Staying Rooted: The Kariya Brothers Stake Out Their Turf

Originally published in Rinkside in 1999

By Lucas Aykroyd

If NHL hockey players were trees, the Kariya brothers would be bonsai.

The parallels between Anaheim Mighty Ducks superstar Paul Kariya, his emerging sibling Steve Kariya of the Vancouver Canucks and the meticulously cultivated Japanese miniature trees are more than whimsical. All of them resemble their larger counterparts, but achieve an above-average standard of artistic perfection. Though small, they are surprisingly resilient. And like bonsai, Paul and Steve Kariya represent a proud example of Japanese heritage.

Until recently, players of Japanese origin had little impact in the hockey world. The very idea of Japanese hockey players was taken lightly. At the 1974 NHL Entry Draft, Buffalo Sabres general manager Punch Imlach decided to have some fun by drafting a fictitious player called “Taro Tsujimoto” of the “Tokyo Katanas.” The Buffalo media was fooled by this hoax, and only weeks later did Imlach confess that the Sabres public relations director had helped him cook up the joke.

Although Steve Tsujiura of Coaldale, Ontario enjoyed a distinguished career with the AHL’s Maine Mariners in the 1980’s, names like Hideji Tsuchida and Hiroyuki Miura (Montreal’s 260th pick in the 1992 Entry Draft) faded into obscurity in the East Coast Hockey League. No native-trained Japanese hockey players have emulated the example of baseball pitcher Hideo Nomo by crossing the Pacific Ocean to make a splash at the major pro level in North America. Top performers in the Land of the Rising Sun, such as forwards Yoshio Hoshino, Hideo Kurokawa, and Osamu Wakabayashi, all played their best hockey during the 1970’s, when Japan iced several Olympic teams that failed to come close to the medal podium.

“Failure,” though, is not a word that exists in the Kariya brothers’ vocabulary. Level-headed and determined, these players of Japanese parentage both know what it takes to compete with speed and skill in the world’s best hockey league.

While Paul, the NHL’s Lady Byng Trophy winner in 1996 and 1997, has already staked out his turf as one of hockey’s most talented and gentlemanly players, the spotlight has focused on Steve early in the 1999-2000 season. After captaining the University of Maine Black Bears to an NCAA championship last season, the 21-year-old left wing signed with Vancouver as a free agent on April 16, 1999. But few expected him to step right into the Canucks lineup at a mere 5-7 and 170 pounds. Proving the doubters wrong, Steve tied for second in preseason scoring among all NHL players with 10 points (2-8-10) in six games.

Steve’s performance in regular season play has impressed Canucks captain and future Hall-of-Famer Mark Messier. “He’s played great,” says Messier. “Nobody knew what to expect, but he came into camp and earned a spot on the team. Of course, he’s a first-year player, and there’s a lot to learn for any first-year player.”

On a promising Vancouver squad that features other impressive rookies, such as forwards Peter Schaefer and Artem Chubarov, Steve isn’t taken aback by all the media attention he’s been singled out for. “I don’t know if I’m deserving of it,” he admits. “But I’ve had to deal with it throughout my career, because Paul is my older brother. So I’m not overwhelmed by it all.”

But Canuck fans are starving for a local hero. Steve, born in North Vancouver on December 22, 1977, appears to fit the bill. With the departure of Russian wunderkind Pavel Bure and Vancouver native Cliff Ronning in recent seasons, GM Place hasn’t hosted a small, flashy player like Steve Kariya in a long time. And since Alexander Mogilny and Teemu Selanne tied for the league lead in goals with 76 apiece in 1992-93, the temptation to compare Steve’s slick partnership with linemate Mogilny to Paul’s Anaheim alliance with Selanne is hard to resist. Steve’s first NHL goal, a clincher in a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens, earned him a standing ovation from the Vancouver crowd. Amusingly, he received almost as loud of a cheer for his first minor penalty three nights earlier against Chicago.

