KARIYA HOPES TO BE IN NAGANO.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

When Paul Kariya was introduced Saturday at the Pond as one of 12 players from the Mighty Ducks and the Kings who are headed to Nagano for the Winter Olympics, Rob Blake expectantly executed a pirouette on the ice.

Alas, Kariya never materialized, robbing Blake of some of his rapture.

The U.S. Olympic squad doesn't open play until Friday but already team-member Gary Suter has established himself as an early candidate for MVP honors. If the crosscheck the Chicago defenseman hand-delivered to Kariya during a game last Sunday ends up knocking the left winger out of the Games, it'll be a mighty blow to Team Canada's gold-medal hopes.

Kariya, who hasn't skated since suffering the injury, was consigned to riding a stationary bike while his Ducks teammates did a lot of standing in place in a 5-2 loss to the Kings.

After the game, Kariya, still dressed in his workout clothes, said he was feeling much better but was not well enough to accompany the Canadian Olympic team today on its flight from Vancouver to Nagano.

``Today's the first day where the fog sort of lifted,'' said Kariya, who continues to be haunted by headaches. ``The last few days I've been feeling a lot better. Deep down, I believe I'll be able to go.''

Kariya would need to leave by mid-week to arrive in time for Canada's first game, on Friday. He could sit out the opener and still be eligible for the remaining games so long as his name is on the final roster that Team Canada general manager Bob Clarke must submit shortly before Friday's opening faceoff.

``We need him if we want to win a gold medal,'' said Blake, a defenseman for the Kings and a Canadian Olympian. ``It would be a devastating loss if we have to play without him. He's one of the most exciting players in the league.''

Kariya appreciated the kudos, especially coming from a fellow All-Star.

``That's one of the greatest compliments you can receive, when your peers think you're doing a good job,'' Kariya said. ``Obviously I'm going to do my best to get over there. The Olympics is something I've looked forward to for four years. But I'm not going to risk my career to rush it. In a way, it's out of my hands.''

Kariya has been to the Olympics before, as an amateur. In 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway, he single-handedly dispatched Canada to the semifinals with an overtime goal against the Czech Republic, though people tend to remember the shot he wasn't able to slip past goaltender Tommy Salo in the gold-medal shootout that sealed Sweden's win.

``People still come up to me and tell me where they were when I took that (last) shot,'' Kariya said, a hint of incredulity creeping into his voice.

With or without Kariya, the 18th Olympics will go on. But if he's not there, these Games will lose a compelling story line. Kariya's father Tetsuhiko was born in a Japanese internment camp in British Columbia during World War II.

For the past few years, Kariya's Japanese heritage has been like a pesky opponent shadowing him around the ice.

Try as he might, questions about the subject have been virtually impossible for him to shake, no matter how hoarsely and insistently Kariya says, ``I'm Canadian.''

Before being un-Suter-ed, Kariya said, ``I'm extremely excited just to be playing in the Olympics. The fact that they're in Japan makes it a little more special. But to represent my country and have another shot at the gold medal is the big thing.''

Kariya, 23, has competed in the homeland of his paternal grandparents once, at an international tournament in Yokohama in 1991 when he was 17. He was scheduled to return to Japan with the Ducks this past October for two games against Vancouver, but he didn't make the trip because of a contract dispute.

His absence was duly noted at Yoyogi Arena by Japanese fans - many of them wearing replicas of Kariya's No. 9 jersey - who waved signs that read, ``Where's Paul?''

Kariya is not the first Olympian with a parent born in a World War II internment camp. The mother of Kristi Yamaguchi, the gold medalist in ladies' figure skating in Albertville, France, was born in one in the U.S. Even though Yamaguchi retired from competitive skating shortly after the 1992 Games, the Japanese honored her ancestry anyway by having her carry the torch part of the way to Minami Stadium for Friday's Opening Ceremonies.

That the host country is anxious to fete Kariya was borne out in the panicked tones of the members of the Japanese media who have been leaving urgent messages for Ducks publicist Rob Scichili. On Friday alone, Scichili fielded more than two dozen calls from frantic Canadians and Japanese reporters, for whom Kariya's health was a matter of grave national concern.

``The Japanese people want to see Paul,'' Blake said. ``That's the kind of exposure that could really take him and the sport to the next level.''

The Japanese love Kariya because of his heritage but also because he is haiku in motion on the ice - compact (he's only 5-9) and fluid and creative. If Kariya's situation were to be captured in a three-line poem it might read like this:

Felled by an elbow

The pride of two nations sits.

Hockey's dove can't fly.