NHL legacies and hockey dads: How Jarome Iginla and Byron Ritchie are preparing for the draft

Byron Ritchie made a quick note on his phone and sent a text message to Jarome Iginla, his former Calgary Flames teammate.

Ritchie’s son Ryder was in a scoring slump and Ritchie asked Iginla if he could watch a few of his son’s shifts. “See if you see anything different to me,” Byron asked.

It was a hockey dad asking another dad for advice, but in reality, less personal versions of these kinds of exchanges are common for Ritchie and Iginla. The two former NHL forwards played together for two seasons in Calgary almost 20 years ago. They both lived in the Okanagan during the off-season, a picturesque spot in inland British Columbia that is popular among NHL players.

In August 2006, after their first year as teammates in Calgary, Ritchie’s wife, Maria Johansson, and Jarome’s wife, Kara Iginla, both welcomed sons. Ryder was born on August 3. Tij Iginla arrived the following day.

Now the two 17-year-olds are top NHL prospects heading to the NHL Draft in Las Vegas this weekend, overcoming the pressure of draft eligibility together at RINK Hockey Academy in Kelowna. Jarome Iginla coaches the academy’s U18 team — including his son Joe, who made his WHL debut this season as a 15-year-old — while Byron Ritchie works with players at all levels as a skills development coach.

So when Iginla reviewed Ryder’s services in late November, he came back with a simple suggestion: turn your brain off.

“As a guy who likes to score and wants to score, it’s the only thing you think about when you’re not doing it,” Ryder said. “’Oh, I haven’t scored in six games,’ and then: ‘Oh no, it’s seven now.’

“So I’m sitting at home eating dinner and I can’t stop thinking about achieving that goal.”

Then Iginla called and told Ryder he needed to do something to take his mind off hockey. “Don’t think about the game,” he said. ‘Read. Go to the movies. Just be a kid. Get away from things for a while.”

Although a formidable force forward during his playing days, Iginla takes a patient, measured approach to developing young players – including his sons Joe and Tij, and daughter Jade, all high-level hockey prospects.

“It’s hard when you’re in it as a player,” Iginla said. “You just want to work harder, work harder. Just keep pushing, you know, break through. But sometimes it’s best to find something else. Give your brain a rest.”

Iginla and his family settled in Boston after his Hall of Fame playing career ended in 2017.

With three young children, all aspiring athletes, sport was the main factor in their decision. Boston had more opportunities for high-level baseball and hockey and easier travel. And just as his children started playing more hockey, Jarome found an outlet that helped him adjust to life after the NHL.

“You’ve heard it a lot from retired players, but it’s a big adjustment to stop playing and everything that comes with it,” he says. “Having to be everywhere, enjoying the competition, the energy of the game and the wins and losses, and just being in the game. It was a big adjustment that first year, but being able to coach really helped.”

While Jade played prep hockey and eventually attended Shattuck St. Mary’s in Minnesota, Jarome became a co-coach for Tij and Joe’s hockey teams.

In the summer, Iginla rents ice cream for his three children: Tij, pictured here with his father, Joe and Jade. (Courtesy of Jarome Iginla)

“Every night we had a practice or a game, so that kept me busy and made me feel like I was a part of it,” Iginla said. “I love the game and it was fun to be able to share that, yes with my own kids, but it was also competitive hockey, so it gave me the opportunity to share it with other kids who want to get better and are excited about it.”

Eventually, the pull to move back to Western Canada prevailed. Jade was recruited to play Division 1 college hockey. His sons were serious about pursuing an NHL path, and Jarome wanted them to play in the Canadian Western Hockey League.

“You know it’s our job as parents to help them,” Iginla says, “but also to make sure they keep their options open with their education. But we believe that if you want it, you work towards it and do your best.”

The combination of the significant ice time for aspiring athletes and the educational side of the Western Canadian academy system appealed to the Iginlas.

“So I spoke to Byron and we took the opportunity,” Iginla says.

For the former NHL teammates, working together came naturally.

“We go back 30 years,” says Ritchie, noting they played U17 hockey together.

“You always have that kind of bond with your teammates. And then you have kids that are a day apart, right? … We just kept in touch.”

The Iginlas enrolled all three children in RINK, and Jarome joined the academy as a youth coach and began working with his former teammate. In the meantime, Tij joined a U18 team and played on the same page as Ryder.

“Byron and Jarome are so up to date on developing the modern hockey player,” says RINK director Mako Balkovec. “The fact that they have children here gives them a personal interest and I think that’s why they also bring a certain joy to working with other players.

