Arguably the best player to ever suit up for the University of Maine hockey program is being enshrined into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Paul Kariya, who played a significant role in leading the 1992-93 Black Bears to the program’s first national championship, is one of seven people being elected, the Hockey Hall of Fame announced on Monday afternoon.
Kariya, who played 15 National Hockey League seasons, is being enshrined alongside one of his closest friends and former Anaheim Ducks teammate Teemu Selanne.
They join Dave Andreychuck, Danielle Goyette, Mark Recchi, Clare Drake and Jeremy Jacobs.
Last summer, a number of Kariya’s former teammates, including ex-UMaine captain and University of Denver head coach Jim Montgomery, believed it was only a matter of time before Kariya got his turn.
He finally has, becoming the first former Black Bear hockey player to be enshrined.
“Really really happy [for] Paul Kariya on his well-earned HOF induction,” Montgomery said in a Tweet Monday. “Elite skill & speed.”
UMaine coach Red Gendron, an assistant under the late Shawn Walsh that season, recalled that longtime Black Bears assistant Grant Standbrook was a big reason the Bears landed Kariya.
“He was extremely coachable,” said Gendron. “All Paul wanted to do was win and become a better player to help his team win. That was the way he operated.”
Gendron also noted that Kariya was a laid-back, team-first player who would do anything to put his team in position to get a victory.
Kariya set up Montgomery on the game-winning goal in the 1993 national championship win over Lake Superior State, completing a natural hat trick for Montgomery (three consecutive goals in a game).
“I don’t think there’s any question it’s well-deserving,” Gendron said. “He was a great pro, he was always a prime member of the community. He’s a terrific human being and you always like to see people like that get this type of accolade.”
Kariya, who has become an avid surfer since retiring from hockey after playing with St. Louis Blues during the 2009-10 season, tallied 402 goals and 989 points in 989 career games. He was the runner-up for the Hart Trophy (Most Valuable Player) in 1997.
He helped lead the Ducks to the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, where they fell in seven games to the New Jersey Devils. Kariya was also a 2002 Olympic Gold medalist with Canada.
But it was in Orono that Kariya burst onto the scene in 1992, as he and Montgomery helped UMaine to a 42-1-2 record, one of the best single seasons in the history of college sports.
Kariya, who registered 25 goals and 75 assists in only 39 games that season, went on to win the Hobey Baker Award presented to the top player in college hockey.
He missed a number of games that season to play for Canada in the World Junior championships.
“To score 100 points in just 39 games, that’s a really, really remarkable season,” Gendron said.
Kariya spent much of his professional career with Anaheim, and played for the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues. He retired in 2011.
He became eligible for Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2013.
