Karl Heinz Friesen (born June 30, 1958) is a Canadian-born German former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

. Friesen spent most of his career in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, playing in the Eishockey-Bundesliga and Deutsche Eishockey Liga, but he also played four games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

with the New Jersey Devils during the 1986–87 season. Internationally Friesen represented both

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and

at multiple tournaments, including the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, and

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

, and six

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Career

A Canadian of German descent, Friesen played for the

West Kildonan North Stars The Kildonan North Stars were a Canadian Junior ice hockey Team in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League from Winnipeg, Manitoba. History During the summer of 1967, community-minded sports group purchased the Winnipeg Warriors from Ben Hatskin, ren ...

of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League and the

St. Boniface Mohawks The St. Boniface Mohawks were a Canadian senior ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The team was founded in 1967 when the Winnipeg Maroons, former Allan Cup champions, relocated to St. Boniface. The Mohawks played in various leagues, including t ...

of the Central Amateur Senior Hockey League, before taking his game to Germany in 1980 and would spend 15 years in Germany's top-flight. In 1985-86, Friesen played for the Maine Mariners of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

and had a short stint with the New Jersey Devils of the NHL in 1986-87, but then returned to Rosenheim. He played a total of 12 years with the SB Rosenheim team, two with Hedos Munich and one with the Mad Dogs Munich. Friesen won German championships with Rosenheim in 1982, 1985 and 1989. A

dual citizen Dual or Duals may refer to: Paired/two things * Dual (mathematics), a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another ** Dual (category theory), a formalization of mathematical duality *** see more cases in :Duality theories * Dual (grammatical ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

, Friesen represented

internationally on many occasions, including six World Championships, the

and

Winter Olympics and the

1984 Canada Cup The 1984 Labatt Canada Cup was a professional international ice hockey tournament played during the first three weeks of September 1984. The best-of-three final took place between Canada and Sweden, with Canada winning a two game sweep. Canadian ...

. After

German Unification The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...

, he represented

at the

. He won a total of 105 caps for the German national team. After retiring in 1996, he returned to his native Canada. Friesen is a member of the

German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame The German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame, also called Eishockeymuseum in German, was founded in 1988 and is located in Augsburg. The hall honors individuals who have contributed to ice hockey in Germany, and displays memorabilia depicting contributions of ...

and of the

Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame The Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum is a hall of fame and museum for ice hockey in Manitoba, located on the main level of the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1985, when the first honoured members were named ...

. In 2000, he was named German goalie of the century.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

*
Karl Friesen song (in German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friesen, Karl 1958 births Living people Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Canadian people of German descent Canadian Mennonites German ice hockey goaltenders Ice hockey people from Manitoba Ice hockey players at the 1984 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1988 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1992 Winter Olympics Kildonan North Stars players Mad Dogs München players Maine Mariners players New Jersey Devils players Olympic ice hockey players of Germany Olympic ice hockey players of West Germany Sportspeople from Winnipeg Starbulls Rosenheim players Undrafted National Hockey League players