Flames All-Time Countdown Chapter XXV: 410-406

410. Jeff Friesen

Jeff Friesen was a 6’1″, 205 lb. left winger from Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. Born on August 5th, 1976, he played three seasons with the WHL’s Regina Pats beginning in 1991-92 (140 games, 99 goals, 106 assists). He was selected in the first round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the San Jose Sharks with the 11th overall pick.

Friesen spent the next six and a half seasons with San Jose (512 games, 149 goals, 201 assists, 316 PiM). He later played parts of three seasons with the Anaheim Ducks (114 games, 20 goals, 39 assists, 62 PiM), two seasons with the New Jersey Devils (162 games, 40 goals, 48 assists, 52 PiM), and part of a season with the Washington Capitals (33 games, three goals, four assists, 24 PiM). He signed with the Flames on free agent day in 2006.

2006-07 would see Friesen play just over 12 minutes per game for Calgary. He scored six times on 55 shots, with six assists. On October 7th, he earned his first point for the Flames, an assist in a 2-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers. On January 13th, he scored his first goal with Calgary (in his 35th game) in a 3-1 win, again over the Oilers. From January 30th through February 6th, he had a four game point streak (one goal, three assists). In total, he played 67 games, registered a minus-2 rating and spent 34 minutes in the penalty box.

In 2007-08, Friesen made his first ever AHL appearance, with the Lake Erie Monsters (five games, one goal, four assists). After getting released from the San Jose Sharks training camp in 2008, he took a year off. Later, he played two seasons in Germany with the Berlin Polar Bears (83 games, 20 goals, 39 assists, 142 PiM).

All-Time Statline: 72 games, six goals, six assists, minus-2 rating, 34 penalty minutes, 0.00 point shares.

409. Earl Ingarfield

Ingarfield was a 5'11", 180 lb. center from New York City, New York. Born on January 30th, 1959, he played in the Juniors for four seasons, with the Swift Current Broncos (54 games, 36 goals, 30 assists, 128 PiM), the Regina Pats (25 games, one goal, 38 PiM), and the Lethbridge Broncos (136 games, 68 goals, 71 assists, 211 PiM).

Ingarfield signed a free agent contract with the Atlanta Flames just before the beginning of the 1979-80 seasons. He played most of his year with the CHL's Birmingham Bulls (75 games, 27 goals, 30 assists, 160 PiM), joining the Flames for just one game. He finished at minus-1, and took an impressive seven shots on goal. He also earned an assist in two playoff appearances for Atlanta.

After the team moved to Calgary, Ingarfield split his time between the Bulls (23 games, seven goals, nine assists, 47 PiM) and the Flames. As a charter member of the Calgary Flames, he totaled a pair of goals on 20 shots along with three assists in 16 contests. On February 3rd, the Flames traded him to the Detroit Red Wings.

After finishing out the year with Detroit (22 games, two goals, one assist, 16 PiM), Ingarfield played with the Adirondack Red Wings (133 games, 35 goals, 45 assists, 146 PiM), the Springfield Indians (18 games, two goals, three assists, 27 PiM), the Indianapolis Checkers (20 games, 11 goals, six assists, 17 PiM), and the Peoria Rivermen (33 games, eight goals, 11 assists, 18 PiM).

All-Time Statline: 17 games, two goals, three assists, even rating, six penalty minutes, 0.01 point shares.

408. Blair Jones

Jones, a Central Butte, Saskatchewan native, was born on September 27th, 1986. Eventually, he became a 6'3", 215 lb. center. He played four seasons of Junior hockey (249 games, 61 goals, 112 assists, 235 PiM) in the WHL between the Red Deer Rebels and the Moose Jaw Warriors starting in 2002-03.

In the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, the Tampa Bay Lightning selected Jones in the fourth round with the 104th overall pick. 2006-07 would see Jones play in 45 games for the Springfield Falcons (five goals, 16 assists, 36 PiM) and 20 games in the NHL with the Bolts (one goal, two assists) as a rookie. The following season would see him spend most of his season with the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals (75 games, 14 goals, 28 assists, 50 PiM), enjoying a cup of coffee with the Lightning (four games).

Jones remained with Tampa Bay’s organization for the next four seasons, racking up stats with both the Admirals (204 games, 55 goals, 88 assists, 179 PiM) and the Lightning (54 games, three goals, four assists, 22 PiM). On January 6th, 2012, the Bolts traded him to the Flames for Brendan Mikkelson.

