Joseph Julius Kryczka (; June 4, 1935 – January 11, 1991) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator, coach and referee, and had a legal career as a lawyer and judge, where he was commonly known as "Justice Joe". He graduated from the University of Alberta, and played hockey with the Golden Bears. He practiced law in Calgary for more than 20 years, beginning in 1959 as a lawyer, becoming a judge, and was eventually elevated to a justice on the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta.
His hockey administration career included tenures as president of the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association from 1967 to 1969, and later the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association from 1971 to 1973, and resolving disagreements in Canadian hockey. When the Western Canada Hockey League broke away from the governing body, Kryczka was able to reunite the league with the rest of Canada, which maintained the continuity of the threatened Memorial Cup. He brought Alberta hockey back under the national umbrella when it resigned, and later dealt with the World Hockey Association when it raided rosters of Canadian junior teams without compensation. Kryczka was the lead negotiator in securing the agreement for Canada to play the Soviet Union at the 1972 Summit Series. His negotiating skills went unrecognized at the time, and his contributions were overshadowed by Alan Eagleson.
Kryczka was later a director with the Calgary Cowboys, and played a key role with Calgary's successful bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics. He was inducted into both Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1990, for his service to Canadian sports and ice hockey.
Early life
Joseph Julius Kryczka was born on June 4, 1935, in Coleman, Alberta.Mardson, Austin & Ernest (2011), p. 102 He grew up playing minor ice hockey until the juvenile age level in Coleman. He played on the 1949–50 midget team which won the Alberta championship,Ferguson, Bob (2005), p. 244 and was captain of the juvenile team in the 1951–52 season. He attended Coleman High School, and received a bursary from the Elks of Canada for having the highest marks in grade nine. He graduated with honours in 1953 as the class valedictorian.
Kryczka enrolled at University of Alberta in 1953, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1957. He was active in student life, serving as president of both the political science and law clubs, and was secretary of the student council. He played junior baseball for his Coleman team in summers. He played three seasons of ice hockey as a defenceman with the Golden Bears, and was teammates with his brother Adam in 1955. He won three Dr. W. G. Hardy Trophy titles as a Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union champion in 1954, 1955 and 1956. He earned two varsity letters in university, but a shoulder injury ended his playing career. He completed his law degree in 1958 at the University of Alberta. The university awarded him a gold ring for scholastic achievements and the Lorne Calhoun Memorial Award for his contributions to student activities.
Kryczka became an articled clerk in Calgary under future Court of Appeal of Alberta justice David Clifton Prowse, and was called to the bar in 1959. He was originally associated with the law firm of Peter Lougheed in the early 1960s, and then became a partner of Mason and Kryczka. He later served as vice-president of the Alberta Young Liberal Association in 1966, and continued to practice law in Calgary until 1980.
Alberta hockey Kryczka began volunteering as community hockey coach in 1959, and also refereed in various leagues. He was elected to the executive committee of the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association (AAHA) in 1963, and served as the Calgary Booster Club president from 1964 to 1965.Calgary Booster Club (1986), p. 5 He was elected second vice-president of the AAHA in September 1966, and became its president in October 1967.
Kryczka's presidency of the AAHA coincided with the formation of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), which had teams in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Various disputes arose with the WCHL, because it was outside of the jurisdiction of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), the governing body for the AAHA. In February 1969, the CAHA and Kryczka as president of the AAHA, were named in a lawsuit by the WCHL and its governing body, the Canadian Hockey Association. The WCHL sought development money for its players drafted by the National Hockey League (NHL), as per the draft agreement between the NHL and the CAHA, but the CAHA refused to distribute money to a league it did not sanction. Later that month, Kryczka gave an ultimatum to the Alberta Hockey Referees Association, stating that the AAHA would only use referees which did not officiate in the WCHL. The decision threatened to end an agreement from October 1968, where referees in Alberta formed an independent organization to officiates games for both governing bodies. Later in March, Kryczka suspended two referees who still worked games in the WCHL.
At the 1969 CAHA annual general meeting, Kryczka said that the WCHL succeeded in drawing many fans, and gave an opportunity for many young men to play in Western Canada. He also felt that CAHA branches such as Alberta, should be able to establish a major junior category for higher-level competition, similar to what the WCHL did across three provinces. The CAHA reorganized its committees to give more representation at the national level to its leagues, but the motion to have a major junior classification was defeated.
CAHA vice-president
Kryczka was elected vice-president of the CAHA in May 1969. In September 1969, he was optimistic that the CAHA and the WCHL would be able to agree on reuniting. He felt it would be possible if the WCHL agreed to appropriately compensate CAHA teams from which players were signed, and that there would be no expansion into cities with an existing CAHA team. He further confirmed that the CAHA had not approved of its players being signed by the WCHL, or relocation into its territory. He said that the CAHA would not agree to those demands of the WCHL, which are against CAHA regulations. Later in 1969, Canada and the CAHA withdrew from play in the Ice Hockey World Championships over a dispute with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) regarding the use of professionals, which began a continuing feud between Kryczka, and IIHF president Bunny Ahearne.
