Jan Popiel (born October 9, 1947) is a Danish-Canadian former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player who played 296 games in the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

. He played for the Chicago Cougars, Denver Spurs, Houston Aeros and Phoenix Roadrunners. He is the younger brother of former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

player

Poul Popiel Poul Peter Popiel (born February 28, 1943) is a Danish-American former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) and World Hockey Association (WHA), and also served as a head coach in the minor leagues. Fol ...

. Popiel was drafted 10th overall in the

1964 NHL Entry Draft Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

by the

Chicago Black Hawks (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

making him the highest drafted Danish-born player in NHL history until Mikkel Bødker was drafted in 2008 as number 8. Popiel, however, was raised in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

(his family moved to

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

in 1951 when he was a child http://www.crykkediles.dk/story.html) and is a Canadian citizen. Popiel also played professional lacrosse, scoring five goals in six games for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Lacrosse Association of 1968.

References

External links

* 1947 births Living people Canadian ice hockey left wingers Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Chicago Cougars players Canadian people of Danish descent Danish emigrants to Canada Danish ice hockey left wingers Denver Spurs (WHA) players Greensboro Generals (EHL) players Houston Aeros (WHA) players Ice hockey people from Ontario People from Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality Phoenix Roadrunners (WHA) players Salem Rebels (EHL) players Sportspeople from St. Catharines Tulsa Oilers (1964–1984) players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States {{canada-icehockey-winger-1940s-stub