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FAMILIAR NAME

WHL club selects son of hall of fame forward in recent prospects draft

GERRY MODDEJONGE gmoddejonge@postmedia.com Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

Oil Kings select Joe Iginla in prospects draft

The Iginla name is coming back home to Edmonton.

While it's become more attuned to hockey fans in Calgary, where Jarome Iginla played the majority of his hall of fame career with the Flames, the name is returning to the family's Edmonton roots with his youngest son, Joe Iginla, getting selected by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Western Hockey League prospects draft earlier this month.

Born in 2008, Joe is coming off a season with the under-15 Prep Rink Hockey Academy in Kelowna, B.C., where he finished sixth in scoring with 65 points (37 goals, 28 assists) in 27 games.

“We are very excited to be signing Joe,” said Oil Kings scouting director Michael Chan. “Joe brings a dangerous offensive skill set that combines a unique blend of power and poise. Along with that, he brings a whatever-it-takes attitude and is driven by winning. There is a sense of purpose and competitiveness that Joe brings to the rink.” He comes by it honestly.

As the youngest of three children — whose sister, Jade, plays at Brown University, and brother, Tij, plays with the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds — Joe's participation was always required to even out the teams while playing with their father out on the outdoor rink.

“Back then, being a professional hockey player, I had a lot of say in how the game went,” said Jarome, whose duty as dad was to always evenly distribute the wins. “As I got older, and worse, I no longer had as much of a say.

“But Joe was always competitive and I remember even in the beginning he would get so mad when we lost. Then I'd say to him, `Maybe we'll figure out a way to win the next game.'”

To Joe, it wasn't always written in the stars that he would grow up to follow in his father's skate strides.

“There were four of us, without me there was only three,” said Joe. “So I always had to go out there and make a two-on-two game, even if I was the worst one out there.

“I always played hockey but I never really loved it until I was probably about eight. One day, I decided scoring goals was the best feeling in the world and I definitely want to do that some more.”

But that was well after his first memories of finding out his dad was well known in the hockey world.

“Maybe about third grade, I remember having this one friend whose mom asked him if he was friends with me because my dad was famous,” Joe said. “That was kind of the time it really registered, like my dad actually was somebody.”

And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to the type of game Joe sees himself playing.

“A lot of people say it's pretty similar to my dad's,” he said. “I'm a shooter but I think I can score a lot of other ways, like tips or dekes. But I also think I am still able to make good plays.”

One thing's for sure, Joe is a good student of the game and has put plenty of thought into the path of his young career.

“I've got the most advantage in the family because I'm the youngest one, so I get to go through all of my brother and my dad's experiences,” he said. “Now I think I get to make more informed choices, better decisions because of those guys.

“I was told that joining a team that might not be very good right now, you'll have a chance to play at 16, then when you'll be getting older, they'll be getting better too.”

Mission accomplished. It doesn't get more nowhere to go but up than an Oil Kings squad that finished at the bottom of the standings this year, paying the proverbial piper for going all in to win a WHL championship the year before.

Of course, coming to a new team with an immediately recognizable name on the back of his sweater can also bring along some expectations. But Joe isn't one to shy away from the spotlight.

“The only thing about that, though, is getting chirped by other teams about your dad,” he said. “Then my shot back is, ` Who's your dad?'”

All kidding aside, there is a challenge of wanting to make his own name for himself.

“It definitely does because if you look at all the posts about me getting drafted, it all says Jarome Iginla's son,” Joe said. “But I'm not worried about that, I think I'll be able to make a name for myself eventually, you know?”

Joe has one more year in Kelowna before making his way to the Oil Kings.

“I'm going for the scoring title this year,” he said. “This year I came sixth, so I have one more attempt.”

Being drafted in the first round (12th overall) was another box he can already check off of his to-do list.

“I would have liked to go earlier, but Edmonton was definitely the place I wanted to go,” said Joe.

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2023-05-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

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