#fandom primers

Let’s start with Paul.

Paul Kariya

In the early 90s, Disney created a hockey team to capitalize off the success of the Mighty Ducks movie. It's a weird origin story for a hockey team, and it meant the team had to run hockey ops decisions past Disney execs (more on that later). They moved quick: the NHL awarded the Walt Disney Company an expansion franchise less than three months after the Mighty Ducks movie came out (source).

Paul Kariya was the Anaheim Mighty Ducks' first-ever draft pick, taken fourth overall in 1993 by the brand-new expansion franchise. He was a perfect choice for a Disney team: cute in a very 90s way, a college boy who'd just won the Hobey Baker (best men's college player) award at the University of Maine, and soft-spoken and politely Canadian in all his interviews.

Here he is posing with his Hobey Baker award:

A little about Paul:

He was born in Vancouver in 1974. He's Japanese-Canadian. Newspapers described him with words like "reserved" and "meticulous."

I can't google for pictures of him without seeing photos of some of the worst public moments of his life. It's a little jarring. I'll get to that later, because if you only know one thing about Paul Kariya it's probably about how everything ended. That’s important, but it’s not the only part of his story.

A little about Paul's hockey:

It was fast and graceful; not words used often when talking about hockey during the “dead puck era” of the 90s. Paul was first and foremost a playmaker, but for his first few years on the Mighty Ducks he was also the team’s go-to goal-scorer.

Teemu Selänne

Teemu Selänne was drafted tenth overall by the Winnipeg Jets in 1988. He's Finnish, from Espoo, right outside Helsinki. Despite being drafted in the first round, Teemu didn't go straight to the Jets; first he spent three years playing for Jokerit in Helsinki while also working as a kindergarten teacher.

English speakers often pronounce his first name as “Tea-moo,” but I think a more accurate transcription would be “Tay-moo” (pronunciation).

Here is my favorite image of him around that age (from a milk advertisement):

In 1992 he came to the NHL. The Flames offersheeted him, but the Jets matched despite the high salary--and they were very glad they paid up for him, because Teemu proceeded to break every single rookie scoring and points record. He scored seventy-six goals his rookie season. SEVENTY-SIX. This is still the rookie goals record, as is his points total of 132.

A little about Teemu:

Newspapers described him with words like "boisterous" and "gregarious." He had a secret second career as a semi-legal street racer in Finland, where he used a terrible pseudonym (Teukka Salama, “Teddy Flash”) to avoid the ire of the NHL's legal department.

A little about Teemu’s hockey:

He was FAST. like, incredibly fast. fast enough that despite his ridiculous goal total, his nickname focused on his speed: the "Finnish Flash." (Yes, I told you the street racing pseudonym was terrible.)

A Blockbuster Trade

It was 1996. The Ducks needed someone besides Paul who could score a goal. Paul was naturally more of a playmaker, but the Mighty Ducks were depending on him for goal scoring. He had also recently been named captain at age 21--at the time, the youngest captain in the NHL. There was a lot of pressure on Paul.

So Mighty Ducks management successfully pitched a trade to Disney execs: a third round pick, a fourth round pick, and a couple guys to the Jets in exchange for the Jets' leading scorer, Teemu Selänne. (Personally, I find the image of some hockey guys having to explain hockey decisions to Michael Eisner very funny.)

Teemu was taken out of practice in Winnipeg and told he'd been traded. He was upset, and left the practice facility without saying a single word to anyone. Upon arrival in NYC, where the Ducks were on a road trip, he was given a “Welcome to the Mighty Ducks” spiel and a hotel room key. His road roommate? Paul Kariya.

They were very different personalities with very different personal habits. Paul wanted to turn the lights out and go to bed at 10:00 exactly; Teemu wanted to watch Baywatch, which was on at 10:00. Paul drove his old truck down from Canada; Teemu took it and did donuts in the parking lot. Paul would leave the arena directly after practice or games, and often turned down autograph requests; Teemu was known to always, always stop to sign autographs and chat with fans waiting outside the arena. Paul had a set of rituals he followed every game day and he put his full focus towards hockey; Teemu would duck out and check the scores of other sports games during intermissions.

