Surprisingly, Eddie Olczyk’s parents’ identities are unknown. There is no information available online about Eddie’s parents.
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Olczyk, who was born on August 16, 1966, in Chicago, Illinois, participated in the 1978 and 1979 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with a minor ice hockey team from Chicago.
Olczyk attended Brother Rice Catholic High School and grew up in Niles and Palos Heights, Illinois.
He was a member of the Illinois midget AAA team (Team Illinois), which won the national championship in 1982 against a Detroit Compuware team that included future NHL stars Pat LaFontaine and Al Iafrate. He then moved to Canada to play for the Stratford Cullitons junior team before joining the 1984 U.S. Olympic hockey team.
The Chicago Blackhawks selected Olczyk third overall in the first round of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. On October 11, 1984, he scored his first NHL goal against Greg Stefan in Chicago Stadium against the Detroit Red Wings.
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Olczyk was a member of Chicago’s infamous “Clydesdale Line” with Troy Murray and Curt Fraser from 1984 to 1987, a nickname coined by Chicago broadcaster Pat Foley because each player weighed in at or near 200 pounds.
Throughout his career, he was traded several times. Olczyk was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs with Al Secord in 1987 in exchange for Rick Vaive, Steve Thomas, and Bob McGill.
He played 1,031 NHL games in his career, scoring 342 goals and assisting on 452 assists for a total of 794 points.
On February 22, 2013, he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
Olczyk currently works as a broadcaster for the Seattle Kraken.
A horse enthusiast, he also serves as the Horse Racing Handicapper and Analyst for NBC’s Horse Racing Coverage.
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