College: University Bemidji State (B.S., P.E., B.Ed)
University of Saskatchewan (B.Sc. P.T., P.G.D. P.E.)
Years in the NHL: 5
Like Boston's Don Del Negro, Peter Friesen spent part of his off-season at the 2000 World Hockey Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia. Unlike Del Negro, Peter Friesen, 43, assisted Team Canada with is sports medicine expertise. Along with his work in the NHL, Friesen has 21 years of sports medicine experience, including work with four gold medal-winning World Junior Championship teams. Friesen joined the ranks of the NHL in 1996 with the Hartford Whalers and remained with the franchise upon its move to Carolina in 1997. He served as head athletic therapist at the University of Alberta from 1992-95 and University of Saskatchewan from 1987-90. Peter, an NSCA certified strength and conditioning specialist, and his wife, Shelley, reside in Knightdale, N.C., with their children, Jack, Chad, and Taylor.
Walter Tatomir
EQUIPMENT MANAGER
Years in the NHL: 7
Walter Tatomir, 55, is one of the most inventive equipment managers in the NHL. He holds four patents on equipment used in the field; two of the pieces help to precisely sharpen skates. They are the quick square and the dial indicator for angle of diviation of skate blades. A skate blade finishing tool he invented removes all skate burrs on blade edges to leave the edges clean and smooth for better mobility. In 1998, Tatomir invented "Eze-Out," an extractor for removing broken blades from aluminum, graphite/kevlar and composite shafts. Tatomir joined the Hartford Whalers' franchise in 1994 as equipment manager, after serving as an equipment consultant with the Los Angeles Kings and the Detroit Red Wings.
Skip Cunningham
EQUIPMENT MANAGER
College: Northeastern University (B.S.)
Years in the NHL: 22
Skip Cunningham's dedication to hockey is best shown by his 29 years in professional hockey (2,000 + games) and his passion to teach the game to youngsters. Cunningham joined the Hartford Whalers in 1972 during the team's World Hockey Association days, and remained with the franchise through its entry into the NHL in 1979. For the past 20 years, Skip has organized the South Windsor (Conn.) Hockey School, which teaches the finer points of the game to kids at the mite and squirt-level, ages 8-12.
Bob Gorman, Assistant Equipment Manager
Stu Lemke, Assistant Athletic Trainer
