Kariya Gets a Big Chunk of Magic Kingdom : V-Day Parade Down Streets of Anaheim

The assembled reporters had to sit down for this one. In the back of the room, ice and powerful jolts of piping hot caffeine were available. Smelling salts and cold compresses, if necessary, could be found in the trainer’s room down the hall.

“MIGHTY DUCKS OF ANAHEIM” blurted the boldface type on the press release, “SIGN 1993 TOP DRAFT CHOICE PAUL KARIYA TO MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT.”

Outside, the streets of Anaheim were filled with sailors kissing nurses, grown men weeping, children singing, total strangers hugging and bombs bursting in midair.

Or if not, they should have been.

This was peace in our time, armistice at last, the dawning of a bright new day.

After more than 14 long, cold, hard months--431 days if you’re counting, and most Mighty Duck fans were--the Kariyan Conflict has come to a close.

Paul Kariya, the most mightily reluctant Duck, has come to terms and will be on the ice, in uniform, for the opening session of training camp Monday morning.

First, though, will be Sunday’s media day, where writers and photographers will be allowed to touch and pinch Kariya and shake his hand, to gather physical evidence for their eyewitness reports. If it’s a hologram or some other figment of the Disney animation department’s imagination, you’ll be the first to know.

Timing is everything, of course, and we probably should have been tipped off the other day when Disneyland pulled the plug on the Pigskin Classic, freeing up a few extra million dollars to throw Kariya’s way. Let’s see: Ohio State vs. Fresno State in August . . . or a serious run at the 1995 Stanley Cup playoffs? If I’m Michael Eisner, I make the same choice in a second.

At Thursday’s jubilant press conference, Ducks Coach Ron Wilson was beside himself, as were several media types who wanted to know what Wilson planned to do with Kariya. This is a little like Ed McMahon asking what you plan to do with the $14 million he has just handed you.

“In fact, I already know who I’m gonna put him with,” said Wilson, eyes glistening. “We’ll play Paul either on the right wing or left wing with Tony Semenov at center. At the other wing, we might go with skill person, like (Valeri) Karpov, or a grinder like Garry Valk. Or maybe a physical guy, like Todd Ewen or Stu Grimson.”

Wilson smiled.

“I’ve been playing around with different lines for a month.”

And the thinking behind a Semenov-Kariya pairing, other than the notion of breaking them in together, seeing as how neither player has appeared in many games for the Ducks to this point?

“To draw an analogy,” Wilson said, “I sort of liken it to mathematicians. When it comes to understanding geometry at the highest level, Tony is right up there with Paul. Rather than having some guy just adding numbers, these guys understand all the angles. They speak the same language . . .

“When it comes to passing the puck, Paul is almost in the same league with Wayne Gretzky and right there with Adam Oates and Craig Janney. Paul should play with someone who’s a threat, and Tony, when he wasn’t hurt last year, was our best offensive threat.”

Wilson took his first extended look at Kariya during the World Championships in Italy last June, pining behind Team USA’s bench as he watched Kariya whisk Canada to the gold medal.

“The only time I’d seen him play before was in a college game,” Wilson said. “Here, he was playing with and against some of the best players in the NHL and he was (Wilson begins to chuckle with delight) controlling the game. He made something happen every time he stepped on the ice.”

When both the American and Canadian teams were practicing in Milan, Wilson made a point to seek out Kariya and talk with him every day. It was the basic scouting process turned upside down: First the Ducks draft Kariya, then, 12 months later, Wilson attempts to recruit him.

In April, Wilson also served as host and tour guide for Kariya during a quick look-see of Orange County. Wilson played it to the hilt, pulling the roof down on the family car--”I wanted to let the wind blow through his hair”--and driving Kariya around to “some of the hot spots.”

Newport Bay? Laguna Beach?

“In-And-Out Burgers,” Wilson said triumphantly. Know your customer is still Rule 1 for any salesman--and Kariya remains a teen-ager, at least for the next month-and-a-half.

Via the drive-thru window in Anaheim and dasher boards in Milan, Wilson and Kariya began to bond. “He keeps calling me, ‘Mr. Wilson, Mr. Wilson,’ so I started calling him ‘Dennis,’ ” Wilson said, laughing.

Eventually, they discovered they shared more common ground that either could have possibly imagined. Both have ties to Vancouver--Kariya grew up there, Wilson used to coach there--but more than that, they have ties to the same neighborhood.

“I used to live only three blocks away,” Wilson said. “I had no idea until I went up there to meet Paul and his family. I recognized his father right away. He officiated some of my daughter’s high school basketball games. I’d see him around from time to time.”

Uh-oh. So there lies the problem. Basketball Father Wilson once aired out Referee Kariya after a questionable charging call . . . and the Kariya family has this very long memory, see . . . and when it came time to negotiate a contract . . .

“No, no, no!” Wilson said, waving his hands in mock horror. “I never yelled during games. I wasn’t one of those guys.”

No, Wilson is one of those guys who, in the middle of a group interview about his new star winger, yells across the room so Ducks General Manager Jack Ferreira can hear:

“I’m taking Jack to Maui for dinner!”

Finally, roasted Duck can be taken off the menu.