In this photo: Mitch Friesen (right) celebrates a goal with his Kamloops Storm teammates at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre on Saturday, Sept. 27. Friesen might soon leave the Tournament Capital.
Mitch Friesen is back with the Kamloops Storm — though neither he nor the Storm expect it to be an extended visit.
Friesen was released by the Kamloops Blazers last week and is playing with the Storm while he decides what the future holds for him.
He posted the team’s only goal in a 3-1 loss to the Revelstoke Grizzlies on Friday (Sept. 26) and was held pointless the following night in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Osoyoos Coyotes.
“I’m doing all right, just looking for a place to play,” Friesen told KTW prior to the Storm’s game against the Grizzlies.
“I don’t want to spend the whole year here. Looking to play junior A and go from there.”
“He’s here until he can find a place to go,” Storm general manager Barry Dewar echoed.
“He’s got a couple junior A teams that are looking at him. He’s trying to sort out what he wants to do with his life.
“Obviously, we’d love for him to be here, but we don’t expect him to be.”
The 18-year-old forward was never able to find his groove with the Blazers. He drew into one regular season game under new head coach Don Hay, a loss to the Kelowna Rockets, and was pointless, with a minus-1 rating.
He played 46 games for the club in 2012-2013, but registered just one assist. In 21 games last season, he had one goal and two assists.
Friesen is no stranger to the Storm — the 6-foot-4 180-pound Surrey native played 27 regular season games with the junior B club last season, totalling nine goals and 12 assists. He added another 21 points, eight goals and 13 assists, in 20 playoff games.
He feels he will benefit from a change of scenery now that he has been released by the Blazers.
“They just sort of said things weren’t clicking and I agree,” Friesen said. “I wasn’t doing a whole lot up there, so they let me go.
“I feel like I kind of got pushed into a hole a little bit with the Blazers. It will be nice to get out of that and just show a different side of me than what everyone else is used to.”
Friesen already has an idea of where he will be going, but chose not to divulge that information as it’s not yet official. He did indicate he would like to stay close to Kamloops, however, meaning Merritt, Salmon Arm, West Kelowna and Vernon could all be possibilities.
The Vernon Vipers are especially interesting as Mark Ferner, who was an associate coach with the Blazers throughout much of Friesen’s stay with the WHL club, is now back as their head coach and general manager.
Wherever he ends up, Friesen is looking forward to a new beginning.
“Obviously, I’m looking for a fresh start. I mean, I sort of need one here,” Friesen said.
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