Mark Freer

Mark Paul Freer (born July 14, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played 124 games in the National Hockey League with the Philadelphia Flyers, Ottawa Senators, and Calgary Flames from 1987 to 1993. He played with three new organizations in three leagues over the course of three consecutive seasons between 1992 and 1994. He won the Turner Cup of the International Hockey League in 1998 and won the bronze medal with Canada men's national ice hockey team at the 1995 World Championships. He retired from hockey in 2003.

Career Amateur As a youth, he played in the 1981 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Peterborough, Ontario. Freer began playing for the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) beginning in the 1985–86 season. In his rookie season, Freer scored 16 goals, 28 assists and 44 points in 65 games. The team finished in first place in the division, but lost to the Belleville Bulls in the playoff semifinals. In the playoffs, Freer three goals and seven points in 14 games. In his final season with the Petes in 1987–88, Freer was expected to lead the Petes' offence alongside winger Jody Hull. He scored 38 goals with 109 points in 63 games. In 12 playoff games, he registered five goals and 17 points. He was returned to his junior team on September 20. Prior to the start of the 1986–87 NHL season, Freer was signed by the Flyers as a unrestricted free agent. In January 1987 Freer was recalled by Philadelphia after a series of injuries to the Flyers' forwards. Freer made his NHL debut against the Buffalo Sabres on January 28 and registered his first NHL point, assisting on Scott Mellanby's second period goal. After playing the one game, he was returned to the Petes. He was recalled again in the following 1987–88 season due to injuries to the Flyers' forward group. He made his NHL season debut on March 6, 1988, in a 4–2 loss to the New Jersey Devils, going scoreless. He was returned to Peterborough after the one game.

In his first professional season in 1988–89, Freer was assigned to Philadelphia's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hershey Bears. He scored 30 goals in his AHL rookie season, with 79 points in 75 games. He was a healthy scratch for the November 17 game against the St. Louis Blues but made his NHL season debut against the Quebec Nordiques on November 19. He registered his only point of the season, assisting on Tim Kerr's first period goal in a 7–1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on November 20. He appeared in five games with the Flyers, marking just the one point before being returned to Hershey alongside defenceman Kerry Huffman on December 1. Hershey made the 1989 Calder Cup playoffs, and in 12 games, Freer scored four goals and ten points. In 65 games, he scored 28 goals and 64 points. He was recalled by Philadelphia on November 15, 1989 after an injury to Ron Sutter. He made his NHL season debut against the Minnesota North Stars on November 16. He appeared in one more game against the Winnipeg Jets before being returned to Hershey on November 20 alongside defenceman Jiří Látal. He spent the entire 1990–91 season with Hershey, scoring 18 goals and 62 points in 77 games. Hershey made the 1991 Calder Cup playoffs, in which Freer added one goal and four points in seven games. He put up 13 goals and 24 points in 31 games with Hershey. and made his NHL season debut on December 12 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He registered his first point of the season in the next game on December 14, assisting on Dan Quinn's game-tying goal in the third period of a 1–1 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks. He scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Tim Cheveldae in a 7–3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on January 21, 1992. He finished the season in Philadelphia, scoring six goals and 13 points in 50 games. He made the team out of training camp, but was a healthy scratch for the first few games. He made his Ottawa debut on October 16, 1992 in a 5–1 loss to the Washington Capitals. Playing on a line with Lonnie Loach and Andrew McBain, he scored the Senators' only goal of the game against Jim Hrivnak. On October 24, he assisted on Chris Luongo's first NHL goal and he suffered a charley horse in a 3–2 overtime loss to the New York Rangers, and missed 14 games. He returned to the lineup on November 25 against the New Jersey Devils, centreing a line between Mike Peluso and Andrew McBain. On December 9, Freer registered his first multi-goal game, scoring both of Ottawa's goals against the Hartford Whalers in a 6–2 loss. He marked a three-point game against the Buffalo Sabres on February 8, 1993 in a 4–2 victory, scoring one goal and registering two assists. He played in 63 games for Ottawa, scoring ten goals and 24 points. but was not selected by either team. Ottawa then offered Freer a termination contract in July and by the end of the month, had bought out the contract, making him a free agent.

