Jason La Rose
With the IIHF World Junior Championship back in British Columbia for the first time in 13 years and B.C. Hockey celebrating its 100th anniversary, we asked the question … what are the best performances by B.C. natives in World Juniors history?
NO. 6 – PAUL KARIYA Hometown: North Vancouver, B.C. Minor Hockey Association: Burnaby Winter Club
1992 IIHF World Junior Championship Statistics: 6GP 1G 1A 2P Result: sixth place
1993 IIHF World Junior Championship Statistics: 7GP 2G 6A 8P Result: gold medal
After its thrilling gold medal on home ice in Saskatoon a year earlier, Canada went to Germany for the 1992 IIHF World Junior Championship in search of back-to-back gold medals for the first time ever. But the boys in red and white could never truly find their stride, going winless in their final five games to finish sixth.
Kariya acquitted himself just fine as the only 17-year-old on the roster, scoring the final goal of the tournament for the Canadians in a 7-2 loss to the CIS (formerly Soviet Union) – his lone goal – and setting the stage for a bigger and better performance in Gävle, Sweden, the following year.
After being held off the scoresheet in a tournament-opening win over the U.S., the North Vancouver product rattled off consecutive multi-point efforts – including a goal and an assist in a victory over the host Swedes that proved to be the difference between gold and silver – and ended up second in Canadian scoring.