Zarley Bennett Zalapski (April 22, 1968 – December 10, 2017) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

who played from 1987 to 2010.

Playing career

Zalapski's career started with the

Fort Saskatchewan Traders The Fort Saskatchewan Traders were an ice hockey team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. They played in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada, at the Jubilee Recreation Centre, capacity 2000. :Founded: 1976–77 :Division titles won: 1983–84 :R ...

of the

Alberta Junior Hockey League The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) is an Alberta-based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. There are currently 16 teams in the league. The re ...

. In his first season with the Traders, Zalapski tallied 70 points in 67 games, including 17 goals. Zalapski spent the next two years playing with the Canadian National Team. Zalapski was picked 4th in the 1st round by the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

in the

1986 NHL Entry Draft The 1986 NHL Entry Draft was the 24th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 21, 1986, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 252 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in the revers ...

. He tallied 99 goals, and 285 assists, for a total of 384 points in his 637 games in the NHL. He also registered 684 penalty minutes. He was a member of the Canadian Olympic Hockey team in the 1988 Winter Olympics held in Calgary,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. Canada would end up missing the medal podium and finished in fourth place. Although Canada lost their first game in the medal round, Zalapski played a key role in the team's victories over

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. After his 11-year career in the

National Hockey League 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 ...

playing for the Penguins,

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

, and

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

, he then played for teams in hockey leagues in Germany, Italy, and Austria. He finally found his stride when in Switzerland in the Swiss National League. Zalapski retired after the 2009–10 NLB season.

Personal life

Zalapski was the son of Len and Bonnie Zalapski. His unusual first name came as a result of his father Len, a golf enthusiast, naming him after professional golfer

Kermit Zarley Kermit Millard Zarley, Jr. (born September 29, 1941) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. He is also an author of several books. Biography Zarley was born in Seattle, Washington. He graduated f ...

. Zalapski had one sister, Kyla. Zalapski became a Swiss citizen in 2006 through his marriage to his wife, Klaudjia. The couple had two sons, Zen and Kai.

Death

Zalapski died on December 10, 2017, at the age of 49, after complications from a viral infection. He had been hospitalized in October 2017 with viral myocarditis and was released later that month after treatment. Following his death, his sister Kyla Zalapski wanted to know if he had any brain health issues. Zalapski had had at least two concussions in his NHL career. His sister had his brain sent to Toronto to be examined. Neuropathologist Dr. Lili-Naz Hazrati determined that Zalapski had

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse ...

(CTE). He also had more

tau Tau (uppercase Τ, lowercase τ, or \boldsymbol\tau; el, ταυ ) is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless dental or alveolar plosive . In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 300. The name in English ...

(abnormal brain protein) than found in another former NHL defenceman, Steve Montador, who died at age 35.

Awards

*Named to the

NHL All-Rookie Team The NHL All-Rookie Team is chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association from the best rookies in the National Hockey League at each position for the season just concluded based on their performance in that year. The team was first named a ...

in 1989. *Played in NHL All-Star Game (1993)

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zalapski, Zarley 1968 births 2017 deaths Calgary Flames players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian ice hockey defencemen ECH Chur players EfB Ishockey players EHC Biel players EHC Olten players EHC Visp players Fort Saskatchewan Traders players Hartford Whalers players HC Martigny players HC Merano players HC TWK Innsbruck players Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players Sportspeople from Edmonton Ice hockey players at the 1988 Winter Olympics Ice hockey people from Alberta Ice hockey players with chronic traumatic encephalopathy IF Björklöven players Kalamazoo Wings (1974–2000) players Lausanne HC players Long Beach Ice Dogs (IHL) players Montreal Canadiens players München Barons players National Hockey League All-Stars National Hockey League first-round draft picks Olympic ice hockey players of Canada Philadelphia Flyers players Pittsburgh Penguins draft picks Pittsburgh Penguins players SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers players Utah Grizzlies (IHL) players ZSC Lions players