Calgary Flames On August 10, 1993, Freer signed with the Calgary Flames. He was assigned to Calgary's new AHL affiliate, the Saint John Flames, for the 1993–94 season, where he was expected to be a key member of the team's offence. He was named the AHL Flames' first captain. In 77 games with Saint John, he scored 33 goals and 86 points. He was recalled on an emergency basis on November 20 after Gary Roberts was suspended and played in his final NHL game against the Dallas Stars in a 4–3 loss that night. He was returned to Saint John after the game. In his first season with Houston in 1994–95, he scored 38 goals and 80 points in 80 games. He added just one assist in four games in the IHL playoffs. scoring only 22 goals and 53 points in 80 games. In the 1998–99 season, scored 17 goals and 45 points in 79 games. In the 1999 off season, he re-signed with the Aeros to a two-year contract. He played one more season in Houston in 1999–2000, scoring 20 goals and 55 points in 75 games. He added four assists in 11 playoff games. Freer, who was the last original Aero left, departed the Aeros as the team's record holder for games played, goals, assists, points, game-winning goals, and power-play goals. He appeared in his 1,000th professional hockey game that season. He appeared in 70 games for Hershey in the 2002–03 season, scoring 21 goals and 53 points. As Freer was playing in the IHL with Houston, he was selected as part of Team Canada. He was late joining the team, arriving in Sweden only for the second game. He scored his only goal of the tournament in a 2–2 tie with Italy on April 29. The team went on to win the bronze medal after defeating the Czech Republic 4–1 on May 6.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1985–86 Peterborough Petes OHL 65 16 28 44 24 14 3 4 7 13 1986–87 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 1 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 1986–87 Peterborough Petes OHL 65 39 43 82 44 12 2 6 8 5 1987–88 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1987–88 Peterborough Petes OHL 63 38 71 109 63 12 5 12 17 4 1988–89 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 5 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 1988–89 Hershey Bears AHL 75 30 49 79 77 12 4 6 10 2 1989–90 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1989–90 Hershey Bears AHL 65 28 36 64 31 — — — — — 1990–91 Hershey Bears AHL 77 18 44 62 45 7 1 3 4 17 1991–92 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 50 6 7 13 18 — — — — — 1991–92 Hershey Bears AHL 31 13 11 24 38 6 0 3 3 2 1992–93 Ottawa Senators NHL 63 10 14 24 39 — — — — — 1993–94 Calgary Flames NHL 2 0 0 0 4 — — — — — 1993–94 Saint John Flames AHL 77 33 53 86 45 7 4 2 6 16 1994–95 Houston Aeros IHL 80 38 42 80 52 4 0 1 1 4 1995–96 Houston Aeros IHL 80 22 31 53 67 — — — — — 1996–97 Houston Aeros IHL 81 21 36 57 43 12 2 3 5 4 1997–98 Houston Aeros IHL 74 14 38 52 41 4 2 2 4 4 1998–99 Houston Aeros IHL 79 17 28 45 66 19 11 11 22 12 1999–00 Houston Aeros IHL 75 20 35 55 55 11 0 4 4 4 2000–01 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 76 31 41 72 42 10 3 1 4 10 2001–02 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 80 15 36 51 32 5 2 1 3 0 2002–03 Hershey Bears AHL 70 21 32 53 34 3 0 0 0 2 AHL totals 551 189 302 491 344 50 12 18 30 49 IHL totals 469 132 210 342 326 50 15 21 36 28 NHL totals 124 16 23 39 61 — — — — —

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1995 Canada WC 6 1 0 1 2 Senior totals 6 1 0 1 2