S
o I thought about
another one of my
favorite albums,
2112 by Rush.
I just love Rush
and Gerry said
he could live with that so that
became the name. I’ve posted
on Facebook where the name
came from and I had these
bags that I give to our players
so sent one each to Geddy Lee,
Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson
and tagged them on Twitter,
so I figure they’re aware of us.
“Gerry didn’t know what
to think of these names, but I
just loved Van Halen and Rush.
I wanted 2112 and he said,
‘OK, I can live with that.’”
Darryl Wolski has been
directly involved in the hockey
business for nearly 30 years,
but these days, he operates
the 2112 Hockey Agency
and is handling the careers
of players such as injured
former Manitoba Moose Scott
Glennie and Korean Olympic
team member Alex Plante.
And he’s a hands-on guy.
More times than enough he’ll
find himself driving through
Eastern Europe and in remote
Russian and Asian outposts,
making sure that his clients are
happy, healthy and getting paid.
“A guy called me the other
day and said, where are you?”
Wolski laughed. “I told him
I was driving and was about
halfway between Graz and
Villach (Austria). He asked
me who I had in Villach and
I told him and he said, ‘OK,
that makes sense,’ and we
had a nice conversation.
“That’s kind of what I do
now. I fly to Munich, drive
around in a circle and then go
back to Munich and fly home.”
6 6 | G AME ON | PL AYOF F EDITION 2018
DARRYL WOLSKI WITH
KHL HOCKEY STAR JON
BLUM (RIGHT) AND THE
OWNER OF THE BEST
MEXICAN RESTAURANT
AROUND, CAFE LIMA IN
VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA
About 25-30 years ago,
Wolski wasn’t in the hockey
business. He was a radio
announcer in Selkirk who
dabbled in summer hockey.
However, when he got a job
offer in Brandon, his life
took a dramatic right turn.
“When (now Hockey
Manitoba executive director)
Peter Woods was running the
summer hockey league at Max
Bell, I would put together a
team from Selkirk and we’d
play in the summer hockey
league,” Wolski explained.
“I would put together the
team, organize the money
and get the jerseys and stuff.
“Then I got a job
opportunity to be a DJ on
the radio in Brandon and
when I went out to Brandon,
I realized they had a summer
hockey league, but it only
had like four teams, so I went
up to the guy running it and
said, ‘I’ll buy you out.’ He said,
‘Give me a thousand bucks.’
And I said, ‘I’ll give you $500,’
and I owned the summer
hockey league in Brandon.
“Meanwhile, Aaron Rome’s
dad, Dennis, ran the Triple
A Hockey Challenge and he’d
had enough of it. It was too
much work for Dennis and he
was looking for a young guy to
take it over. So 24 years ago, I
took over the Triple A Hockey
Challenge. At the time, there
was no email, no Internet
and no text messaging. I
worked the phones, old
school, calling Brian Frykas
and Garth Lancaster, asking
them to bring their teams
to Brandon. And that’s
what I did. I eventually
bought out Dennis and the
tournament is still going
strong, 24 years later. It’s now
three weeks of tourism in
Brandon in April and May.”
About 20 years ago, he
started an Adult Hockey League
and he still runs all of those
hockey programs in the city.
“Thankfully, because
of the Internet, some of
those things now run by
themselves,” he said.
Still, when it comes to
his hockey career, it’s what’s
happened over the past 14
years that has given Wolski
a solid business background,
an international education
and enough stories to
become a standup comedian
on the side, if he ever
wanted to take the stage.
U
nlike most
agents today,
Wolski got
into the
business with
one simple
conversation. Of course, it
was a simple conversation
with one of the biggest
agents in the business.
“At the time, I didn’t really
know Gerry Johannson from
Edmonton, but I mentioned to
him, ‘There’s a kid in Winnipeg
you should probably go
watch,’ and Gerry’s response
was, ‘yeah, yeah, yeah.’”
Wolski said with a grin.
“I’d been watching the
American Hockey League
All-Star Game on TV and the
league had invited a bunch of