“Byron is very intense, similar to the type of player he was. He’s totally into it, very demanding. And that is reflected in how his teams play. And then for the kids, once they get past the — “Oh, wow, that’s Jarome Iginla” — he’s so invested in working with young players. It’s just an incredible opportunity.”

In the winter, especially when Iginla was still playing in Calgary, he would come home after games and flood his backyard to maintain the rink for his children.

“It was pretty peaceful,” he recalls. “I’d come back at midnight, get off the road, the stars are out and it’s so quiet out there. As soon as you turn the water on, you start to feel proud of it. Make sure it’s not bumpy, make sure the kids aren’t complaining. It was actually a good stress reliever.”

In the summers, and to this day, Jarome rents ice cream for himself and his three children. They do drills, do some skill work and then play two-on-two.

The teams are always the same: Jarome and his youngest son Joe, against Jade and Tij.

“In the winter we played two against two outside all the time, without a goalkeeper, so you had to lower the bar, and Jade and I were always a team against Joe and Dad,” Tij remembers.

“Usually Jade and I won,” Tij adds confidently. “Our record was pretty good.”

Born one day apart in the summer of 2006, Tij and Ryder share a fast pace and a highly skilled playing style. (Courtesy of Jarome Iginla)

“For a long time I was able to manipulate who wins, just try a little harder, try a little less, and split the wins because the kids would get so angry,” Iginla says.

“Then … Jade and Tij got better. By the end, Tij was 14 and Jade was 16 and I couldn’t control it anymore. I wasn’t that good in tight spaces anymore. People were like, ‘What do you mean, you can’t beat them?’ Well, come on, I couldn’t even bodycheck them! And Tij and Jade were just too good in those tight spaces.

“I started coming in at the end of the day and Joe was so mad that we hadn’t won in a while, and now my wife, Kara, is mad at me, and she’s like, ‘Why don’t you ever win?’ and then I have to tell her, ‘I’m doing my best!’”

What started as a bunch of former NHLers and dedicated hockey dads coaching their own kids has grown into something more.

Tij and Ryder share a high-octane pace and a highly skilled playing style. That’s partly why Tij, who was ranked the ninth-best North American skater by NHL Central Scouting prior to the draft, is considered a likely top-10 pick. Ryder should hear his name late in the first round or early in the second.

“As you grow up and as you get older, coaches kind of sharpen it up,” Tij says, “but my dad and Byron have a good understanding of development. You might make the odd mistake, but the important thing is that you come back when you do.

“That’s the cool thing about my dad. He looks at what’s changed in the game. He’s not stuck in old-fashioned ways. He’s always on his iPad looking at things, new drills and skills.”

That’s another shared trait between the two fathers. Their active group chat with RINK staff features tons of clips from all levels of hockey, a fluid and constant conversation about the evolution of the game, new drills, debating the value of the latest skill development craze.

For example, Byron has honed his approach as a skills coach in discussions with his CAA colleague Jim Hughes.

In addition to his work at RINK, Byron Ritchie heads up recruiting and player development in Western Canada for CAA. (Courtesy of Byron Ritchie)

“I think small-sided games aren’t just two-on-two on the ice, but there are a lot of different small-sided games and competitive small-sided games where players have to engage their brains to find open ice,” he says. “Put nets in weird places, crazy stuff like that, three-on-two and four-on-three, and the attacking team is outnumbered. I think those adjustments help engage the brains of the skilled players and challenge them to make plays and find space.”

Ultimately, the impact of the Iginla-Ritchie partnership at the RINK Hockey Academy has expanded beyond the development of their own sons. Right now, some of the most intriguing young players on the continent – ​​including likely 2026 first-round pick Gavin McKenna and Wisconsin-bound offensive defenseman Chloe Primerano, arguably the best women’s hockey player to ever come out of Western Canada – are training at RINK. and billeting with the Ritchie family.

“He pushes me, and I love it,” McKenna says of the relationship he’s built with Ritchie. “He’s my agent, he’s been my coach, I live here during the summers. He’s been through it all, so he’s helped me understand how hard I have to work, even how I have to eat, to get where I want to go.”

The draft is the culmination of a long-cherished dream for top hockey players and their families, but it also marks the beginning of the journey.

However, for Ryder and Tij, and their fathers, there will also be a sense of relief as a new chapter begins.

“There’s a lot of pressure in your draft year and I remember it clearly,” Jarome said. “When you get drafted it’s something unique because you’re constantly criticized and everyone is watching and judging. It’s part of the game, but in your draft year it feels like everything is magnified.

“Ryder and Tij both did well, but as a parent it is nice to know that they are almost through.”

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletics; photos: Jonathan Kozub, Dale Preston/Getty Images)