EVERETT — Kieran Friesen wasn’t just certain his WHL career was over. He’d already put hockey in his review mirror.
So no one’s more surprised to find Friesen taking a regular shift for the Everett Silvertips than Friesen himself.
Friesen may have walked away from his first shot at the WHL, and he may have walked away from hockey all together. However, he unexpectedly finds himself with a second chance at the WHL in Everett, and this time he’s determined to make the most of it.
“I never thought I’d be back here (in the WHL),” Friesen said. “I got a chance to come in, fill in for some players, played all right and I’m still here. I’m happy with how everything’s worked.”
Friesen, an 18-year-old defenseman, was brought in by the Tips out of necessity. Everett started the second half of the season down three defensemen because Rasmus Rissanen and Nick Walters were on international duty, and Chad Suer was out injured. That left the Tips with just four D-men available.
The sturdy 6-foot-1, 190-pound Friesen was one of two defensemen Everett brought in to help fill out the lineup. Friesen, who was jumping up two levels from playing for the Princeton Posse of the junior B Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, seemed destined to play limited shifts in three games before being returned to Princeton.
But 11 games later Friesen still finds himself in Everett, receiving a steady amount of playing time.
“There’s some things there that we really like,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said. “He’s competitive, he’s strong. He didn’t play hockey all of last year, so he’s in catch-up mode. But for a guy who hasn’t played in this league for two years, he’s got something to work with, not just for this year but next year as well.”
That’s right, Friesen is just four months removed from retirement.
Friesen played half a season for the Edmonton Oil Kings as a 16-year-old in 2008-09. He didn’t play a lot, appearing in 25 games without scoring. However, he was the only defenseman to finish with a plus rating for Edmonton that season, and it seemed his WHL career was just beginning.
And then suddenly it was over.
After the season Friesen decided the WHL, and hockey in general, just weren’t for him. He decided not to report back to Edmonton for his 17-year-old season, and he gave up hockey completely.
“I didn’t even put my gear on once,” Friesen said.
“It was always my dream to come and play in this league, and it was good to finally get here (with Edmonton), but I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Friesen explained. “I wanted to do so many other things in my life still, besides the big commitment to hockey. I was young, I didn’t really listen to anyone’s advice.”
So instead of hitting the ice last season Friesen finished up high school and joined the work force, getting a job at a saw mill near his hometown of Vanderhoof, B.C. Hockey was a part of his past.
All until a fateful day late last September. That’s when Dale Hladun, Princeton’s head coach and general manager, gave Friesen a call. Friesen played for Hladun in Princeton in 2008-09 prior to joining the Oil Kings, and Hladun wondered if Friesen wanted to get back in the game.
“I thought about it for a while and thought, ‘What the hell am I doing?’” Friesen said. “I used to be so crazy about hockey. So I went and gave it another shot, just played for fun.”
Friesen was back playing hockey. However, he was an 18-year-old playing junior B, and he had no illusions about jumping back to the WHL. He was just hoping to get an opportunity to move up to the junior A British Columbia Hockey League.
But one person in the WHL who remembered Friesen was Everett general manager Doug Soetaert. Soetaert had tried to add Friesen to Everett’s protected list in 2008-09, but Edmonton put a claim on Friesen the same day and had a worse record, so the Oil Kings received his rights. Then this offseason Soetaert, who at the time was uncertain whether Friesen played last season or not, tried to invite Friesen to training camp, but received no response.
However, Soetaert knows Hladun and was kept abreast of Friesen’s progress. When circumstances following Christmas required another defenseman, Soetaert made the call to bring in Friesen.
“We brought him in just thinking he’d be here until the end of (December),” Soetaert said. “There was always the option that if he came in and played well, there was a chance we’d keep him around. That’s what he wanted, and he walked through the door and grabbed the opportunity to play.”
This time Friesen is determined to take his WHL opportunity.
“(Playing for Edmonton) really wore me down, I was a young kid and just couldn’t take it at that age,” Friesen said. “It’s good I’m older now, more mature, and have a second chance to prove I can stick it out and do good work.”
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
