GWOZDECKY, Peter

PETER GWOZDECKY was born on 14 December 1954 in Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay), Ontario, Canada, to Eunice Stenback of Port Arthur and Dr. George Gwozdecky [9], who immigrated to Canada in May 1948. His parents initially settled in Rossport, Ontario, then Geraldton, Ontario (Hospital) while working towards licensed medical practice. The couple married soon after moving to Port Arthur to live, work, and raise a family. Gwozdecky has two brothers, George Jr. [7, 9] and Mark [8, 9], and a lifelong association with ice hockey through playing, coaching, and sports medicine administrative roles.

The Canadian-born Australian played competitive ice hockey at home, including two years of Junior A. He competed with NHL players and others featured in the 1978 movie Slap Shot starring Paul Newman. He played alongside “Ogie Ogelthorpe” (Goldie Goldthorpe) [1, 2] and faced the Hanson brothers of Slap Shot fame.

He attended university on one of one hundred Hockey Canada scholarships, playing two seasons for the Lakehead University Norwesters in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC). He competed against teams such as the University of Winnipeg Wesmen, University of Manitoba Bisons, and the University of Brandon Bobcats. Concurrently, the Norwesters played in the International Collegiate Hockey Association (ICHA), a US league, against teams such as the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets, St. Scholastica Saints, and Bemidji State Beavers.

In 1974, Gwozdecky was offered a professional contract to play Division 1 in Zug, Switzerland, which allowed only one foreign player per team. The contract fell through at the last minute when Zug managed to secure a recently defected Russian player. He then studied to become a Doctor of Chiropractic, and stopped playing because of injuries sustained from opponents hacking at his hands, which threatened his chiropractic career.

The Canadian moved to Sydney, Australia, where he began the 1980 season with the Sydney All Stars in the inaugural National Ice Hockey League. The All Stars were the eventual winners of the National Championship.

In 1982, Gwozdecky travelled the International Professional Surfing Tour (IPS) as the personal Doctor of Chiropractic to the World No. 1 surfer, Australian Cheyne Horan. He was the first Doctor of any persuasion to tour.

From 1984 to 2000, Gwozdecky served as the Sports Medicine Director for the national association and as a sports medic for several touring Australian teams, including the National Youth Teams in 1986 and 1987, and the National Men’s Team in 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1995. Former national presidents Phil Ginsberg and Dick Mann praised his skill as a player and his contributions as the best in the field.

The doctor was a pioneer of Sports Drug Testing in Australia in both water skiing and ice hockey. In 1986, he coordinated drug testing for youth ice hockey players for the first time in the world at the Asia Oceania Ice Hockey Championships held in Adelaide. He also led the drug testing at the IIHF D-Pool World Ice Hockey Championships in Perth in 1987 and the C-Pool World Championships in Sydney in 1989, and at World Water Ski and Barefoot Championship events in 1987, 1988, and 1994. [10, 11]

Between 1989 and 1990, Gwozdecky gave evidence as AIHF Sports Medicine Director to the Australian Senate Inquiry into Drugs in Sport, which culminated in the formation of the independent Australian Sports Drug Agency (ASDA). In 1998, he provided expert evidence to the Victorian Anti-Discrimination Tribunal on girls participating against boys in contact ice hockey. This case raised concerns about safety and the risk of injury, including concussions, among participants of different genders and physical maturity in full-contact ice hockey, which prompted modifications to create a non-contact competition.

Between 1998 and 2000, Gwozdecky was Chief Medical Officer for Australia on the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Medical Commission. He skated at every practice with the National team and assisted the coach.

Over the years, the sports medic received requests to coach the National Team, which he declined. On 29 March 1988, the National Team stopped in Canada en route back to Australia after the Thayer Tutt Tournament in Holland. Gwozdecky coached the squad in a match against the “NHL Old-timers” in Welland, Ontario. The Old-timers were coached by Teeder Kennedy, Hall of Famer and former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. [4]

In his last trip as Team Doctor, National Team coach Dan Reynolds asked Gwozdecky to play for Australia in the 1995 World D Pool Championships in Johannesburg, South Africa. He declined having retired from playing fifteen years earlier.

Gwozdecky also advised and assisted the national association pro bono on legal matters up to 2022. As a Barrister at Law in New South Wales for nearly 25 years, he appeared in a number of notable cases in the High Court of Australia and in sports-related cases before the Court of Arbitration for Sport during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Some changed the law and were reported in Law Reports.

Between 1993 and 1995, Gwozdecky was Resident Chiropractor on TCN Channel 7’s At Home with John Mangos, a morning television show broadcast nationally. Gwozdecky produced and presented bi-weekly segments on health-related topics, which were endorsed by the Chiropractic Association of Australia (CAA). A logo, “You're in Safe Hands,” was designed for the program and Gwozdecky’s role as the national spokesperson.

In 1998, after the death of the national president, Gwozdecky was delegate to the 1998 IIHF Semi-Annual Congress, hosted by the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada.

In 2016, Gwozdecky coached an exhibition hockey game at Qudos Bank Arena before the Team Canada vs. Team USA game. Former NHL player and coach Wayne Gretzky agreed to participate during a short visit to Australia. Gwozdecky coached Gretzky and then served as the Chiropractor for the main event. [5] During the exhibition game, Gwozdecky had a surprise reunion with Slap Shot’s Dave Hanson, who coached Team USA and played in the exhibition game. [6]

Throughout 46 years of practice, Gwozdecky has treated over 200 world champions. He was appointed Team Chiropractor for 36 Australian National Sporting Teams in Ice Hockey and Water Skiing for International World Championship events. He served on the IWWF Medical Commission for the past 40 years and helped draft the Sports Global Concussion Protocols and Guidelines released in 2021.

Peter Gwozdecky has eight children. At one point, five young sons played football (soccer) at a high representative level for Manly United FC (a club record). His youngest and only daughter also plays football at the highest level for the Western Sydney Wanderers and NSW Future Sapphires state team.