A Move for Freedom
Crunch coach gives rookie creative room
 
By Lindsay Kramer
 
All his breath-stealing moves couldn't create what left wing Steve Kariya
craved most earlier this season - unbridled freedom.
 
Sure, Vancouver coach Marc Crawford supported Kariya's creative efforts on
the ice to an extent. But the demands and structure of National Hockey League
life can squeeze the spontaneity out of even the most talented of rookies.
 
Syracuse Crunch coach Stan Smyl changed all that in his first chat with
Kariya on Saturday, before Kariya made his debut for the Crunch against
Providence at the Onondaga County War Memorial. He simply told Kariya, a left
wing demoted the day before, to play his game and have fun. Everything else
would fall into place.
 
That may seem incredibly obvious, but it's possible that no words Smyl speaks
this season will have a greater impact on the Crunch. In the 22-year-old
Kariya's case, simplicity produces the wondrous.
 
"I like to be more creative and do some things out there," Kariya said.
"Eventually, I hope to do those things up there (in Vancouver). It's nice to
be able to come down and play."
 
The modest, low-key Kariya frames his demotion in appreciative terms, as if
the Crunch is doing him a favor by letting him take some regular shifts for a
change. The reality is that Kariya's every moment in a Syracuse jersey is an
unexpected boon to the team itself and to Crunch fans who are quickly
catching on to him.
 
The throaty hometown crowd that watched the Providence game seemed locked in
on his every stride, waiting to turn his every fast-twitch move into a topic
of awed conversation. Kariya, who arrived in Syracuse just hours before game
time, didn't disappoint.
 
During one third-period shift, he scored a breakaway, game-tying goal while
the Crunch was short-handed. Then, seconds later, he left the defense in
fumes for another breakaway that was denied by Bruins goalie John Grahame,
but only after he was hooked by a Providence defender. On another rush with
the puck, he unveiled a 360-degree spin at top speed.
 
"It baffles me, some of the things he can do," said Crunch goalie Alfie
Michaud, one of Kariya's best friends and a former teammate at the University
of Maine. "You know he's going to create something every time he's on the
ice."
 
The Kariya thrill show looked like it might not pass through Syracuse this
season. The Canucks signed him as a free agent off NCAA champion Maine, and
Kariya started to cause immediate problems for opponents with his uncanny
elusiveness and speed that was elite by even NHL standards.
 
He shrugged off the inevitable comparisons with his brother, Paul, a
superstar with Anaheim who is considered one of the best open-ice players in
the world. Steve started to create his own identity by pacing the Canucks
with 10 points in six preseason games. That production won him a job
unexpectedly. He followed up with six points in his first seven
regular-season games.
 
Kariya was chasing down his favorite target - a challenge. Whether it's
showing he deserves an immediate chance in the NHL or playing down the
disadvantages of his height (5-foot-7) Kariya is at his best when he has
something to prove.
 
"He strives for perfection. He has expectations. He wants to achieve them,"
Michaud said.
 
"I don't know if I like it (facing size questions) but I guess I don't have a
choice," Kariya said. "If someone says I can't do something because I'm too
small or something, I'm going to take it personally. I've always believed in
myself. That's all that matters."
 
But even potentially great players need a system in which they can grow. The
Canucks have decided that for now, at least, that Syracuse is more fertile
ground for Kariya's talents than Vancouver.
 
Smyl explained that the peripheral factors of NHL life can sometimes curb a
young player's ability. There's the mental and physical adjustments to a
grinding schedule. Coaching philosophies are also a factor.
 
For instance, Kariya said Crawford's philosophy in Vancouver required more of
a dump-and-chase style than individual whirling. The Canucks are a struggling
team, one which Crawford apparently feels is better served by strict
adherence to his system than by letting players create on their own.
 
Kariya struggled after his quick start, scoring just two goals in his last 23
games and being scratched in four of his last five. Crawford wants Kariya to
focus on handling physical play and getting the puck out from along the
boards.
 
"Most people thought that Steve wouldn't play a game in the NHL this year,"
Dave Nonis, Vancouver's senior vice president of hockey operations told the
Vancouver Sun newspaper. "We thought he'd spend the whole year in Syracuse
and we'd see how he does. By playing one game in the NHL, he exceeded
expectations. I think he's going to have a long, prosperous career."
 
Kariya, who is from North Vancouver, arrived in Syracuse with an upbeat
attitude but disputed the notion he was caught in an NHL rut.
 
"I don't think my game got off-track," he said. "As a rookie, that's going to
happen. You're going to be inconsistent. But you have to keep things in
perspective. You might have ups and downs, but eventually you'll get going."
 
That's what Smyl was hoping. A proponent of end-to-end offense to begin with,
Smyl's philosophy is to let a player do what he does best and then smooth out
his rough edges.
 
"My main concern when players come down here is don't have too much on your
mind," Smyl said. "If you have too much on your mind, you're not going to
play your game. It's very important for an individual to bring their talent
to the game. I believe you can never take that away from a player."
 
Kariya's most obvious obstacle is size. But while he might be muscled off the
puck easier than other players, Kariya is shifty enough to avoid big hits and
defenders must take him out of the play or risk a breakaway toward the other
end.
 
"I looked at him and said, 'He's small,' " said Providence coach Peter
Laviolette. "As the game (Saturday) went on, he was a dominant player. Guys
like that, you don't just swat them away."
 
Smyl said the most intimidating part of Kariya's game is that while many
players can try to pull off slick moves in practice, Kariya can carry them
out without slowing down. Steve, however, isn't too analytical about his own
abilities.
 
"I just go out and play the way I was taught to play. If people find it
entertaining, that's great," Kariya said. "You just try to see the play and
react out there."
 
That sizzle is fun. But when it comes down to the meaty challenge of using
his demotion as a positive and becoming an entrenched NHL player, Kariya will
treat that challenge in the same manner he blows past others.
 
"The only way I can change people's (skeptical) opinions is going out and
playing so well they can't help but look," he said.
 
Considering the buzz over Kariya's opening act with the Crunch, that doesn't
seem like it will be much of a problem here.
 
Wednesday, February 2, 2000