Paul Kariya was born and raised in North Vancouver. A former Canadian Junior A Player of the Year with Penticton, he was drafted fourth overall by Anaheim of the NHL.

Kariya played 15 seasons in the NHL with Anaheim, Nashville, Colorado and St Louis. Kariya won the NCAA Championship with Maine and was named winner of the Hobey Baker Award. Paul played in 7 NHL All-Star Games and was a two-time winner of the Lady Byng Award.

Kariya represented Canada numerous times including a Gold Medal at the World Juniors and Olympic Gold in 2002, Kariya played 989 NHL games scoring 402 goals.