ECHL: An Interview with Adirondack Thunder Forward T.J. Friedmann

When you ask someone how they started playing hockey, you’ll hear a lot of different stories, but the one of T.J. Friedmann is probably one you haven’t heard and are unlikely to hear again, “My potty training gift was learning how to ice skate, so once I was potty trained, my parents got me on the ice, my dad didn’t think I would stick with it, turned how I absolutely loved it, I stuck with it, and I think he’s enjoyed the process as much as I have” said Friedmann on how he got started playing hockey. The St.Louis Native would spend two years playing in the BCHL with the Victoria Grizzlies, where he put up 38 goals and 52 assists for 90 points in 96 games before heading down to the Northeast, where he’s spent his entire collegiate and pro career, up to this point.

The 25-year-old forward spent his collegiate career at Quinnipiac, where he decided to stay for a fifth year, and it would pay off as the Bobcats would go on to win the National Championship that season to cap off his collegiate career where he put up 28 goals and 30 assists for 58 points in 178 games, “Ya, I played five years there, It was a big decision between me, my agent and my family on whether I wanted to start playing or go back for another year. Obviously, going back for the fifth year and winning the National Championship was an unbelievable experience, crazy surreal; it’s still tough to put into words that accomplishment, obviously, to follow that up with the option to play professionally that’s what most people dream about as kids, so to be able to have the option to sign a professional contract to continue playing was an unbelievable way to follow up that National Championship” said, Friedmann. Yaniv Perets, who was recently called up to the Carolina Hurricanes from the Norfolk Admirals earlier this month, was on that team that won the National Championship, “Ya, if anyone deserves it, it’s definitely him. I’ve played with a lot of goalies, and he’s up there on the work list out of all of them; he’s very dialed in with everything he does, and you can kinda see that in the way he plays, and I’m incredibly proud of, and just take the chance and run with him” said Friedmann on his former teammate.

It’s been an interesting ride for Friedmann so far in his first full season as a pro, as he got his first professional goal in his first game with the Thunder during their home opener and would get his first AHL goal a week later when he got the call-up to Utica, and then would find the scoresheet three days later as he had points in first four games of the season. However, an injury would sideline Friedmann for a little over a month, but he didn’t miss a beat coming as he found the back of the net in his first game back from his injury and has found the back of the net in two of his previous three games, “It’s been an up and down kind of year, like you said being able to score in the home opener, getting the first professional goal out of the way and then to get the call-up to Utica was another great weekend for me, to kind of go up and experience the AHL and soak up everything I can while I was there, coming back getting hurt was definitely a progress, trying to stay positive and keep the right mindset while going through everything and the athletic trainer here has been doing unbelievable job taking care of everyone here and she got me back healthy, and it was back to the races after that” said the 6’2 forward.