A few decades ago, a young Jarome Iginla was in a cab with one of his buddies, heading for a midnight skate at his hometown rink in St. Albert.
The driver recognized something special about their dedication and reminisced about a former passenger who turned his own work ethic into a pretty nice NHL career.
“Mark Messier used to do this, too. I took him to the rink a few times,” Iginla’s friend Mike Moran says, recalling the cabbie’s words from a ride they took as 13- or 14-year-olds.
Mike remembers the advice they got from the veteran driver, too.