Sports Wall of Fame
• Superlative goalie for the Bears team, winning three CIAU Championships and one silver medal.
• Two-time winner of the Adam Kryczka Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the goaltender with the lowest goals-against average in Canada West.
• His save percentage was .915 while compiling an impressive 41-8-0 overall record.
• CIAU All-Canadian goalie in '79 and '80 and CIAU Tournament All-Star player in 1980.
• Assistant coach with the Golden Bears for over 20 years, winning 15 CWUAA Championships and six CIAU Championships.
Coach Clare Drake always maintained that great championship hockey teams were “built from the goaltender outwards”. The annual play for Lord Stanley’s Cup provides ample support for Coach Drake’s wisdom. So, too, does the induction of Ted Poplawski to the University of Alberta Sports Wall of Fame. Ted is one of the all-time greatest goaltenders in the storied history of Golden Bears ice hockey – a fabled history that spans more than a century.
Ted joined the Bears in his first year on the campus and won his way onto the starting line-up immediately. Backstopped by his superlative play the Golden Bears won a silver medal in 1977 followed by three consecutive CIAU/CIS championships (1978,’79, and ’80).
Twice winner of the Adam Kryczka Memorial Trophy awarded annually to the goaltender with the lowest goals against average in Canada West play, Ted compiled some impressive statistics. His Canada West career record for games won-lost-tied was 41-8-0. His “goals against average” of 2.33 and his “saves percentage” of .915 established a standard of play few other U of A or CIAU/CIS ice hockey goaltenders have achieved. Included in his 41 wins were 5 shutout games. The Bears, with Poplawski in goal, won the Canada West Championship all four years of his tenure. This is truly an outstanding record compiled in a highly competitive league.
In national championship play, Ted was named as the CIAU All-Canadian goaltender in 1978-’79 and 1979-’80 and the CIAU Tournament All-Star player in the 1980 championship.
Fortunately for the University of Alberta Ted Poplawski’s involvement in the Golden Bear Ice Hockey program has not been limited to his on-ice play. For 17 years he served as an assistant coach on the Bears team (1994-2011). Over the 21 years as a player and as a coach Ted has made more trips to the CIAU/CIS championships than anyone else actively involved with on-ice teams in the history of this event: 4 times as a player and 13 times as an assistant coach.
During these 21 years Ted Poplawski’s name has appeared on the roster of 17 Canada West and 8 CIAU/CIS championship teams. When the next history of Golden Bear ice hockey is written there is certain to be a major chapter in it that features this remarkable and dedicated player and coach.
It is interesting to note that following graduation in 1980 Ted accepted a contract with a professional team in the International Hockey League. After one year of play he made a critical personal decision to return home to begin a career as a high school teacher as well a coach in the minor hockey programs of Edmonton. During his teaching career Ted has served on the staff of Elizabeth Seaton Junior High School for 18 years where he coached the school’s volleyball teams and assisted in the operation of many extramural programs.
In seeking a change, Ted elected to accept a teaching position on the staff of Archbishop O’Leary High School and for 13 years he has taught social studies and physical education to thousands of students in that school. In addition to his important role as an assistant coach of the University of Alberta Golden Bears Ted has also served as a high school coach.
Included on his curriculum vitae are such sports as volleyball, golf and curling. Curling? Yes, curling. Ted, as a youth, was a member of an Edmonton team that won the 1972 Canadian Junior Men’s Curling championship. Coaching a curling team came “naturally” to him. This inductee has served our University, our education system, our recreation and our sports programs well and ably throughout his career. He has left a lofty “mark” everywhere he has played, taught and coached.
In 1933, a young University of Alberta student penned these words:
When college songs and college stays
Have faded with their maker’s days;
When time’s swift wheels have made us old;
The college life is a tale that’s told.
And in that telling will be recalled the season rituals, the triumphs and the trials of our Pandas and Golden Bear teams. These will count among our most precious, our most important possessions. Foremost among these will be the legacies of Ted Poplawski. His name and his contributions add superb pages to our Sports Wall of Fame citations. They are pages that serve to remind us of the contributions to our University and to our city’s educational programs of this great alumnus.
