Meet the new Calgary Hitmen coaches: Dustin Friesen named 13th bench boss
Friesen brings a wealth of experience from an 11-year professional career as a player, including three seasons in the American Hockey League and eight seasons in Germany, with whom he served as captain of ERC Ingolstadt and won a DEL2 Championship.
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Before turning pro, he spent five seasons with the University of New Brunswick Reds, captaining the program to two U SPORTS' titles.
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And before that, he played for four seasons with the WHL's Swift Current Broncos.
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'He's played both forward and defence,' added Davidson of Friesen. 'That's an interesting appreciation for both positions.'
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One assistant joining Friesen is a Hitmen legend.
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Brad Moran is arguably the best player ever to play for the club, as the franchise leader in games played (357), goals (204), assists (246) and points (450) during his five-year career from 1995-2000. His iconic No. 20 is the only jersey number retired by the organization.
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Moran has since helped turn around the Alberta Junior Hockey League's Calgary Canucks, transitioning them quickly from a weak team in the Tier 2 junior loop into a powerhouse that culminated in May with a Centennial Cup title after capturing two straight AJHL championships.
Moran spent seven years with the Canucks.
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'Brad is a real good fit with the whole group, because he's a guy that knows what the offence is all about,' Davidson said. 'He achieved big-time at the Western league and professionally offensively.
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'And I really watched him the last couple of years lead the Canucks here. Got to go out and watch games. I'm sure he's going to really help us with forwards, and I'm sure he'll be heavily involved with a power play, from what I gather.'
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Helping to coach up the defence is Friesen's other assistant in Dakota Krebs, who gets a promotion from being the team's video coach last season.
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A former Hitmen defenceman, Krebs played for the club from 2018-20 following three seasons with the WHL's Tri-City Americans. He later spent four years with the University of Calgary Dinos, with whom he served as an assistant captain for two seasons and earned a bachelor of commerce degree.
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'I'm really excited about both Brad and Dakota,' Friesen said. 'Both are Calgary Hitmen alumni, which I think is a really important piece. They already have that pride instilled in them after both having really good careers with the Calgary Hitmen. So I think that's part of building the program and building the team.
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'So you have that investment from the coaching staff that's just contagious with the players, and then obviously that leads to a high-performance atmosphere. And what we're trying to develop here in Calgary.'
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McFarland got offered a gig he couldn't refuse — that from the NHL's Edmonton Oilers, joining head coach Kris Knoblauch behind the bench as an assistant. He'll help coach the forwards and be responsible for the much-vaunted power play.
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'We knew Paul was interviewing for jobs,' Davidson said. 'So it wasn't like we were caught sort of asleep. We weren't caught asleep. We were making sure that we were looking at some potential people out there, and so we had a bit of a short list. But that short-list got even shorter because we did lose some candidates that took other jobs.
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But that's the way it goes.
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'And from Day 1, we identified Dustin as a real quality candidate.'
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McFarland's two assistants also left the Hitmen, as Ben Wilson stepped away from coaching to pursue personal opportunities and David Liffiton moved over to the AHL's Calgary Wranglers to become an assistant coach with them.
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'I think we're all about moving people on, whether it's players or staff,' Davidson said. 'So … yeah … it's positive.
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'But it also comes with having to figure out what we're going to do going forward, which I think we've now got figured out.'
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'I knew that Paul had some potential opportunities in the American League, and obviously, the Edmonton job came up,' added Friesen. 'They reached out to me … and I'm very excited and honoured to be in this position.'
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