Paul Kariya was an absolute superstar during his time with the Anaheim Ducks and helped put them on the map.
He was also one of the hardest-working players around and helped propel the Ducks into a playoff spot just four seasons into their existence.
From the Archive: ANAHEIM MIGHTY FINE:
Matt Cullen and the Star Wars freak were great buddies. As road roomies for five years, they endured together the stench of smelly socks and lengthy losing streaks. Throughout it all, Paul Kariya maintained his composure and straight-laced discipline. Kariya’s response to the dismal days in Anaheim was invariably to dig in harder, to retreat inward and make sure he was at least leading by example.
“When things would go tough,” Cullen says, “he would really focus on trying to make sure his game was in order and he was doing his job.”
But now that Cullen is in Florida and the upstart Ducks appear on their way to their first playoff berth in four seasons, propelled by that same south California superstar who has been blessed with two dynamic running mates for the first time in his career, it’s time for another reality to be exposed.
The painful truth is the captain of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim is—in the eyes of, let’s face it, a man who has probably seen him rest his head on the pillow more times than any other man alive-a bit of a…
Nerd.
“It’s kind of embarrassing, to be honest with you,” laughs Cullen, dealt to the Panthers during all-star weekend in the Sandis Ozolinsh trade. “He’d always want to talk to me about Star Wars and I’d just sit back or just laugh and pretend I didn’t hear him. He’s just fanatic. It’s sad, it’s really, really pathetic, I think is the word. Yeah, he takes heat. Guys are all over him. He for sure has a nerdy side.”
He’s also a heckuva hockey player, a game-breaker, committed to selfimprovement like the Pope is to Catholicism and Luke is to Leia. He’s a teetotaler, a bookworm, an undersized speedster-sniper who feels the pressure of his super-sized contract more than he’ll ever let on-and in Cullen’s eyes, a nerd all the same.
Hey, whatever works. Those Star Wars epics Kariya is so fond of don’t come around every day. (Note to George Lucas: give him a cameo and you’ve got Ducks ducats for life). The Ducks don’t get into the post-season every year, either. Barring a late-season collapse, this nerd is headed for the dance for just the third time in his career. He’ll more than take it.
What’s surprising is the Ducks are doing so well in a year when the stats would suggest-wrongly, it turns out-Kariya is doing less, not more.
At 28, he’s on pace to score just 28 goals, the lowest full-season total of his nine-year career. His average minutes per game have dropped for five straight years, from 25:32 in 1998-99 to 20:20 this season. Under rookie coach Mike Babcock, Kariya no longer kills penalties, either. He isn’t complaining, though-Anaheim’s PK unit is tops in the league.
SETTING THE PACE
The secret formula seems to be a combination of great off-season acquisitions by GM Bryan Murray (free agent Adam Oates and trade pick-up Petr Sykora) and innovative coaching from Babcock-innovative for Anaheim, anyway-that has allowed Kariya to do more of what he does best. It’s up-tempo, roll-the-lines, pressure-the-puck, all night, all season.
With upgraded depth at forward, an improved defense and strong goaltending from J-S Giguere, the flashy Kariya-Oates-Sykora line doesn’t have to do it all for the Ducks. Kariya and Co. can focus on setting the offensive pace and let that be enough.
“(Babcock) wants to keep us fresh and obviously in as many offensive situations as he can,” says Kariya, with 24 goals and a team-leading 68 points in 71 games. “It’s not a sit-back-and-wait style of game and it was that way for a number of years here.”
Oates has been a fantastic addition whose on-and off-ice presence has done wonders for the Ducks’ swagger. After Oates’s early season hand injury set things back, Babcock united his three offensive guns Jan. 9 in Colorado and the Ducks followed with a startling 18-9-1-1 run. Oates does the dishing while Kariya and Sykora take turns cleaning up.
“There has been too many times in the past when I go into the slot and I’ve got two or three guys around me and there’s no way I’m getting a shot,” Kariya says.
“That’s what happened a lot this year. So I’ve kind of switched it up and let Peter come into that hole and (I) go into the corner with Adam. Scoring or producing offensively is all about creating scoring opportunities and that’s what we’re doing well this year.”
Sykora, for example, had an astounding 11 shots on goal March 7 against Edmonton, a game won by the Oilers, but dominated by Anaheim. The Ducks’ collective confidence is at an all-time high because they have been playing well even in games they lose.
MUTUAL RESPECT
And in Oates, Kariya has found a kindred spirit similar to what he had before in Teemu Selanne, who was sent packing two years ago. As much as the duo enjoy playing together, they also love talking the game.
“Sometimes he’ll make a play that doesn’t work and he’ll be like, ‘Did you see that?,’” Oates says. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I did.’”
Oates and Kariya held a mutualadmiration society long before they played together. In Kariya’s rookie year, the Ducks played a pre-season exhibition game in San Diego against Oates’s Boston Bruins. Kariya asked for one of Oates’s sticks. They chatted a bit, shared the college-boy bond-Kariya attended Maine, Oates RPI-and stayed friendly over the years. Oates even mused aloud about one day coming to Anaheim. When Murray called last summer, Oates jumped.
LEARNING TO WIN
Another guy who loves talking is Babcock, an all-for-one, one-for-all fellow who won’t allow the contributions of leaders such as Steve Rucchin and Keith Carney and Giguere go unnoticed. Babcock preaches LTW-Learning To Win-and is the type to chastise for cheating and cutting corners after the boys believe they’ve played a good game.
“I’ve had people tell me (Kariya) hasn’t played this good in four years,” Babcock says. “But it’s not about Paul and it’s not about Paul and Adam. It’s about the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. As much as you’ve asked me about Paul, how about the goaltending here? How about the defense here?”
Given Babcock’s driven nature, their own recent history and a Western Conference race tighter than a pair of too-small underwear, the Ducks have been talking about must-win games since October. Or maybe it just seems that way because they’re usually booking tee times by now. Not once until this season had Kariya known what it felt like to be more than five games on the good side of even. Losing isn’t noble and neither is jumping ship, yet you have to wonder how much more of the former Kariya could have withstood before the latter became an option he could live with. Or perhaps the Ducks would have made that decision for him.
DREAM COMES CLOSER
Not that this season has been all gravy, either. Patriarch Tetsuhiko Kariya, a retired school teacher and former Canadian national team rugby player, died suddenly in late December of a heart attack. Paul Tetsuhiko Kariya didn’t miss a game. “With my dad it was a tough time there,” he says, “but everybody has to deal with it at some point in their lives and this is the time.”
But winning makes everything easier. It brings his dream closer.
“I’ve always wanted to win a Stanley Cup in Anaheim,” Kariya says. “I want to be a part of a team that starts at the bottom, an expansion team, and goes all the way to the top. And I think we’re going in that direction now.”
If that summit should ever be scaled in Duck-land, the celebrations will bring out the nerd for all to see. The Kariya family doesn’t handle alcohol well. His father was allergic to it. The champagne bottle Owen Nolan handed him in Team Canada’s dressing room last winter was his first drop in two years. Right there and then he could have flown a Starfighter (Hans) Solo. If his next drink comes before Italy, 2006, that means one thing only.
“Stanley Cup,” he says.
“Stanley Cup or bust.”