"Jarome f*cking hated me": Kesler dishes on former Flames captain Iginla
Jarome Iginla had no shortage of run-ins with the Vancouver Canucks and fellow forward Ryan Kesler.
And there was certainly no love lost.
Just ask Kesler, who dished on the on-ice relationship between the Pacific Division foes recently on the Spittin Chiclets podcast last week.
“Jarome f*cking hated me, man,” Kesler said on the show. “That guy, preseason he’d be like ‘alright we’re doing this, lets go.’ I’d go ‘buddy, it’s preseason…relax.’ Easy there Captain Selfish. Relax.
“He talked so much sh*t. It was a whole thing. They told me to shut up. They said, ‘don’t talk to him Kes…you’re just going to rile him up and then he’s going to score three goals and then the game’s going to be over.’ I wouldn’t talk to him. Then as soon as he scores, of course, I can’t help myself. ‘Oh you scored a goal finally… you must be happy… you’re losing 6-1, but…'”
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Iginla, with the Flames, recorded 73 points (28 goals, 45 assists) in 89 career games against the Canucks. Kesler, with Vancouver, logged 36 points (14 goals, 22 assists) in 54 games against Calgary.
The pair fought twice, according to Hockey Fights, including once when Iginla was a member of the Boston Bruins.
But that wouldn’t stop Kesler from wanting to be teammates with Calgary’s all-time leading scorer, who was the Flames’ captain for nine seasons.
“He’s probably a guy I would love to play with,” Kesler said. “He plays with his heart on his sleeve. He played to win and he played to kill. The first fight I had against him, he could’ve absolutely demolished me with a flying haymaker. I thought the fight was over. I was just puffing wind. The refs come in and then they let off. This haymaker…I felt the wind go by my face and I’m like ‘thank god that didn’t hit me.’
“Classy guy. First class on the ice. First class off the ice. Even when we got in our chirping-fest or he wanted to fight, I think that’s the guy I fought the most in my career, it’s him… I think we fought four times.
“He’s definitely one of those guys I would’ve loved to have on my team.”
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