A sheepish smile rolled over Martin Frk’s face as the topic of his excessive penalty-minute totals came up.
How exactly do you end up with 184 penalty minutes in 39 games as a 15-year-old in the Czech Republic?
“I got a couple of extra minutes from the referees and that sort of pushed up my total,” Frk said via a translator.
Translation of the translation? He got his fair share of misconducts from after-the-whistle “discussions” with refs.
The book on Frk is that he’s the type of player who will just as soon go through you as around you.
It’s a big reason why he wanted to come to North America and play for the Herd.
“I want to be a player who scores goals and passes the puck, works hard, goes to the net and plays a sort of Canadian/European style where I can play physical as well and score goals,” Frk explained.
The 16-year-old hit the ice at Cole Harbour Place yesterday with five teammates, skating for the first time in almost three weeks. The Mooseheads ended a two-month transfer process on Tuesday by finally securing his release from HC Karlovy Vary.
He was rusty, as one would expect given the layoff, but he flashed his skills and ripped a number of hard shots past goalie Mathieu Corbeil.
He’s excited to play his first game — the QMJHL season opener on Sept. 10 at the Metro Centre — and says the pressure he’ll face as the cornerstone of Halifax’s rebuilding effort is just “part of being a hockey player.”
“I want to help the team as much as I can, score some goals and provide a spark,” he said.
“I want to help the team succeed on the ice and get into the playoffs and go from there.”
Frk facts
SAY IT LIKE THIS
It’s pronounced “Ferk” not “Frick.” And he prefers to be called Marty, rather than Martin.
LODGING
Frk will stay with the same billet family as two-time MVP Tomas Knotek to help ease his transition.
HELPING HAND
Jaroslav Sevcik, a fellow Czech and former Halifax Citadel who still lives here, has been brought in to help Frk adjust to the city.
