MIGHTY DUCK NOTEBOOK / ROBYN NORWOOD : Kariya Leads Canada Past Lowly Austria, 6-1

Paul Kariya, the Mighty Ducks’ unsigned draft pick, scored three goals in the World Hockey Championships on Tuesday as Canada beat Austria, 6-1, at Bolzano, Italy.

Canada is 2-0 in the World Championships; it hasn’t won the title since 1961.

Kariya--whose agent, Don Baizley, will meet with Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira in Italy next week for more contract talks--scored on a first-period breakaway Tuesday and added two goals in the third.

Ferreira and Baizley said it is unlikely they will reach an agreement when they meet in Italy. The sides remain millions apart on a multiyear deal but are hoping to agree on terms this summer--probably sometime after the late June entry draft--so Kariya can begin his NHL career this fall.

In other games Tuesday, Russia defeated Britain, 12-3, and the Czechs defeated France, 5-2. *

A three-year contract agreement with Russian right wing Valeri Karpov, 22, the Ducks’ 1993 third-round pick, might be done when Ferreira sees agent Jay Grossman in Italy. However, the signing will be delayed, partly because Karpov isn’t at the World Championships.

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Radek Bonk, the 18-year-old star with Las Vegas in the International Hockey League, led the draft rankings of the NHL Central Scouting Bureau that were released Tuesday. Behind him were two junior players--center Jeff O’Neill of Guelph and defenseman Ed Jovanovski of Windsor, both in the Ontario Hockey League.

The Ducks, with the No. 2 pick, are focusing on Bonk and Jovanovski. However, the team is being approached about trading the pick. The player selected No. 2 probably will seek a contract approaching $2 million a year, an amount the Ducks are unwilling to give Kariya.

“Finances won’t (be the determining factor for) us to trade the pick,” Ferreira said. “If we decided to trade the pick--and I’ve had discussions with a couple of teams--it would be because what’s being offered is better than what we would be able to pick. . . . I don’t think there’s a clear-cut guy who’s No. 1. They’re outstanding players, but I don’t know if they’re great players.”