The CAHA added multiple vice-presidents as of 1970, and Kryczka was elected first vice-president by acclamation on May 29, 1970. He took objection to Clarence Campbell stating that the NHL may need to revert to direct ownership of teams, because of concessions made to the WCHL, and having different age limits across Canada's junior hockey system. Kryczka felt that the CAHA adequately resolved its disagreements with the WCHL, and did not need NHL personnel getting involved. He stated that the 1971 Memorial Cup would not likely be played, due to the Ontario Hockey Association Junior A division and the Quebec Junior Hockey League being in disagreement with the number overage players in the WCHL. He mentioned the potential for changing regulations at the upcoming general meeting, requiring teams to agree to the competition in order to receive development funds from the NHL agreement.
CAHA president First year Kryczka succeeded Earl Dawson as president of the CAHA, on May 29, 1971. The role also made him a director with Hockey Canada for two years. He hoped to make the CAHA financially independent of both the NHL and the Government of Canada, and become more of an administrative body. Shortly after becoming president, Kryczka announced a resolution to the Memorial Cup competition, where the Ontario and Quebec leagues agreed to compete with the Western Canada teams which gave up having extra overage players. As part of the agreement, all three leagues were invited to participate in the meetings to renew the CAHA-NHL contract when it expired in 1972.
In June 1971, he announced that the CAHA had rejected an invitation from the IIHF to return to play in the World Championships, since Canada would still not be able to use its professional players. Later that year in September, Kryczka stated that the CAHA had not been invited to play in the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, and accused Ahearne of political grandstanding for saying that Canada could be removed from the IIHF for its refusal to play.
Kryczka met with Harold Wright of the Canadian Olympic Association (COA) in September to review the situation, and Wright confirmed that the COA received an invitation to the Winter Olympics on July 28. Wright felt that the decision was in disregard to recreational hockey in Canada, and that the CAHA should send a team, as the Olympics was a different and unrelated tournament, compared to the World Championships. The CAHA was urged by the COA to send an amateur team, since the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union (CIAU) proposed sending a team in lieu of the CAHA.
Despite the discussions, Kryczka was committed to the CAHA's withdrawal from international play, until it could use its best players against the Europeans. He stated that Canada would voice its concerns at the next IIHF general meeting in the summer of 1972. He felt that the IIHF should allow professionals in the World Championships similar to FIFA, and reiterated that the CAHA had a good relationship with the NHL, which would release such players for an event. Kryczka remained open to other competitions, which included the Izvestia Cup.
Meanwhile, Kryczka had been collaborating for two years with Charles Hay from Hockey Canada, in attempts to convince the Soviet Union to play Canada in a hockey series allowing professional players.Houston & Shoalts (1993), pp. 76–77 In February 1972, the Canadian Bureau of Public Affairs empowered Kryczka, Hay and Lou Lefaive from Sport Canada, to oversee diplomatic efforts to return Canada to international ice hockey, and gave them needed assistance from Canadian embassies in Europe, and specifically the Embassy of Canada in Moscow.Macintosh & Hawes (1994), p. 32 Other notable Canadians involved in the process included Gordon Juckes from the CAHA, Doug Fisher and Allan Scott from Hockey Canada, Robert Ford the Canadian ambassador in Moscow, and translator Aggie Kukulowicz who worked at Air Canada in Moscow.
The negotiations for a Canada-Soviet series were finalized at the Hotel International Prague during the 1972 World Ice Hockey Championships. Kryczka was chosen as the lead negotiator on behalf of the Canadian delegation due to his legal background. He also went into the negotiations with an understanding of the Russian language, but never revealed this to the Soviets.McKinley, Michael (2014), p. 168 As a child, his neighbours were Russian immigrants who never spoke to him in English. After each day of negotiating, he informed Hay of what the Soviets had said to each other. Kryczka later gave an interview to journalist Jim Coleman, and said that the Soviets had previously decided they could defeat any NHL team, and drew out negotiations to get more concessions on the rules of play.Houston & Shoalts (1993), p. 206
The final agreement negotiated by Kryczka stipulated that Soviet players were to be paid per game in Canada, and Canadian players were to be paid 5,000 Rbls per game in Moscow. It also stipulated the choice of referees was acceptable to both parties. It was signed on April 18, 1972, and agreed to an eight-game series where both Team Canada and the Soviet Team were allowed unrestricted rosters which included professionals. The two-page document had no official seal or letterhead, but included the signatures of Kryczka, Andrey Starovoytov as the general secretary of the Soviet Union Ice Hockey Federation, and the approvals of Ahearne as the president of the IIHF, and former CAHA president Fred Page as the vice-president of the IIHF.