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Paul Tetsuhiko Kariya (born October 16 , 1974 in Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada ), is a professional Ice Hockey player for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League . He was born to Tetsuhiko Kariya, a Sansei Japanese, and Sharon Thomas of Scottish heritage. Tetsuhiko's parents, along with 23,000 other Japanese-Canadians, were deemed "enemy aliens" during World War II ; he was born in an internment camp. He later played rugby for the University Of British Columbia . An outstanding amateur, Kariya scored 91 goals and 153 assists for 244 points in 94 games in high school. He was the first freshman to win the Hobey Baker Award , notching 25 goals and 75 assists for 100 points in 39 games, helping the University Of Maine to a 42-1-2 record, and the 1993 NCAA and Hockey East titles in his only full season. His brother, Steve , captained Maine to the 1999 NCAA title. Their brother, Martin , helped Maine get to the 2002 " Frozen Four " finals. His miss in a shootout with Sweden cost Canada the 1994 Olympic gold medal, but he helped Canada win gold in the 2002 Winter Olympics . He was picked by the Mighty Ducks Of Anaheim 4th overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft and plays Left Wing . He had a career year in 1995-96, scoring 50 goals and 58 assists for 108 points. In 2003, he lead the Ducks to their first Stanley Cup finals. Paul missed the 1998 Winter Olympics due to a concussion suffered from an on-ice crosscheck by Gary Suter . That was the first time that professional players could compete in the Olympics and many saw Suter's hit as the worst of a series of alleged attempts by US Olympic players to injure their Canadian rivals. Suter's 4-game suspension and being allowed to compete in Nagano outraged many Canadian fans (although Team USA fared poorly in the tournament and became infamous for wrecking their hotel room before leaving). Kariya was widely considered the best player on Team Canada. This greatly Disappointed Japanese fans who were hoping for a vicarious thrill and medal chance. Ironically, Kariya would later become a teammate of Suter's nephew, Ryan . In a move that sent shock waves through the NHL, Kariya and ex-teammate Teemu Selänne signed with the Colorado Avalanche on July 3 , 2003 for much less than their value. This pairing was supposed to make Colorado instant contenders for the Stanley Cup after the retirement of Patrick Roy . However, Kariya and Selänne did not live up to expectations, due to Kariya's injury and Selänne underachieving greatly. Colorado did not re-sign them. He signed a two year contract with the Nashville Predators on August 5 , 2005 , as an Unrestricted Free Agent . Kariya rebounded in the 2005-2006 NHL Season , tallying 31 goals and 54 assists, accumulating his most points since the 1999-2000 campaign. Paul played in all 82 games, joining Dan Hamuis as the only Predator to do so. He quickly gained notoriety among Predators fans as a sharpshooter and accurate passer. In only his second game of the year, in front of his new home crowd, Kariya tallied the winning shootout goal against his former team, Anaheim. On April 18, 2006 , the last day of the regular season, Kariya scored a hat trick against the Detroit Red Wings in a 6-3 win. Kariya finished the year 4th in the NHL in shootout shot percentage, converting on 5 of 7 attempts. CAREER STATISTICS SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS ''Note: Teemu Selänne , served as captain during most of the 1997-98 season. Kariya was injured and out of the line-up. |
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