Wojtek Wolski

Biography

In his Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018, forward Wojtek Wolski helped Team Canada win the bronze medal. In the leadup to PyeongChang 2018, Wolski played for Team Canada at the Channel One Cup, Karjala Cup, and Sochi Hockey Open in 2017. Wolski earned his spot on the Olympic team just over a year after he broke his neck in two places. While playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL, he dove for a loose puck in an October 2016 game when an opponent fell on him, resulting in fractures to the C4 and C7 vertebrae. He underwent surgery and spent 10 weeks in a neck brace before he began skating again in April 2017. He was later signed by the Kunlun Red Star where he began the 2017-18 season.

Wolski had played his junior hockey with the OHL’s Brampton Battalian from 2002 to 2006. In his final season, he was named the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player and Most Sportsmanlike Player. He was selected in the first round, 21^st overall, by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He made his NHL debut with the Avalanche in the 2005-06 season and would eventually play 451 NHL games with the Avalanche (2005-10), Phoenix Coyotes (2009-11), New York Rangers (2010-12), Florida Panthers (2011-12) and Washington Capitals (2012-13). He moved to the KHL for the 2013-14 season, where he played two seasons with Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo before joining Metallurg Magnitogorsk, with whom he won the Gagarin Cup in 2015-16.

A little more about Wojtek…

Getting into the Sport: Started playing hockey at age 7 because his brother played… Learned to skate on a frozen tennis court while wearing his brother’s skates, which he stuffed with newspaper to make them fit… Outside Interests: Enjoys entrepreneurship/investing in business opportunities with family and friends as well as golf, and tennis… Has taken post-secondary business courses through Ryerson University and Athabasca University… Odds and Ends: Born in Poland and emigrated to West Germany at age 2 before his family moved to Canada when he was 4…