{"id":459700,"date":"2026-02-16T11:57:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/459700\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T11:57:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:57:29","slug":"celebrating-jarome-iginla-his-winter-olympics-success-and-the-golden-goal-excerpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/459700\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Jarome Iginla, his Winter Olympics success and the \u2018Golden Goal\u2019: Excerpt"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is an excerpt from \u201cBlack Aces: Essential Stories from Hockey\u2019s Black Trailblazers\u201d by The Athletic\u2019s Julian McKenzie, copyright @2026 and reprinted with permission from Triumph Books. All rights reserved. The book is available for purchase here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The party began once Jarome Iginla got to his feet on a Sunday evening in February 2010.<\/p>\n

Sidney Crosby\u2019s hands were already in the air, his gloves floating above his head as he jumped with jubilation. The weight of an entire nation was thrown off his back. Crosby\u2019s teammates, Scott Niedermayer and Drew Doughty, were the first to catch him once gravity brought him back down. Iginla soon joined the growing dogpile of red-and-white sweaters, with each man achieving Olympic immortality.<\/p>\n

Many remember the gold medal, overtime-winning moment as the \u201cGolden Goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the coolest memories because it was everything. It was relief, it was elation. You can\u2019t believe it. It was like a minor hockey moment, like in peewee, where you imagine when you\u2019re on the outdoor rink. It\u2019s over. In overtime. Guys throwing their gloves everywhere. It was awesome,\u201d Iginla said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was four-on-four, and I had a rush,\u201d Crosby said, reliving the goal. \u201cIt was kind of like a one-on-two, I think. It got broken up. The puck went in the corner. I tried to take it up the wall. Just kind of got stuck along the wall. And when it was stuck, Jarome was coming there to help out \u2026 I just jumped to the middle and called for it. Just tried to get it away as soon as it hit my stick, and it went five-hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the prior game, the Canadians needed a shootout-winning goal from Crosby to upend Switzerland. In the semifinals, Canada needed late saves from Roberto Luongo to preserve a 3-2 win to advance to the final. And just when it looked as if Canada would win over the U.S. in regulation, Zach Parise\u2019s last-second goal sent it to overtime. The Canadians weren\u2019t exactly dominant in 2010, and Crosby bore a significant chunk of that pressure despite playing at his first Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Iginla knew everything about the pressure, having experienced something similar in 2002 when he joined Team Canada at the Olympics as the NHL\u2019s leading scorer at the time. Following a tournament-opening loss to Sweden, Iginla swapped lines to join Joe Sakic and Simon Gagn\u00e9. Iginla credits Sakic as the savvy veteran who helped him find his place on the team. In 2010, Iginla was able to extend that comfort to the Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 superstar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole Olympics, it didn\u2019t seem like goals were coming easy,\u201d said Crosby, who scored four goals and seven points in seven tournament games. \u201cAnd he just said stay with it, keep going. And he was really supportive. As a young player at the time, and obviously a lot of pressure playing in Vancouver at home at the Olympics, he was just so good to me. So, to be able to connect with him on that goal was pretty big.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iginla is the first Black male athlete ever to win a Winter Olympics gold medal when he won in 2002 with Team Canada. Iginla\u2019s worldly assist on the Golden Goal in 2010 wasn\u2019t even his first time delivering in an Olympic gold medal game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Jarome Iginla (right) and Patrick Marleau celebrate after receiving gold medals following the 2010 Winter Olympics men\u2019s gold medal hockey game between Canada and the U.S. (Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Iginla saved his best performance of the 2002 tournament in the gold medal game, a matchup against rival and host United States. Iginla gave the Canadians their first lead of the game in the first period. Sakic fed Iginla with a pass from the faceoff circle. Camped in front of the goal, Iginla swiped at the puck and beat Team USA goalie Mike Richter with less than 90 seconds to play in the first period.<\/p>\n

The Canadians spent much of the third period clinging to a one-goal advantage. But it was Iginla who gave Canada the breathing room it needed. Sakic rushed up ice and entered the offensive zone. As two defenders closed in on him, he passed the puck back to Steve Yzerman. The then-Detroit Red Wings captain sidestepped around a defender before finding a wide-open, streaking Iginla, who immediately shot the puck toward the goal. Richter tried to catch it with his glove but couldn\u2019t hold it cleanly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt went up in the air, and it barely rolled over the line against Richter,\u201d Iginla said.<\/p>\n

When the puck crossed the line, Canadian fans celebrated in the stands and across the world. Members of Canada\u2019s executive team, including Wayne Gretzky, hugged one another. Gretzky pumped his fists in celebration as he looked down onto the ice.<\/p>\n

In victory, Iginla became the first Black male athlete to win a Winter Olympics gold medal. Following in the footsteps of Darren Lowe and Claude Vilgrain, who played in the Olympics before him, Iginla succeeded.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think back to all the things that fall into place from starting hockey to my grandparents\u2019 support and getting to be a part of it,\u201d Iginla said. \u201c(Hockey\u2019s) not just a sport for me. It\u2019s been my life, and it\u2019s been an awesome thing to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The following is an excerpt from \u201cBlack Aces: Essential Stories from Hockey\u2019s Black Trailblazers\u201d by The Athletic\u2019s Julian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5113],"tags":[95,26,144,105,5,145,54125,4,118,1469,100,5216,273],"class_list":{"0":"post-459700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-boston-bruins","9":"tag-calgary-flames","10":"tag-colorado-avalanche","11":"tag-culture","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-los-angeles-kings","14":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-penguins","17":"tag-pittsburgh","18":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","19":"tag-pittsburghpenguins","20":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116080191638656383","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}