A younger player at the time, Hartnell, as Kariya explained, had no issue "tooting his horn" in regard to his ability to play ping pong, a common practice around the NHL during downtime. So one day, Kariya, who never participated in the ping pong matches himself, decided to test Hartnell on his word.
"I'm like, 'if I beat you, you are banned from playing ping pong the rest of the year,'" Kariya said of his challenge to Hartnell. "And he's like, 'oh yeah, for sure, P.K., let's go.'"
Not only did Kariya step up to the table, literally, but he invited the entire Preds roster, coaches, hockey operations staff - anyone he could find in an attempt to shake Hartnell's nerves.
"And sure enough… it was a close game, he got nervous at the end, I beat him and he was banned from playing the rest of the year," Kariya laughed. "So, I asked him today if he's still banned from playing ping pong and he's like, 'oh no, you're not here anymore.'"
Just like Kariya's records on the ice from his time in Music City, his ping pong ledger is just as impressive.
"1 and 0, yeah," he said with a grin.