad has played pro.
“There’s going to be challenges, for sure, but hopefully way more great moments. The passion in Calgary, the new building, lots of excitement about the team growing and the talent they’re accumulating.”
Joe hadn’t yet turned five years of age when Jarome left Calgary in 2013, so the memories of dad as a Flame are fleeting. But Jarome recalls one special evening, when the whole family came back to the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The night his No. 12 went to the rafters.
“We have some really nice pictures from my jersey retirement,” Jarome recalled. “The team had them (the three Iginla kids) come out on the ice, there.
“It was really, really special, really cool.”