Jones played in 21 games for the Flames to close out the 2011-12 season, taking 37 shots on goal and finding the net on only one of them. He also collected three assists on the season. His only goal was a game winner in a 1-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks on January 12th.

In 2012-13, he played in 21 games for the Abbotsford Heat, where he lit the lamp three times with four assists. He also played in 15 games for the Flames, earning only one point, an assist in a February 13 win over the Dallas Stars, 7-4. He took 22 shots on goal.

This past season, Jones put up a point per game in Abbotsford, scoring 17 times with 21 assists in 38 games. In 14 games with Calgary, he scored twice on 14 shots, first on November 22nd in a 4-3, shootout win over the Florida Panthers, and then on November 30th, a shorthanded marker in a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. He earned 21 penalty minutes in 11 and a half minutes per game.

Jones is a free agent for the next season. I'm not sure that we'll see him in a Flames uniform again.

All-Time Statline: 50 games, three goals, four assists, minus-4 rating, 39 penalty minutes, 0.01 point shares.

407. Marty Murray

Murray is a 5'9", 180 lb. native of Lyleton, Minnesota. Born on February 16th, 1975, he played four seasons at the Junior level with the WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings (264 games, 132 goals, 260 assists) starting in 1991-92. He was a fourth round selection in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, selected 96th overall by Calgary.

Murray scored nearly a point per game as a rookie with the AHL’s Saint John Flames (58 games, 25 goals, 31 assists), also playing in 15 games for Calgary. He took 22 shots on goal, and found the back of the net three times with three helpers. In just his third career game, on October 10th, he scored two goals on four shots in a 7-3 loss to the Dallas Stars. On October 19th, in a 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators, he scored a goal and an assist.

Murray spent an even greater portion of his season with Saint John over the next two seasons. He played 108 games, scoring 29 goals with 69 assists at the AHL level. During that same time, he only joined Calgary for a total of four games, taking four shots on goal and spending six minutes in the box.

In 1998-99, Murray joined EC Villacher SV in Austria. Over two seasons, he appeared in 112 games and scored 52 goals with 109 assists. He rejoined the Saint John Flames for most of the 2000-01 season, and was good for 24 goals and 52 assists in 56 contests. He also played in seven games for Calgary between the start of the season and mid-November, failing to make any impact on the scoresheet other that of a minus-2 rating.

Prior to the 2001-02 season, Murray signed on with the Philadelphia Flyers (150 games, 23 goal, 30 assists), later also making appearances with the Carolina Hurricanes (66 games, five goals, seven assists) and the Los Angeles Kings (19 games, zero goals, two assists). Later still, he played in Germany and Switzerland, later closing out his professional hockey career in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals (15 games, five goals, five assists) and the Manitoba Moose (59 games, 10 goals, 20 assists) in 2009-10. He is currently the head coach of the NAHL’s Minot Minotauros.

All-Time Statline: 26 games, three goals, three assists, minus-5 rating, six penalty minutes, 0.08 point shares.

406. Rich Lemieux

Lemieux, a 5’8″, 165 lb. center from Teniscamingue, Quebec, was born on April 19th, 1951. He played three seasons with the Montreal Junior Canadiens in the OHA Junior circuit starting in 1968-69, scoring 50 goals and 94 assists in 116 contests. The Vancouver Canucks selected him in the third round of the 1971 NHL Entry Draft with the 39th overall pick.

Lemieux scored a dozen goals with a dozen assists in 34 games with the AHL's Rochester Americans in 1971-72, later joining (and staying for the next two and a half seasons) the Canucks. He appeared in 192 games, scoring 29 goals and 61 assists with a minus-68 rating and 62 penalty minutes. He later played in 81 games over two seasons with the Kansas City Scouts (New Jersey Devils), scoring 10 times with 20 helpers and a minus-35 rating. On October 13th, 1975, he was traded with a second round pick (Miles Zaharko) to the Flames for Buster Harvey.

Lemieux would play 60 games for the Flames at-the-time farm club, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs (25 goals, 23 assists). He would join the Flames for a single contest, earning an assist and a plus-2 rating.

In 1976-77, Lemieux played 33 games for the WHA's Calgary Cowboys, scoring six times with 11 helpers before calling it quits.

All-Time Statline: One game, zero goals, one assist, plus-2 rating, zero penalty minutes, 0.09 point shares.

You knew that if you kept coming back here and reading these, that we'd eventually get into the positive side of point shares. Join us tomorrow as we keep climbing the ladder with five more guys that you may (or may not) have heard of.

by Kevin Kraczkowski