Soon, they were good friends, getting in trouble together, getting locked out of hotel rooms and being unable to get back in because they'd given the front desk fake names, and other shenanigans they wouldn’t talk about to newspapers.

Teemu joked that "half my salary is for hockey, half is for making Paul a normal person.”

Plenty of people around them observed how their opposite personalities balanced each other out:

"I think our agent always said if I could loosen up and Teemu could tighten up, we'd be perfect players," Kariya says, laughing. Selanne has helped Kariya relax and deal with the off-ice pressures of stardom. And Selanne is showing more leadership.

--from this page, credited to USA TODAY, January 16, 1998

Perhaps it's their differences that bring out the best in each other. "They are polar opposites in how they approach the game," goaltender Guy Hebert said. "Paul's determination and focus have had an impact on Teemu. You saw it in how Teemu held the team together last season. Teemu certainly has gotten Paul to lighten up. Both feed off each other. It's a great two-way street." Selanne is gregarious, a fan of auto racing, soccer, tennis, and being a Finn, a lover of saunas. Kariya is reserved, a fan of Mafia movies, and being a Canadian, a lover of hockey. "Teemu is a people person; Paul likes to maintain a quiet personal life," said Kariya's sister, Michiko.

--from this page, credited to the Los Angeles Times, Oct 8, 1998

A Mighty Ducks Era

Hockey-wise, Paul and Teemu clicked together right away. They've both said in interviews that they "think about hockey the same way." Teemu frequently jokes that Paul can read his mind. Teemu’s speed and shot were a great compliment to Paul’s own speed and playmaking ability.

It’s not as easy to slot them into playmaker and goal-scorer as, say, Ovechkin and Bäckström, though; Kariya said that “Teemu gets a lot of respect for his goal-scoring ability, but the thing I noticed right away was what a great passer and playmaker he was and how unselfish he was …we didn't care who scored the goals.” (source)

There was a lot of media attention on the team, which had the full force of the Disney advertising machine behind them. How was that machine working? Well,

By the conclusion of Anaheim's inaugural 1993-94 season, a full 80 percent of all domestic NHL merchandise being sold was Ducks-related, thanks in large part to the 200 Disney retail stores across America.

--Esquire, November 25, 2015

The Mighty Ducks, fictional and real, were a big deal.

Both Paul and Teemu were both wingers, and they cycled through a couple different centers, but together their line set basically every single Mighty Ducks franchise record of the 90s, and a few other records besides.

Here’s a link to the only highlights video anyone ever links to; I’m not a big video-content person so I can’t point to any others. Let me know if you know of a good one.

They took the Mighty Ducks to the team's first playoffs together. Paul had a couple hundred-point seasons and won a bunch of awards. Teemu got the first Rocket Richard trophy ever given out. From 1997-2000, they both consistently finished in the top five of the NHL scoring race, behind only names like Jágr and Lemieux.

Separation

In 2001, Teemu was traded to San Jose. A few years later, in 2003, Paul lead the Mighty Ducks to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance. They lost to the Devils, and Paul was hurt.

Sometimes, when people point to the beginning of the end of Paul Kariya’s career, they reference the ‘98 Suter crosscheck. But most often, they point to the hit on Paul Kariya by Scott Stevens in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Here’s a short clip of Paul discussing that hit, or rather, discussing how he has no memory of it, or of lying on the ice after, or anything else that happened during that game (game 6) or the next game (game 7). He doesn’t remember losing the Stanley Cup Finals. It’s harrowing.

A Brief Reunion

In 2003, both Teemu and Paul opted not to renew their contracts (with San Jose and Anaheim respectively) and they signed with the Colorado Avalanche. It was their chance at a cup together. It didn't work out; instead, they were both out injured for large portions of the year. Teemu conflicted with the coach and was healthy scratched multiple times. They both had very bad seasons.

(Like, I pulled that photo from an article on a Denver sports site titled “The five worst free agent signings in Colorado Avalanche history.“ That kind of bad.)