Still, Steve refuses to get caught up in the adulation. Never drafted by an NHL club due to his size, he just has to look at once-promising first-round picks like Alexandre Daigle or Jason Bonsignore to recognize that talent will only take you so far. He used his undrafted status as motivation. “Obviously you need some talent, but so much of it is based on work ethic,” he says.”That’s what I’ve had to rely on the last four or five years, and it’s paying off now. But I have to keep working hard if I want to become a better player. I’m not happy with just making the team. I want to really contribute to this organization and be a good player here.”

If the past is any indication, Steve will make the transition. His commitment to the trademark Japanese values of hard work, discipline, and education has already brought him a long way. Like Paul, he starred in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League, garnering rookie-of-the-year honors with the Nanaimo Clippers in 1994-95. He followed in his brother’s footsteps to the University of Maine, where he led the Black Bears in scoring and won the Len Ceglarski Sportsmanship Award each year from 1996-97 to 1998-99 while maintaining academic honors. He capped his NCAA career by being named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award (best college player).

“Attending Maine was one of the best decisions of my life,” Steve says. “The biggest reason I went there was the coaches. Shawn Walsh and his staff were huge mentors to me. The college lifestyle was a real fun time, and I enjoyed it.”

Steve appears to have a more fun-loving personality than Paul, who gained a reputation as media-shy early in his career. At any Canucks practice, Steve scoots around the ice with a broad grin on his face. He wrestles the helmet off goaltender Garth Snow during a scrimmage. He kibbitzes with Dave Scatchard as the two toss a medicine ball back and forth in the tunnel long after other players have departed.

“I’m a big believer that if you’re not having fun and you’re not enjoying yourself, then you’re not going to play well,” Steve says. “I don’t think you can play a good game if you’re nervous or angry or frustrated. And that’s some of the best advice Paul gave me. He said I’m going to have a lot of highs and lows this season, but I have a chance to be successful if I do my best and enjoy the experience.”

Of course, good advice isn’t all that Paul shares with Steve. One-step quickness, a blinding wrist shot and slick passing are among the attributes the brothers have in common. But over the past five seasons, Paul has refined those skills to an amazing level with the Mighty Ducks. Since being chosen 4th overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, the Anaheim captain has emerged as Canada’s best bet to become the successor to Wayne Gretzky, the greatest player in NHL history.

The Great One himself testifies: “I don’t think there’s ever been a more dedicated player in the game than Paul Kariya. He has such great hockey sense. What sets Paul apart from the rest is that he can do everything at top speed, whereas most players lose half a step when they handle a puck or shoot. He uses his speed to get open and he gets more good, open shots on net than any player I’ve seen.”

Such ability reaps big rewards in today’s NHL. This season, the 25-year-old Vancouver native will make $10 million, second only to Pittsburgh’s Jaromir Jagr. Anaheim teammate Guy Hebert says: “Paul is one of about five people in this league who can write on a napkin how much he wants and get it.”

However, Kariya’s greatest desire has eluded him so far: success in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He’s posted some dazzling regular season performances, scoring 100 points twice and being named the runnerup for the Hart Trophy in 1996-97, but the Mighty Ducks have never gotten past the second round in post-season action.

“The biggest challenge this team faces as we move into the new season is becoming a character team that can take the next step,” says Paul. “We need to continue to improve as a team and give ourselves a chance to win every night, no matter who the opponent. We had some success last year but we’re hopeful that this season will be even better.”

He has reason for optimism, as the Ducks boast emerging stars like Oleg Tverdovsky and Steve Rucchin. But Anaheim’s success this season still hinges on the offense Paul generates with his good buddy, the Finnish Flash. While Selanne won the inaugural Maurice Richard Trophy with 47 goals in 1998-99, Paul says he’s even more impressed with another aspect of his linemate’s game: “I think Teemu’s passing skills are unbelievable. His passing is the most underrated part of his game. He’s a good passer in transition, and he’s an even better passer when it comes to scoring chances around the net. Teemu puts it right where you need it.”

He makes the game sound easy, but scoring in today’s tough, defense-oriented NHL is anything but. To endure the rigors of an 82-game schedule, the 5-10 left wing has bulked up to 180 pounds with his off-season weightlifting routine. Plagued by untimely injuries in the past—such as an abdominal strain that kept him out of the 1996 World Cup and a concussion that sidelined him for the 1998 Olympics—Paul says weightlifting also gives him a mental boost. “I’m automatically going to drop some body weight during the season because of the amount of play. But as long as I’m lifting the same weights that I did at the start of the season, I’m going to feel strong mentally and that’s the most important thing.”

