Herald-Star Annual Fall Speaker Series Returns: Beating the Odds in Hockey and in Life!

EDDIE OLCYZK
WEDNESDAY, September 22nd, 2021
AT 7:30 P.M. STEUBENVILLE HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM

Eddie Olczyk is an American professional ice hockey analyst and a former player and coach. He was a center in the National Hockey League for 16 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won the Stanley Cup with the Rangers in 1994. Olczyk was also the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins from June 2003 to December 2005.

He currently serves as a television color commentator for NHL on NBC and Chicago Blackhawks games on NBC Sports Chicago. Throughout his career as an NHL player, he played 1,031 NHL games and produced 342 goals and 452 assists for a total of 794 points. He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame on February 22nd, 2013.

On August 8th, 2017, Olczyk issued a statement through the Blackhawks to announce that he had been diagnosed with a form of colon cancer. He underwent a surgical procedure to remove the tumor. In March 2018, Olczyk announced he was officially “cancer-free.”

In October 2019, Olczyk released his autobiography titled Eddie Olczyk: Beating the Odds in Hockey and in Life, where he shares details of his fight with stage 3 colon cancer.