Rucchin Emerges for Ducks

Paul Kariya, you have heard plenty about. Same with Oleg Tverdovsky. Even San Jose’s Jeff Friesen, who visits The Pond in a crucial late-season game tonight.

But for a really remarkable rookie story, consider Mighty Duck center Steve Rucchin. A year ago, he was thinking about going to medical school after graduating from the University of Western Ontario with honors in biology. A pro hockey career was hardly even in his thoughts.

“Things have happened fast,” said Rucchin, 23. “I really didn’t know what route my life was going to be taking. I’m just starting to get used to what my life is going to be like the next few years.”

Kariya, Tverdovsky and Friesen were all high first-round draft picks. Ditto Quebec’s Peter Forsberg. Rucchin was plucked from the supplemental draft, basically reserved for college players not taken in the regular entry draft.

“You’d have to say that to get into anybody’s lineup as a first-year player you’ve usually got to be a first-rounder,” Wilson said. “I think a lot of people have got to be saying, ‘Where did he come from? How did we miss him?’ ”

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound center had five goals and eight assists through 34 games and a plus-minus of plus-seven, best on the Ducks.

“He’s never on for goals against,” Wilson said. “He kills penalties, and the other team doesn’t score. He gets in on the forecheck and creates scoring opportunities. He wins important faceoffs.

“You don’t want to put pressure on him but you might have to say at over the last 15 games, Steve Rucchin may be our best forward all-around.”

Rucchin is a big physical center with offensive skill. What’s more, he has potential to get considerably better. Before this season, he had never played more than 30-odd games in a season.

This year, between his time with San Diego of the International Hockey League during the lockout and the shortened season with the Ducks, he’ll play nearly three times that many.

“It will be up to the mid-80s, close to 90 altogether,” he said. “Then there’s the travel. I’d only flown once or twice in my life before this.

“There are the practices, too. There’s a higher intensity level and obviously it’s a lot faster. All that comes with the first year. It take some time to adjust.”

It’s hard to fully understand how much of a longshot Rucchin was. Canadian universities are not breeding grounds for the NHL. Pro prospects leave home as teen-agers to play Canadian junior hockey, hoping to be drafted at 18 and shortly move onto the minors--or for the elite few, straight to the NHL.

Rucchin concentrated on his studies, and simply wasn’t that entranced with hockey. At Western Ontario, where there are no scholarships, classes still took precedence.

This summer, they will be part of his life again, though after signing a contract that could pay him $1.2 million over the next four years, his top priority is adding more meat and muscle to his big frame.