Kariya, Carney sparkled

They both did themselves proud and garnered the respect due them by their efforts in the Stanley Cup finals.

For former University of Maine Black Bear stars Paul Kariya and Keith Carney, the finals are that dreamed about opportunity and also that moment when a player is defined in the pressure cooker of hockey’s brightest lights. They both shone brightly.

Carney solidified his position as one of the games premier defensive defenseman. He drew the tough assignments against the Devils and won the battles. He drew those assignments against the best offensive players throughout the playoffs.

That meant the likes of Steve Yzerman and Bret Hull with Detroit, Mike Modano with Dallas, Marion Gaborik with the Wild and New Jersey’s top 2 lines. As a result, he averaged more ice time per game in the playoffs than any other Duck.

Carney was solid throughout. He played with a physical presence and then helped to move the puck out of trouble and up ice to start the offensive game of the Ducks. Through it all, he never stopped smiling and enjoying the challenge and the moment.

Game 5 in New Jersey was the one he would like to have back for the team. “We were really hanging in there, and just couldn’t get that next goal to go ahead,” he said. “They (the Devils) did and gained momentum.”

No tears over what didn’t happen, just a valid assessment of what might have been.

For Kariya, he set a forever moment in Cup finals history with the hit he took from New Jersey’s Scott Stevens in game 6. He was leveled at center ice with a shoulder check that knocked him out. He came back from the dressing room in a matter of minutes and scored the goal that made the game 4-1.

Now it is reported that he played most of the finals, before the Stevens hit, with a “slightly” separated right shoulder. His only response to the report was, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Kariya does not look for excuses, or in this case, even valid reasons, to explain why he might not have been at his best in the series. He said to me after game 7, “I’m alright.”

Was he ever.

Now he looks ahead. “When you don’t win, you need to improve,” he said. That improvement he hopes for is in the offense for the Ducks. He would love to see his former teammate and friend, Teemu Selanne, now with San Jose, reacquired by the Ducks. It could happen.

When some 3000 people turned out in Anaheim to welcome the Ducks back after their loss in game 7 he said, “We’ll be back. Same time next year, different result.”

The taste of what can be is now there for Carney, Kariya and the Ducks. They are no longer the laughed-at team named after a movie. They are contenders. They are respected for what they do on the ice.

Camps open in 90 days.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and NBC sportscaster.