Advertisement

MIGHTY DUCK NOTEBOOK / ROBYN NORWOOD : Kariya Ready for His Debut in Exhibition at Dallas

Share

After eight days of drills and scrimmages, Paul Kariya makes his NHL debut tonight in an exhibition game against the Dallas Stars at Reunion Arena in Dallas.

“It’s the first time I’ll play as a Duck, for the team itself and not against each other,” said Kariya, who called camp “a learning experience.”

“Like anything else, I’ll go in with an open mind and give 100% effort. I don’t have any expectations.”

Advertisement

Kariya didn’t even need a full shift to adjust to the level of play in team scrimmages last week, and Mighty Duck Coach Ron Wilson doesn’t expect him to have too much difficulty tonight, although the competition will be a step up.

“We’ll let him go out there, and you know how he makes adjustments,” Wilson said. “We’ll let him adjust to the speed and intensity level, which will certainly be different from our scrimmages. He’s probably a little antsy after eight or nine days of practice without playing.”

Kariya will play left wing on a line centered by Anatoli Semenov with fellow rookie Valeri Karpov, also making his first appearance, on the right.

The game also will mark the Duck debut of veteran defenseman Tom Kurvers, acquired from the New York Islanders for Troy Loney in June. Rookie Oleg Tverdovsky, the second overall pick at the June draft, will miss the two-game trip because of a sore groin, although he has resumed skating.

*

Little League culture has nothing on Canadian youth hockey culture, where pressure is intense and youngsters often leave home at 15 or 16 to play junior hockey.

“They just shove it down. That’s what Canadian juniors is all about, the NHL,” said David McNab, the Ducks’ director of player personnel. “All the publicity is about future NHLers and the draft.”

Advertisement

As trying as it is, it’s the route most Canadian players take to the NHL, which is why it’s so striking to see Steve Rucchin making an impression in Duck camp.

He never played junior hockey and he was never drafted. The Ducks found the 6-foot-3 center playing at the University of Western Ontario, where he was earning an honors degree in physiology. They picked him up in the supplemental draft in June.

“Nobody ever does this who plays just Canadian college,” McNab said. “They always play Canadian juniors and then maybe go on to a Canadian college. For him to go this route, nobody goes this route. He told me that a couple of years ago, he never envisioned playing in the NHL at all.”

Now he has survived the first cut and has an exhibition game goal under his belt, scored in the Ducks’ 3-2 loss Sunday to the Kings.

“It’s an honor just to be here and a privilege. All you can do is give it your best,” said Rucchin, 23. “I guess you’d say it’s just a dream to play in an NHL exhibition game. It was even more exciting to be on the ice with the best player in the world.”

Rucchin isn’t going to do any worse than play in San Diego this season, and he’s going to get a good look from the Ducks.

Advertisement

“It’s tough to find a big centerman with offensive skill. That’s really tough,” McNab said.

Because he didn’t play junior hockey, he was underneath the radar of NHL teams. At 13 or 14, when the emphasis on being drafted by a junior team was heavy, Rucchin backed off.

“It’s unfortunate that at such a young age there’s so much pressure,” he said. “I got to a point where I was fed up and said, ‘I don’t want to do this.’

“It gets to a point where a lot of kids are playing all year, winter hockey, summer hockey. They push them way too hard. It’s unfortunate.”

A decade later, he’s the fortunate one.

“I don’t think Steve Rucchin probably even in a million years thought six months ago he’d be sitting here today with a shot at the NHL or playing pro hockey,” McNab said. “Talk about a guy who could have slipped through the cracks.”

Duck Notes

Dallas is 0-0-1 in exhibition play after a 5-5 tie Sunday with Calgary. Center Mike Modano and goaltender Andy Moog are expected to be in the Stars’ lineup. . . . Duck forward Maxim Bets was scheduled to make the trip but is remaining behind because of a sore back. . . . The team trimmed 10 players from its roster Monday before departing for Dallas. Sent to the San Diego Gulls for the opening of minor league camp today were goaltenders Allan Bester, Sandy Allan and Byron Penstock, defensemen Mark DeSantis, Mark Yannetti and Darren Van Impe and forwards Mike Maneluk, Jeremy Stevenson, Kevin Sawyer and David Matsos. Defenseman Anatoli Fedotov, who had been AWOL from Ducks’ camp but told the team he was confused about where he was to report, also will report to San Diego. The Ducks have 40 players remaining on their roster.

Advertisement
Advertisement