The list of NHL players, Lorne Frey brought to play for the Kelowna Rockets is almost too long to list. But ask him which players he's most proud of and he'll bring up a few names of players who never made it to the NHL. Players like Ryan Cuthbert and Tyler Mosienko. But what he takes most pride in is being part of the organization since the very beginning.
The assistant GM is leaving Kelowna after working alongside Owner and GM Bruce Hamilton since before he even bought the team.
"It's tough, but it's time," said Frey, who spoke with KelownaNow outside Prospera Place Thursday morning.
"As you get on in life you have to make choices. and our choice is now to go back to Swift Current and be with our family. It's time and we're looking forward to that," he said.
"He was with us when we started this team. He was part of the dream," said Rockets Owner and GM Bruce Hamilton who has worked side-by-side with Frey since before he even acquired the team.
"The Memorial Cup that was hosted here, he was part of that and then the other four we've been to, he's been instrumental in helping us build those teams."
Frey's departure comes at a difficult time for the Kelowna Rockets. The team made a lot of costly moves in an effort to improve the team for the 2020 Memorial Cup.
"I'm not actually leaving 'em," points out Frey. "I'm still going to be around for at least another year and I'm going to help with Bruce and developing our team for next year."
He acknowledges some top picks were traded away, but he's still upbeat about it.
"One good thing about it, we kept our top prospects. We never traded our good young prospects," he explained.
Still, Rockets fans will be looking at a rebuilding year, when hockey resumes.
"We're going to have to bring in some young players, some 16, 17-year-olds and live with them for a year," said Frey. "We are confident in the ability of a lot of these young kids. And we think we'll still be competitive and in a year or two's time we'll be back to having a really good, successful hockey team again."
It's that kind of positivity that will be missed most with Lorne Frey's departure. That and his infections smile.
"It's been a hoot," he said. "It's been fun."
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