SAN JOSE, Calif. — The subject was haircuts and more specifically, Jarome Iginla's new 'do.
"A 'frohawk," is how Iginla described the look which, as advertised, combines the best (or worst) elements of an afro and a Mohawk into one odd head of hair. Nor was Iginla the only Calgary Flames player sporting a strange set of locks for Tuesday's playoff opener against the San Jose Sharks.
As befits his influence as one of the NHL's most respected captains, a handful of others — including Iginla's close friend Craig Conroy — also followed suit and went under the shears.
In fact, Conroy ended up with the clippers in his hands for the first time in his life, getting Eric Nystrom, David Moss, Jim Vandermeer and others to adopt the new look. Coach Mike Keenan must have liked what he saw in Nystrom and Moss — both were scheduled to play against the Sharks. For Nystrom, whose father Bob Nystrom was an important playoff contributor during the New York Islanders' dynasty days, it marked his first-ever NHL post-season appearance.
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Keenan suggested he would have gone along with the look himself except: "I don't have enough hair for a Mohawk."
"I've been working towards it for awhile," confided Iginla, of his new look, and denied that he pushed Conroy into the traditional Mohawk look. Iginla was smiling when he said: "He was just big talking. He was saying, 'yeah, you know what I'm going to do, I'm gonna put a Mohawk in; I'm going to go all blond,' and then when it came time … .
"I remember Boydie (Dustin Boyd) asked me, 'is Connie going to do it?' I said, 'no, he's not going to do it. He does this every year, he talks big. So he didn't have it done and I think he felt guilty because Boydie put some pressure on him. So there we are."
Conroy admitted that he "buckled under the pressure" from Iginla. "I cut a few guys, Moss, Nystrom … it turned out not bad. I asked Mike. He didn't want to do it."
The Flames have tried a number of different stunts/team-building exercises in the past featuring facial hair — the porn-star mustache campaign of a few years comes to mind (and would probably work well in a series against the Anaheim Ducks and George Parros). Conroy suggested that after moustaches and sideburns in years past, it was time to try something new.
"It's a tense time, it's just (designed) to loosen it up a bit," said Conroy. "Instead of being just so, 'oh, this is playoffs, this is so important.' We know all that. We just wanted to take a little focus away from it and have some fun. It is what it is. It worked for the (junior) Hitmen. They went blond. So we decided to change it up."
Conroy waited until the team was in San Jose before getting the scissors out, so his wife's first look at his new look will come on television.
"My kids too — my kids will probably say, 'what is dad doing?' My wife knows it's all in fun — she'll be OK with it. I did in St. Louis — I went all blond — and that didn't work out so well, so I wasn't going to do that again. So I thought I'd do something else."
True to form, the Flames were a loose bunch on the morning of the opener. Just how that would translate into on-ice success was another matter altogether. In two previous playoff series between the Flames and Sharks, the underdog emerged victorious both times — in 1995, when San Jose won in seven; and then nine years later, when Calgary turned the tables by winning in six.
Iginla said of the team's frame of mind: "We feel good. This is playoff time. This is the best time of year to play. First series, first game — we have a lot of respect for San Jose. We know they've had a great year. When you read and watch things, people give us no chance. That's fine with us. In our room, we do believe we can win."
Keenan was saying pretty much the same thing: "I maintain we will be a worthy opponent, based on our play over the course of the season, although it's fluctuated from time to time.
"Every team in this conference thinks it can win. There are no upstart teams that can say, 'well, at least we gained some playoff experience.' That's not going to happen on this side; it may in the East, definitely not in the West. All eight teams feel they have a shot to come out of the West, so for that reason, it's going to be competitive throughout."
And may the best (shorn) men win.
