Preface
The Stanley Cup.
It was within reach. It was so close. As captain of the Calgary Flames, Jarome Iginla was ready to take it. It was unlike him to seem so hungry for something. His normally generous nature had taken a backseat to his drive for the Cup. Like every player on his team, Jarome had been dreaming of it from his earliest days on ice. And here he was part of the 2004 run to the National Hockey League's top prize.
The arena was loud. Fans cheered as the anthem ended. But the players from both teams the Calgary Flames and the Tampa Bay Lightning were focused. They knew they had to play their hardest and their best.
The series had been a tight one. The teams seemed evenly matched. They went back and forth within each game. But now it was a game that both teams desperately wanted to win. The series was tied at two apiece heading into this fifth game. The winner would command a 32 lead in the series. They would be just one game away from hoisting the coveted trophy. And Jarome wanted this. Both teams desperately wanted to win.
The Flames started the game off scoring when Toni Lydman scored off a tip-in. But the Lightning were still very much in the series. They wouldn't give up. They tied it up late in the first period. It was obvious that this was going to be another tight game.
Jarome was his team's leader. The polite and soft-spoken young man knew how to lead by example. In the second period, after a flurry around Tampa Bay's goalie, Nikolai Khabibulin, he skated in to his player's defense. Some Lightning players had started to push and shove. He wasn't going to get pushed around, and he wasn't about to let his teammates be pushed around either.
And then, late in the second period, Jarome did what he does best.
There were just over four minutes left in the second. Jarome flew down the right wing, the puck on his stick. For a brief moment, he looked to see who might be coming down centre ice to take the shot from the point. But there was nobody in position. It was obvious that Khabibulin was ready for Jarome to pass off the puck. But Jarome decided to take the shot himself. He fired it hard and in it went. He had tied the game!
"Well," said CBC Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster Harry Neale. "How about that shot!"
Jarome celebrated with his teammates. But he knew that this wasn't over. And he was right. It would be another hard-fought game as it headed into overtime.