As part of the Lakehead Alumni Homecoming Celebrations and the John Zanatta Alumni Games this weekend; Thunderwolveshockey.com is very proud to feature one of Lakehead's greatest athletic alumni; Vince Friyia of the Lakehead Norwesters Men's Hockey Team:
Vince Friyia donned the Blue and White Lakehead Norwester hockey jersey from 1977-78 to 1979-80 and blazed a trail of athletic success that still shines almost a quarter century later. In three seasons (99 games) as a Lakehead Norwester, Friyia scored 81 goals and 127 assists for 208 points and an incredible 2.1 points per game clip that puts him second on the All-Time Norwester Scoring List. His two 77 point seasons in 1977-78 and 1979-80 are tied for first at the most points in a season, 12 points ahead of the second best mark.
Friyia was the first Lakehead player to be named All-Canadian in 1977-78. (Jeff Richards of the Thunderwolves is the only other Lakehead All-Canadian, being named last season) Friyia is the only Lakehead player ever to win the Joseph A. Sullivan Award as the top player in Canadian University hockey, winning that prestigious award in 1979-80. He also won two conference scoring titles. Finally, he is the only ex-Lakehead player to ever coach a national team, as he was the coach of the Spanish National Hockey Team in 1985 and 1986.
But for all his accomplishments, Friyia said two things stood out about his days at Lakehead; the fact that it gave him a chance to continue playing hockey while getting an education and all the great friends he made. I didnt have a great junior career (Soo Greyhounds 75-77) and didnt have a lot of options for a hockey career so playing at Lakehead was like a mulligan for me. No matter the personal accomplishments, my best memories of Lakehead are always of the friends and teammates.
The Sault Ste. Marie native also has fond memories of the positive atmosphere surrounding Lakehead Athletics in the late 1970s. LU had such a great athletics program while I was there and there were so many great athletes to watch in other sports as well. Swimming, wrestling, basketball and hockey all were ranked in the top ten in the country.
Friyia began in 1977-78 with the Norwesters who were then competing in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC). Lakehead had a strong team because joining Friyia were a lot of fifth year transfers like Al Avery, two time OUAA (now OUA) scoring champ at York. Avery, who only played the one season for Lakehead but scored 42 points in 30 games to rank him 41st on the All-Time Norwester scoring list, became a great friend and teacher to Friyia. Al taught me more about hockey than anyone I met. We lost in the GPAC final to Regina two games to one. The score in the last game was 9-6 Regina. Al had a goal and five assists. I was the scoring leader and All-Canadian that season but Al was the best player on that team and I learned a lot from him.
The following two seasons were tough ones for Friyia and the Norwesters. They lost all of the fifth year players and weren't able to recruit enough players to replace them. There were many great hockey players in Thunder Bay at the time, but some of them chose to play for the Senior League Thunder Bay Twins who had a great fan base, community support, and were very successful in the late 70s and early 80s. It was difficult for Lakehead to compete with the Twins for players.
The 79-80 season started out very slowly but Lakehead was fortunate because that year they played an interlocking schedule with Canada West. Because of that schedule they didn't see any GPAC teams until after Christmas. By then the Norwesters had improved to the point where they were in every game and competing again. After the Christmas break Friyia started playing on a line with Henry Staal and Norm Fullum. Stall (1978-83) ranks 13th on the Nor