SEPTEMBER 19, 2007 – CALGARY -- Jarome Iginla, captain of the Calgary Flames and one of the league's true superstars, took time Wednesday via conference call to discuss the upcoming season, his new coach Mike Keenan, his team's brutal road record and other topics.

There is a marked difference in tempo at Keenan's practices. Now coaching his eighth club, Iron Mike, as he is known, gets things done rapidly, according to Iginla.

"He (says) things really quickly and there wasn't much break between whistles and drills," says the 30 year old star."

The Flames made sure to show up for Keenan's first training camp in shape.

"As a group, we looked a bit skinnier and probably took a little bit extra care of ourselves," says Iginla. " He just doesn't like it if guys are not in shape and they have to ride the bike. I guess there's a lot of truth to that, that if you get stuck on the bike you're not in shape."

The Flames were dreadful on the road last season, ranking 26th in NHL road wins with 13. The next-worst playoff club, the Islanders, ranked 18th, with 18 road wins. Both clubs were eliminated in the first round. 20 of the Flames 29 losses last season came on the road.

"Part of it is confidence, but also it will be getting grittier and a little bit more determined and all those things," says Iginla. "It will be nice to get off to a good start and get some good confidence and not to have to hear about the road record all year."

Flames GM Darryl Sutter signed Iginla to a five-year contract extension worth $35 Million this summer. While he's closing in on 800 games played, Iginla is still young at 30.

" I hope I'm just halfway through my career," the Flames captain says. "When I broke into the league…it just felt ancient to me at the time."

After a legendary fight in the 2004 Stanley Cup Final against Tampa's Vinny Lecavalier, Iginla has high praise for the Lightning star, who evidently feels the same regarding Iginla, Lecavalier having noted recently that he puts Iginla at the top of his personal "respect" list.

"When we played (Tampa Bay) in the Cup Finals, our team was more of a rugged team and we were trying to make it as hard on other players as possible and trying to be as physical, and, you know, hopefully possibly have some guys not want to play that way," Iginla remembers. "And those guys (Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis) were able to play both ways."

"(Lecavalier) is a huge reason, obviously, why they won the Stanley Cup."

As far as his own club is concerned, Iginla likes Matthew Lombardi (20-26-46), the 25 year-old center who helped Canada win the gold medal at the World Championship earlier this year. So far in camp, Lombardi is getting a chance on Iginla's line, with Alex Tanguay on the left wing.

"If he's playing with Tangs (Tanguay), I can imagine him getting a lot of breakaways…he'll drive the defensemen back," he says.

"He's got the speed, the shots, he plays hard, doesn't shy away from anything."

Despite Iginla's having missed twelve games last year to injury, the 6'2", 202 lb. right wing topped the Flames scoring chart with 39 goals and 94 points.

Iginla has won a slew of major trophies, including the 2003-04 "Rocket" Richard (shared with Rick Nash and Ilya Kovalchuk). The same year, he won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy (Humanitarian of the Year). In 2001-02, he captured the Lester Pearson (Player of the Year selected by the NHLPA), also the Art Ross and Richard Trophies, in addition to a 2002 Olympic Gold Medal. That year, he lost out on the Hart Trophy (MVP) by a narrow margin to Jose Theodore.

The Flames open the 2007-08 season at home against the Philadelphia Flyers on October 4.

CALGARY FLAMES

EMAIL HOCKEYTALK!