Separation (Again)

After their brief stint in Colorado, Teemu went back to the Ducks. He stayed there for the rest of his career, breaking Paul's franchise point records, finally winning a Cup in 2007, and breaking Jari Kurri's record for most goals by a Finnish player.

He consistently finished near the top of the league in scoring and, overall, had a pretty good end to his career before retiring in 2014.

Paul signed in Nashville and then in St. Louis. He suffered further concussions, and further complications from those concussions, as well as a hip injury. He would be in the lineup for a few months, then he would be out for a few more months, then he would be back for a while, then out for most of a season... He did not play the 2010-2011 season due to concussion symptoms, and then, on the advice of his doctors, officially retired in 2011.

It's hard to know what else to say about the end of his career, except that the NHL should have been better. It should BE better, right now. The fact that it isn't is an insult to Paul Kariya and everyone who came after him.

Retirement

Since retiring, Teemu has remained in southern California, playing a lot of golf and tennis and running a steakhouse. He’s still involved with hockey.

The Ducks retired his jersey number in 2015. It was the first jersey the franchise ever retired.

Paul, who suffered six diagnosed concussions while playing in the NHL, tore the league a new one on his way out. He has, understandably, had little to do with hockey ever since.

Instead, he has been living as what twitter lovingly calls “a surfing hermit” somewhere on the California coast, working to mitigate memory loss with brain puzzles and ballroom dancing. (source)

The hockey world has only seen him occasionally: at Teemu’s last NHL game, at his and Teemu’s Hall of Fame induction, and at his jersey retirement.

Prior to Teemu’s last NHL game, Teemu called Paul and begged for him to show up. Teemu's son snuck Paul into the rink, where he watched from a luxury suite, and then snuck him out again. That was the first time Paul had been inside a hockey rink since he himself retired.

“He promised to come,” Selanne said. “I talked to him for one hour on the phone. I didn’t take no for an answer. He was the only player I invited. All my best years, and the chemistry I had with him, I could never even dream about having that kind of chemistry with another player.”  

--Los Angeles Daily News, April 14 2014

In 2017, Paul and Teemu were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame together. Paul was the first Asian player elected.

Teemu got the call telling him he'd been elected to the Hall of Fame first. The guy then called back to ask “hey, do you have Paul Kariya's number? I need to tell him he's been elected, too.”

Teemu gave the guy Paul’s number, and then promptly called Paul himself. So, after a morning spent surfing, Paul learned that he had been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame via an overexcited, “high-pitched, screaming” voicemail from Teemu.

During the lead-up to the Hall of Fame ceremonies, the two of them had a LOT of fun together. Please, if you click on no other link from this primer, watch this video of the two of them goofing around. It is very dear to me.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony involves speeches and a very small and low-stakes hockey game.

Paul Kariya had not played hockey or even put on skates since he retired, seven years prior. But he played in this hockey game. The players were arbitrarily split into "Team North America" and "Team Europe," which put Paul and Teemu on different teams. So Paul got himself traded to Team Europe and he and Teemu were on the same line once again.

An announcer got to say "goal by Selänne with assist by Kariya" in the year 2017. I had a lot of feelings about it.

At the end of the Hall of Fame game, they had to be removed from the ice by a poor employee because they stood there with their arms around each other taking pictures with fans for so long. (twitter source)

The Ducks retired Paul Kariya’s number in 2018. Teemu was there, too.

And, as of early 2022, Paul may be getting involved with hockey again!

Sources:

Much of this is from my memory, so unfortunately it’s not as thoroughly sourced as it could be. When I’m less tired of looking at it I may come back and add more info, but for now it’s fine, I think. (it’s a primer, so it doesn’t have to be up to my standards for academic articles, lol.)

I referenced Paul and Teemu’s respective wikipedia articles to make sure I got the dates correct.

