Tij Iginla has followed in his famous father's footsteps as a first-round NHL Draft pick and as a member of Team Canada at the world junior championship.
Now, the top Utah Mammoth prospect is hoping he can be just like Dad in another way — by capturing a Memorial Cup as a key member of a host team in B.C.
Thirty-one years after Jarome Iginla helped the Kamloops Blazers capture their second CHL title in a row on home ice, Tij will try to do the same thing when his Kelowna Rockets host the 106th Memorial Cup, May 22-31.
"I know his Memorial Cups are probably near (the) top of his achievements in his mind of what his most fun experiences in hockey and stuff are," the six-foot-one, 195-pound Tij Iginla, 19, said in a telephone interview this week. "Even before we were hosting this one, he's talked about it, talked about those Memorial Cups and winning. It's definitely special."
Based on the way Iginla and his teammates are playing these days, the Rockets are going to have a very real shot of being the first WHL team to win the Memorial Cup as host since Kelowna did it in 2004 — the last time the Okanagan Valley city hosted the four-team event.
Iginla had five goals and five assists in a four-game sweep of his dad's old team, Kamloops, in a first round that finished Wednesday with a 6-2 Rockets road win.
After an up-and-down start to the season following major roster and coaching-staff changes, the Rockets found their groove in the second half and finished fourth in the Western Conference (38-21-6-3).
Iginla, too, elevated his game in recent months after his 2024-25 season was limited to 21 games because of a pair of hip surgeries, followed by an ankle procedure. The sixth-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft finished with 90 points (41 goals, 49 assists in 48 games) and added four goals and four assists in seven world junior games for bronze-medal-winning Canada.
"I thought as the season went on, he got stronger and stronger and probably played with more confidence for sure. And also got more engaged," Rockets GM/owner Bruce Hamilton said. "That all comes with getting through the injuries and having missed as much as he did, feeling comfortable you're not going to get scuffed up."
Iginla describes the six-month rehab from the hip injuries as "just long, and kind of boring." But he followed the program by Vail, Colo., surgeon Dr. Marc Philippon closely, putting him in a good spot to have a strong campaign following a frustrating post-draft year.
"I think I've gotten better through the season and just working to improve at everything each day," he said. "I felt my first half was good, too. And world juniors was a lot of fun, I felt like I learned some good stuff there. Going into the playoffs, it's the most fun time of year. I think it's been a great year to be back here, for sure."
The injuries prevented him from making a real bid to make the Mammoth at training camp last fall, but Iginla should be in much better position to take a better run this September.
Of course, it won't be easy as the much-improved Mammoth are closing in on a playoff spot and are loaded with promising prospects — including fellow first-rounders and Iginla's Canadian junior teammates Caleb Desnoyers (Moncton Wildcats, QMJHL) and Cole Beaudoin (Barrie Colts, OHL).
Desnoyers and Beaudoin both play for league title contenders and could join Iginla in what would be a super fun Memorial Cup for the Mammoth front office.
"I've been following (the Mammoth) a lot. I think it's pretty exciting seeing what they're doing, making a push to the playoffs here," Iginla said. "They've had a really good year. It's fun to watch and great to see young guys doing so well."
The real goal now, however, is to make a big push for the Memorial Cup. World junior MVP Vojtech Cihar of Czechia, a Los Angeles Kings second-round pick, joined the Rockets at mid-season and has formed a dynamic duo with Iginla.
Cihar had six goals and four assists in the series versus Kamloops.
"Super-good dude and obviously a really talented player. Great linemate," Iginla said.
Cihar has a good leader to follow in Iginla, one of the team's alternate captains.
"He's a classy young man," Hamilton said. "He's very well-mannered, very well brought up and a pleasure to have around, to be real honest."
Iginla believes the best path for a Memorial Cup host is to make a strong playoff run. The last host team to win its league championship was the Kitchener Rangers, way back in 2008.
The Rockets will have to score several playoff upsets if they want to emulate that Peter DeBoer-coached Kitchener team, which lost to Spokane in the Memorial Cup final.
"I think we've got a really good team," Iginla said. "I think we're building for the playoffs, we're heavy, we've got a lot of guys that play hard and can ramp up their game a little bit for the playoffs and the big ones. I'm excited to keep seeing what we can do."
Speaking of familiar names ...
Caleb Malhotra, son of Manny, is continuing to do everything in his power to make himself a high first-round pick in this year's NHL Draft.
The Brantford Bulldogs centre has been one of the best players across the CHL early in the playoffs. He had two goals and three assists on Tuesday in a 6-5 overtime win over the Sudbury Wolves, giving his top-seeded team a 3-0 lead in the OHL first-round series.
Malhotra has five goals and four assists in three games.
Ranger flavour
The New York Rangers could have a series to watch if OHL Western Conference first-round series finish as expected, and match up the Flint Firebirds and Windsor Spitfires in the second round.
Flint's Jacob Battaglia, acquired by the Rangers from the Calgary Flames for Brennan Othmann at the trade deadline, had five goals and 10 assists in a dominant four-game sweep for the Firebirds against the Owen Sound Attack. Flint teammate and Rangers prospect Nathan Aspinall wasn't far behind, with six goals and seven assists.
The Spitfires feature Rangers prospect Liam Greentree, a Los Angeles Kings first-round pick acquired by New York in the Artemi Panarin deal. The Canadian junior team forward has three goals and one assist for the Spitfires in a series they lead 3-0 against the Guelph Storm.
Generals hit the jackpot
The Oshawa Generals won the OHL Draft lottery on Wednesday after finishing with the league's worst record in the aftermath of two Eastern Conference titles.
Now, we'll see if Hockey Canada grants exceptional status to Texas-born defenceman Kade O'Rourke, who has been playing up a year in the Greater Toronto Hockey League since 2022-23 after moving to the GTA with his dad, per Ken Campbell of the Toronto Star.
If the Toronto Jr. Canadiens star is allowed to enter the draft a year early and the Generals pick him on June 12 in Kingston, Ont., it would come 21 years after Oshawa selected the first player in CHL history to be given exceptional status — John Tavares.
I watched O'Rourke play at the OHL Cup minor-midget tourney on Tuesday, and it's easy to see why he could be a franchise player. The six-foot-one blue-liner skates and passes well, gets pucks on net and isn't afraid to get his nose dirty while being given plenty of ice time by coach Justin Teakle. O'Rourke has two goals and three assists in four games, all wins, at the OHL Cup.
The Jr. Canadiens face TPH Academy in a quarterfinal Thursday. The tourney final is Saturday at 2 p.m. ET at Toronto Metropolitan University's Mattamy Athletic Centre.
