If you watch your father, a Hockey Hall of Famer, play, and your siblings also are players, it might be expected that Jade Iginla more than likely would also pick up the family mantra.
“Of course, you grow up going to the games,” admitted the British Columbia native after her game last Friday. “I have two younger brothers that play and are doing really well. It’s definitely a family thing.”
The 5’7” Iginla is a junior center on the Brown University hockey team. The Bears lost 9-1 to host Minnesota in the second game of the two-night, East-West Showcase January 3 at Ridder Arena. She didn’t score, but got two shots on goal.
“It’s a tough one to let up a few [goals],” noted Iginla. The Gophers scored their first goal barely a minute into the game and three more tallies to be up 4-0 after one period.
Jade’s father, Jerome Iginla, played 21 years in the NHL (1996-2017), the 11th overall pick by Dallas in 1995. He was a two-time Canadian Olympian, 2001-02 NHL MVP, and only the fourth Black player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (2020). The elder Iginla finished as a six-time All-Star, one of 20 players to score over 600 goals, and one of 34 players to record 1,300 points.
Jerome’s daughter grew up playing ringette, softball, and figure skating before finally adopting hockey as her main choice of sport as a high school freshman. Jade joined Brown in 2022-23 and finished with 23 points and 17 goals, the most among ECAC freshmen and third among rookies nationally. She also was named the team’s MVP and conference co-rookie of the year.
Jade followed up with 16 goals and 27 points in her sophomore year, and made second team all-Ivy League as the team leader with 99 shots and second on the team with 11 assists.
Iginla also made the ECAC All-Academic Team in 2022-23 and played on Team Canada that won a gold medal in the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship.
“The belief that my family instilled in me [was] that if I work hard, I have all the resources to accomplish [her goals] and do the work,” said Iginla.
Jade is Brown’s only Black player. At her game last week, there was only one Black reporter who didn’t see too many other Blacks, if any at all. This lack of diversity at hockey games, in my decades-long experience as a hockey fan and reporter, isn’t unusual.
“I think diversity in the game is growing in a lot of ways,” surmised Iginla. “It’s really cool to see more and more Black girls specifically playing, and to look up to people like [PWHL’s] Sarah Nurse, Mikyla Grant-Mentis, and Laila Edwards [who plays at Wisconsin]. It’s always special to see little girls at the games.”
Finally…
The PWHL last week announced the December SupraStars of the Month, which recognizes three forwards, two defenders and one goaltender at the conclusion of each month.
Toronto’s Sarah Nurse is one of the league’s three Black players this season. She finished December as one of the league’s top 3 scorers (6 points — 3 goals, 3 assists) in seven games and leads the PWHL with 141 faceoffs, 21 more than the next closest player.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.
No one caught the fact you can’t tell the difference between Jade and Sarah and you incorrectly labelled the images? As a female Black reporter, this is just lazy and disrespectful to both women and those who continually fight for representation.
You are absolutely right. We sometimes make mistakes here. Thank you for letting us know. We have made the correction.