Suspension Surprises, Angers Kariya

Angelic-faced Paul Kariya, a two-time Lady Byng trophy winner for gentlemanly play and a member of the NHL’s new panel looking into ways to curb injuries, was suspended by the league Saturday.

He did not play in the Ducks’ 2-1 exhibition loss to the Phoenix Coyotes and also could miss Friday’s season opener against the Minnesota Wild pending a hearing with league officials this week.

No joke.

Actually, Kariya believes it is a very big joke that he received a slashing major and a match penalty for what was deemed a deliberate attempt to injure Minnesota’s Aaron Gavey in a 3-1 exhibition loss Friday.

“I can’t believe it was anything more than two minutes,” said Kariya, acknowledging he deserved a slashing minor. “It should never have been a match penalty in the first place.”

It might even be funny if not for the possibility that the Ducks could be without two-thirds of their top line when they open their eighth NHL season Friday against the Wild at the Arrowhead Pond. Center Steve Rucchin is expected to be out three more weeks because of a broken left hand.

“Hopefully, it’s just this one game and then I’ll be able to start the season,” said Kariya, the NHL’s fourth-leading scorer last season with 86 points.

Kariya said he was skating to the bench with only a few minutes remaining Friday, when Gavey attempted to kick his feet out from under him for the second time in the game.

“One of their players tried to slew-foot me,” Kariya said. “I was off balance. I swung my stick . . . and hit him on the pants. Earlier in the game, the same thing happened. I think it was the same player who tried to slew-foot me along the boards.

“I can’t have guys taking liberties like that in an exhibition game. I can’t have them giving me cheap shots when I’m going to the bench. I was like, ‘What is this?’ I turned and swung my stick.”

The Ducks searched for the incidents on a videotape of the game, but could find neither. So, it will be Kariya’s word against the word of referee Brian Murphy at the hearing, which will probably be held Monday on a conference call.

Any match penalty for attempting to injure another player is subject to review by the league, which is why Kariya was suspended for Saturday’s exhibition.

Will he get more?

“I certainly hope not,” said Kariya. “The problem was the referee didn’t see what happened originally [when Gavey tried to trip Kariya]. It wasn’t like I broke my stick over the guy. I just chopped at him.”

Kariya seemed at once angry and sheepish about the suspension, his first at any level of play. Fact is, Kariya enters his seventh NHL season with a grand total of 117 penalty minutes. He couldn’t recall receiving a major penalty during his NHL career.

“It’s ironic,” he said. “I’m on the injury committee, the league has decided to crack down on slashing . . . “ His voice trailed off, then he continued, “I deserved a minor penalty, but anything more than that is out of left field.”

Coach Craig Hartsburg and right wing Teemu Selanne defended Kariya on Saturday.

“It’s hard to believe, first of all, the other guy didn’t get a penalty,” Hartsburg said. “He did it twice. Once in the second period and again in the third. The guy tried to kick Paul’s feet out from under him.”

Said Selanne, picking up the story: “Paul just turned and slashed at his legs. It was nothing. I told the refs, ‘There’s two of you guys and you can’t see that [Gavey’s trip of Kariya]?’ ”

If nothing else, the episode has given Kariya added incentive to strike back at the Wild in Friday’s opener. If he is eligible to play, that is. “Oh yeah, I’ll be ready to go,” he said.

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With Kariya suspended and Selanne, center German Titov and defensemen Niclas Havelid and Oleg Tverdovsky not in the lineup, the Ducks struggled Saturday. Defenseman Patrick Traverse scored the Ducks’ goal with 12 seconds left in the game. The Ducks were 3-5 in exhibition play.