The competitive Kariya has shown his mental toughness many times. One of the best examples was his play in international competitition in 1994. Coming off a disappointing loss to Sweden after the gold medal shootout at the Lillehammer Olympics, Paul recovered to lead Team Canada to victory with his five goals and seven assists at the world championships in Italy a few months later.

It takes pride to come back like that. And Paul grew up with a great deal of pride in his family. When Steve was playing in Maine last year, he checked every day to find out how his brother was doing. His sister Noriko, a third-year Maine student who plays on the school field hockey team, faxed articles about Steve to Paul in Anaheim. She’ll have to continue the practice now that another younger brother, Martin, has started playing for the Black Bears after a 108-point season with the Victoria Salsa that ranked him eighth in the BCHL scoring derby.

Both Paul and Steve acknowledge the debt they owe to their father, Tetsuhiko Kariya. Tetsuhiko, a teacher at Argyle Secondary in North Vancouver, is of full Japanese descent. It’s clear he passed on sporting genes to his children, as he played several tours with the Canadian national rugby team.

“My father taught us a tremendous work ethic and I credit him for passing that on to me,” Paul states. “He also taught me to be humble in everything that I do. He means a lot to me.”

“He taught me at a very young age that you make decisions for yourself,” adds Steve, who appreciates the influence of Japanese culture in his upbringing. While he never learned to speak Japanese, food is a different story.

“I love Japanese food,” Steve says with a grin. “I eat sushi all the time and go to Japanese restaurants. We always have Japanese food when I go over to my grandparents, and my mom cooks at that time as well.”

As in other countries, belonging to a visible minority in Canada is not free of problems. During World War II, the Kariyas’ grandparents, Isamu and Fumiko, were kept in an internment camp for five years. This dark period in Japanese-Canadian history grabbed the public eye in Joy Kogawa’s award-winning 1983 novel Obasan.

Steve simply comments, “What went on there wasn’t the best thing that could happen. But it happened, and it’s over with. I don’t think my grandparents or anyone else holds any grudges.”

In Steve’s experience, the racist attitudes of yesteryear haven’t carried through to today’s hockey rinks: “I’ve never had that problem. Maybe in the BC junior leagues a couple of times, but never in college. Occasionally you’ll get a couple of guys who say stuff. But by college, I think everyone’s more mature than in junior, and just that much more respectful of people. And it certainly hasn’t happened up here [in the NHL].”

For 1999-2000, the NHL has instituted a Diversity Task Force to educate players about cultural sensitivity. This makes it even less likely that there will be repeats of incidents such as those in recent years where players of a different skin color, such as Florida’s Peter Worrell or Edmonton’s Mike Grier, were subjected to racist slurs.

Paul Kariya ’s summary of his attitude toward his ethnic roots is eloquent: “I am proud of my Japanese heritage, but am even more proud of being a Canadian. I have met many people from Japan who are fans and everyone I have ever met has been very nice.”

There was disappointment in Japan when Paul was unable to visit the country on two separate occasions due to contract problems and injuries: Anaheim’s 1997-98 season opener against Vancouver in Tokyo, and the Nagano Olympics four months later. The visibility of players like Paul and Steve may help to heighten the profile of hockey in Japan in the long run. The Japanese Hockey Foundation was set up in 1929, but today there are still only six teams playing a 30-game schedule in the national league. Of those six teams, two have dominated, with 20 championships between them in the period of 1974-75 to 1997-98: Kokudo Tokyo and Oji Seishi Tomakomai. Young Japanese fans often get their first taste of NHL action through video games such as NHL 2000 by EA Sports.

But knowing the Kariya brothers, they won’t likely set their sights on a task as monumental as bringing puck mania to Asia. They try to stay rooted in the present, like bonsai unswayed by the wind. Their goal is to win for their NHL teams this year. “Stay on an even keel” is how Steve Kariya puts it.

Sounds like The Little Tree That Could.