Jan Popiel is a retired professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 player who played 296 games in the World Hockey Association

World Hockey Association

The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...

. He played for the Chicago Cougars

Chicago Cougars

The Chicago Cougars were an original franchise in the World Hockey Association from 1972 to 1975. The Cougars played their home games in the dilapidated International Amphitheatre. During the 1974 Avco Cup Finals against Gordie Howe and the Houston Aeros, the team's two home games were played at...

, Denver Spurs

Denver Spurs

The Denver Spurs were a professional ice hockey team based out of Denver, Colorado. The Spurs began play in the Western Hockey League in 1968, and played at the Denver Coliseum. The Spurs became the first professional sports team in Colorado to win a championship in 1971–72...

, Ottawa Civics

Ottawa Civics

The Ottawa Civics was a professional ice hockey team based out of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that played a portion of one season in the World Hockey Association in a mid-season relocation of the Denver Spurs.-Move to Ottawa:...

, Houston Aeros

Houston Aeros (WHA)

The Houston Aeros were a professional ice hockey team in the World Hockey Association from 1972 to 1978.-Franchise history:The Aeros became one of the original franchises in the World Hockey Association when the Dayton Arrows franchise was moved to Houston in 1972...

 and Phoenix Roadrunners

Phoenix Roadrunners (WHA)

The Phoenix Roadrunners were a team in the now defunct World Hockey Association from 1974 to 1977. They played at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona...

. He is the younger brother of former NHL player Poul Popiel

Poul Popiel

Poul Peter Popiel is a retired NHL defenceman, and head coach. He played in the OHA, AHL, WHA, NHL, CPHL, and IHL. He played a brief 12 games in the IHL with the Muskegon Mohawks, then halfway through the year, he retired and became the head coach...

.

Popiel was drafted 10th overall in the 1964 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Black Hawks

Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...

 making him the highest drafted Danish-born player in NHL history until Mikkel Bødker

Mikkel Bødker

Mikkel Bødker is a Danish ice hockey right winger. He is currently playing for the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League. He was selected 8th overall by the Coyotes in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, making him the highest-ever drafted Danish player...

 was drafted in 2008 as number 8. Popiel, however, was raised in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 (his family moved ot Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 in 1951 when he was a child ) and a Canadian citizen.

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