Information about their jersey retirements and various Hall of Fame shenanigans came primarily from these articles:

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/21390048/nhl-odd-couple-teemu-selanne-paul-kariya-honored-hockey-hall-fame-induction

https://www.anaheimcalling.com/2015/1/6/7489795/teemu-selanne-paul-kariya-anaheims-original-dynamic-duo

https://www.nhl.com/news/kariya-selanne-steal-show-at-hall-of-fame-qa/c-292887928

This movie is about three men, all of whom are LAPD officers. The first is Bud White:

He's played by Russell Crowe, prior to the creation of his twitter account and subsequent rhapsodizing about maps. The first time we see Bud, he's confronting a domestic abuser and punching him in the face before handing the man's wife some money and asking her if she has a place to stay while his drunk partner sleeps in the car. This pretty much sets up everything you need to know about Bud: he's violent, he's extremely protective towards abused women, and he abides by the code of conduct that means letting other cops get away with being useless at best and dangerous at worst. The blue wall of silence is a theme in this movie. The second man is Ed Exley:

The first time we see him, his captain is asking him a series of questions: Would he be willing to plant evidence? Would he be willing to beat a confession out of a suspect? Would he be willing to shoot a "hardened criminal" in the back? Answer: no, no, and no, and that's the main thrust of what you need to know about Ed. He is not violent. He does not abide by the LAPD code of conduct, or the blue wall. He's a "political animal," and while we see him work a confession out of suspects with nothing but well-placed words, he's never at ease with violence. He is, in short, the anti-Bud. The only thing they have in common is a devotion to the idea of the police- and even that's for different reason. It is, however, more than either of them have in common with . . .

Jack Vincennes, aka Protagonist #3. Jack is vain, corrupt, and dandyish. His main attachment to his job is the fact that it lets him serve as an advisor on a cop show, and gets a modicum of fame as a result. He works with the writer/editor of a gossip rag in order to make himself even more famous. Basically if this guy could have made it in acting instead of detecting, it probably would have suited him better. You like Kevin Spacey's sneering and quipping in House of Cards? Consider Jack Vincennes a less evil predecessor.

The movie is set in 1953, just after Micket Cohen- the biggest criminal organizer in Los Angeles- has been taken to jail, and the city's criminals are scrambling to fill the power vaccum he left. The police, in turn, have their hands full- dozens of murders are piling up on their doorstep, and they may or may not be connected, but who has the time or inclination to find out? (These guys. These guys do.) To say any more about the movie's plot would probably be a spoiler, but I should mention:

Lynn Bracken, our resident femme fatale/woman in distress (every noir's ot one.) Lynn is a prostitute, and initially gets involved in the case as a potential witness. I'm gonna be 100% honest with you guys: Lynn doesn't get a whole lot to do that isn't sex-related, and while Kim Basinger plays her with a good mix of vulnerability and self-assuuredness, watching the movie for her narrative is going to be disappointing. Such are the pitfalls of movies about masculine professions: the women don't get much to do.

The movie is neo-noir, which means it eschews some of the traditonal noir trappings: there are no private eyes, there is no black and white cinematography, there are few shadows. Actually, the movie revels in colour and lighting: everything looks almost like it was run through a Technicolour filter. The movie is also very concerned with the myth of Les Angeles as it was sold in the fifties- and what lay under that myth- so the colouration could be part of that. If I had to take a stab at what this movie is "about," beyond the mystery and police procedural element, I'd say it's about masculinity and morality: each of our three leads embody different ideas of what it means to be male (side note: Ed is so queer coded, it kills me a little) and the movie breaks down each of these ideas as they're increasingly pushed to do things that they originally objected to. Ed and Bud are both driven and influenced by their fathers; who they were, who they want to be in comparison- and Jack moves in cinematic circles, fashioning himself after movie stars while scoffing at the artificiality of TV cops. "That's the television version; America isn't ready for the real me." He's probably right, though not for the reasons he thinks.

So apart from all the film theory, why should you watch this? Well, because it's full of good performances and snappy writing, because it's of interest to anyone who's into neo-noir, the fifties, Old Hollywood, or stories about the use and abuse of power in law and order. Also, while we're talking about masculinity and queer coding . . .

(Gif source) If I had a dollar for every time these two gave each other Significantly , Sexually Charged Looks, I'd have enough money to move to Hollywood and buy myself an Oscar.

In conclusion, you might like this movie if you enjoy:

mysteries

police procedurals

film noir

anti-nostalgic Americana

Old Hollywood, or