Ritch Winter is an 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...

 sports agent

Sports agent

A sports agent procures and negotiates employment and endorsement contracts for an athlete.In return, the sports agent generally receives between 4 and 10% of the athlete's playing contract, and 10 to 20% of the athlete's endorsement contract, though these figures vary...

. Founder and CEO of The Sports Corporation, based in Edmonton, Winter represents over 70 National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 players, including Marian Hossa

Marian Hossa

Marián Hossa is a Slovak professional ice hockey player who currently plays for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League . Hossa was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft; after playing for the Senators, he played for the Atlanta Thrashers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and...

, and Dominik Hasek

Dominik Hašek

Dominik Hašek is a Czech ice hockey goaltender who is currently with HC Spartak Moscow of the KHL.In his 16-season National Hockey League career, he played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and the Ottawa Senators. During his years in Buffalo, he became one of the...

.

Biography

Winter received a law degree

Law degree

A Law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers; but while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not themselves confer a license...

 from the University of Calgary

University of Calgary

The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...

 in 1983. He began his career as a sports agent in the late 1980s in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 before returning to Edmonton to launch The Sports Corporation. While in California Winter worked with sports lawyer, Ted Steinberg whose clients at that time included Eugene Levy

Eugene Levy

Eugene Levy, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein...

 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season...

, among others.

Winter played a role in the downfall of former National Hockey League Players Association Executive Director Alan Eagleson

Alan Eagleson

Robert Alan Eagleson is a disbarred Canadian lawyer, convicted felon in two countries, former politician, hockey agent and promoter...

. Along with Herb Pinder

Herb Pinder

Herbert Charles Pinder, is a former business owner, developer and political figure in Saskatchewan, Canada. He served as Minister of Industry and Information in the Saskatchewan cabinet from May 1964 to December 1964....

 and Ron Salcer, Winter helped to lead the campaign that led to Eagleson's resignation in 1992, and ultimately his conviction for defrauding his clients in 1989. In 2007, Winter helped Chris Chelios

Chris Chelios

Christos Kostas Tselios is a retired American professional ice hockey defenseman. He is currently the Executive Advisor to Ken Holland, the general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, a role that Steve Yzerman held before leaving to become general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning.Chelios played...

 oust Ted Saskin

Ted Saskin

Ted Saskin is the former NHL Players Association executive director. He assumed the title after Bob Goodenow resigned on July 28, 2005, but was unanimously fired by the NHLPA on May 10, 2007, after a union-commissioned report concluded Saskin had quarterbacked a campaign to hack into player email...

 as NHLPA director following accusations Saskin was monitoring players' email. Winter was highly critical of the investigation into the issue by the Toronto Police Service

Toronto Police Service

The Toronto Police Service , formerly the Metropolitan Toronto Police, is the police service for the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest municipal police service in Canada and second largest police force in Canada after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police...

.

In addition to helping to bring the National Hockey League Players' Association leadership to task, Winter worked tirelessly at Carl Brewer's request to help restore retired NHL players pension organizing an effort on behalf of Gordie Howe, Eddie Shack, Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull and others which ultimately resulted in retired players receiving $50 million from the NHL in an Ontario Court decision. Chicago's Rinkside magazine once referred to him as the game's "first player agent superstar".