Teemu Selanne had a theory about staying up past midnight
His and Paul Kariya's first night at roommates started with a disagreement
Paul Kariya
Paul Kariya is a Canadian former left winger who spent nine seasons with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and finished an NHL career of 989 games with exactly 989 points. Kariya won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy twice, took Olympic gold with Canada in 2002 and entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017. For many supporters Kariya is remembered first for one shift in the 2003 Stanley Cup Final, when Kariya was flattened by Scott Stevens and scored minutes later.
| Position | Left wing, shot left |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 October 1974 in Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Drafted | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, first round, fourth overall, 1993 |
| Teams | Anaheim 1994-95 to 2002-03, Colorado 2003-04, Nashville 2005-06 to 2006-07, St. Louis 2007-08 to 2009-10 |
| NHL totals | 989 games, 402 goals, 587 assists, 989 points, 399 penalty minutes |
| Honours | Lady Byng Memorial Trophy 1996 and 1997, Hobey Baker Award 1993, Olympic gold 2002 and silver 1994, Hockey Hall of Fame 2017 |
| Known for | The Teemu Selanne partnership, the goal after the Scott Stevens hit in the 2003 Final, No. 9 retired by Anaheim |
| After hockey | Last played in 2009-10, announced his retirement in June 2011, inducted into the Hall of Fame in November 2017, seen at NHL alumni events |
Scott Stevens's hit on Paul Kariya in the 2003 Stanley Cup Final
The hit landed in the second period of Game 6 of the 2003 Final, on 7 June 2003. Kariya had just moved the puck and did not see New Jersey captain Scott Stevens coming the other way, and Stevens caught Kariya squarely in open ice. Kariya lay motionless for some time before being helped off to the dressing room. No penalty was called on the play, and the league handed down no supplementary discipline afterwards, which is still where most arguments about the Stevens hit on Kariya begin.
Kariya returned and scored after the Stevens hit
Kariya came back to the Anaheim bench minutes later, to a building that had written the night off. About eleven minutes after the hit, Kariya took a pass in the New Jersey zone and beat Martin Brodeur with a slapshot from distance. The broadcast line that followed, 'off the floor, on the board', has outlived the game. Anaheim won Game 6 by 5-2 and forced a seventh game, which New Jersey won at home to take the Stanley Cup. The sequence remains the most replayed of Kariya's career.
Did Scott Stevens apologize to Paul Kariya?
No apology from Stevens to Kariya has been reported. Stevens's public line at the time was that hockey is a physical game, and the hit drew neither a penalty nor supplementary discipline. Years later the Devils rookie Mike Rupp said on a podcast that Stevens had told him on the team bus that he let up at the last second and did not give Kariya 'that extra boom', which is the closest thing on record to a second thought. Kariya and Stevens have since skated at the same alumni events, and what Stevens is said to have told a teammate is as far as the story goes.
989 points in 989 games, and the rest of Kariya's career totals
Kariya finished with exactly as many NHL points as games played, 989 in 989, made up of 402 goals and 587 assists, with 399 penalty minutes over fifteen NHL seasons. Kariya's best single year was 1995-96, with 50 goals and 58 assists for 108 points. Kariya was a seven-time NHL All-Star and made the All-Rookie Team for 1994-95, a season that only began in January and ran 48 games because of the lockout. The symmetry of 989 and 989 is the number most often quoted about Kariya.
Kariya and Teemu Selanne, from Anaheim to Colorado
Selanne arrived in Anaheim by trade in February 1996, and the line the two formed defined the franchise's first decade. They played together until Selanne was traded to San Jose in 2001, then arranged a reunion by signing with Colorado in the same summer of 2003. The friendship outlasted the hockey, and a good share of what we have published about Kariya comes from Selanne telling stories, including the day Selanne mistook Kariya for a fan and the only argument the two ever had.
How many Lady Byng Trophies did Paul Kariya win?
Two. Kariya won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1996 and again in 1997, back to back, for combining a high standard of play with sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct. Kariya was a finalist several more times without winning, which is why the count is sometimes given as three. Both wins came in Anaheim, where Kariya was named captain after the 1995-96 season and held the role for seven seasons, a club record at the time. The trophy fit the player, because Kariya closed a 989-game career with only 399 penalty minutes.
Kariya's Olympic gold in 2002 and silver in 1994
Kariya played for Canada at two Olympic tournaments and medalled at both. The first was Lillehammer in 1994, before Kariya had played an NHL game, where Canada lost the final to Sweden in a shootout and took silver. The second was Salt Lake City in 2002, where Canada beat the United States in the final for its first Olympic hockey gold since 1952. Kariya had already won the Hobey Baker Award in 1993 as the best player in United States college hockey, the first freshman to take it, while leading Maine to the NCAA title.
Why Anaheim retired Paul Kariya's No. 9
Anaheim raised Kariya's No. 9 to the rafters on 21 October 2018, the second number the club has retired after Selanne's No. 8. Kariya had been Anaheim's captain for seven seasons and played nine of fifteen NHL seasons there, more than with any other club. The Hockey Hall of Fame voted Kariya in during June 2017 and inducted Kariya that November, in a class that also included Selanne. The two went in together, which is how most Anaheim supporters would have scripted it.
