Welcome Steve Kariya!

I've been fortunate enough to drink beer with Steve Kariya.

Most Winterhawk fans are just learning about the existence of this man after he was hired as an assistant coach for the remainder of the season.

One may wonder if Steve feels a connection to David A. Stewart (the other dude in the
Eurythmics), Andrew Ridgeley (the other dude in Wham!), or Andy Summers & Stewart Copeland (the other dudes in the Police).  I would imagine being a Kariya would have "other dude" status.

When I lived in Kansas City, we had the Triple-A level prospects of the Vancouver Canucks.  Halfway through the 2000-01 season Kariya joined the KC Blades.  We were pretty excited to see a player with his last name perform his craft. Dude went 15 G / 29 A / 44 P - in only 43 games.  Sadly that was the end of the KC Blades, and those 'Nucks farmhands headed for the prairies of Manitoba.

There was a bar in the basement of Kemper Arena, and after the game some of the fans would congregate there for a beer.  Often times the players would stop by and have one with you, which presented a unique opportunity to interact with them.  I liked that, although it seemed that one should be mindful of the line of casual conversation and yet giving the players their space.

Should be interesting to see how his coaching debut goes.  Especially if you consider the vacancy that will soon be left by Travis Green taking the head coaching job for the Everett Silvertips in this offseason.

BONUS:  Ron Callan spoke with Steve on Hawkey talk: