Biography

Like many a great executive or builder of hockey, Joe Kryczka would have preferred to play at the highest level. In his case, though, a serious shoulder injury while playing university hockey in Alberta ended those aspirations, so he had to stay in the game as a non-athlete. Kryczka earned his law degree in 1958 and moved to Calgary to open his practice. He also coached and refereed hockey at the grassroots level for the next few years, and in 1963 he was made an executive of the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association, a position which he maintained for four years. In 1967, he became its president and two years later became vice-president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA). In 1971, he was named CAHA president for a two-year term, running concurrently with his directorship of Hockey Canada. Kryczka was named chairman and chief negotiating officer for the Canada-Soviet Summit Series in 1972, a job he carried out with such distinction that the International Ice Hockey Federation (IHF) asked him to run for its presidency a few months later. He declined but continued to work nationally and internationally in hockey. As the Canadian Olympic Association made a push to host an Olympic Games, Kryczka was instrumental in putting together the COA's bid for Calgary for 1988, a bid that proved successful and gave Canada its first Olympic Winter games. After the success of those games, he became director of the Canadian Olympic Development Association for three years until the time of his death.